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The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England [Dramatized Adaptation]: Secret Projects 2
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson—creator of the smash-hit science fiction and fantasy series Skyward, The Stormlight Archive, and Mistborn—comes a new science fiction adventure.
A man awakens in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the “real world” should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?
Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!
Performed by Danny Gavigan, Crystal Lee, Helen Day, Nathaniel Priestley, Holly Adams, David Cui Cui, Elias Khalil, Zeke Alton, Andrew James Spooner, Bradley Foster Smith, Colleen Delany, Daniel Llaca, David Engel, Elena Anderson, John Kielty, Mike Carnes, Morgan Dalla Betta, Nora Achrati, Scott McCormick, Stewart Crank, and Yasmin Tuazon.
A man awakens in a clearing in what appears to be medieval England with no memory of who he is, where he came from, or why he is there. Chased by a group from his own time, his sole hope for survival lies in regaining his missing memories, making allies among the locals, and perhaps even trusting in their superstitious boasts. His only help from the “real world” should have been a guidebook entitled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, except his copy exploded during transit. The few fragments he managed to save provide clues to his situation, but can he figure them out in time to survive?
Adapted from the novel and produced with a full cast of actors, immersive sound effects and cinematic music!
Performed by Danny Gavigan, Crystal Lee, Helen Day, Nathaniel Priestley, Holly Adams, David Cui Cui, Elias Khalil, Zeke Alton, Andrew James Spooner, Bradley Foster Smith, Colleen Delany, Daniel Llaca, David Engel, Elena Anderson, John Kielty, Mike Carnes, Morgan Dalla Betta, Nora Achrati, Scott McCormick, Stewart Crank, and Yasmin Tuazon.
1 pages, Audio CD
Published October 18, 2024
11 people are currently reading
61 people want to read
About the author
Brandon Sanderson
402 books286k followersI’m Brandon Sanderson, and I write stories of the fantastic: fantasy, science fiction, and thrillers.
The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.
During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.
Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.
November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.
Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.
I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.
Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!
Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.
I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.
Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.
The release of Wind and Truth in December 2024—the fifth and final book in the first arc of the #1 New York Times bestselling Stormlight Archive series—marks a significant milestone for me. This series is my love letter to the epic fantasy genre, and it’s the type of story I always dreamed epic fantasy could be. Now is a great time to get into the Stormlight Archive since the first arc, which begins with Way of Kings, is complete.
During our crowdfunding campaign for the leatherbound edition of Words of Radiance, I announced a fifth Secret Project called Isles of the Emberdark, which came out in the summer of 2025. Coming December 2025 is Tailored Realities, my non-Cosmere short story collection featuring the new novella Moment Zero.
Defiant, the fourth and final volume of the series that started with Skyward in 2018, came out in November 2023, capping an already book-filled year that saw the releases of all four Secret Projects: Tress of the Emerald Sea, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, and The Sunlit Man. These four books were all initially offered to backers of the #1 Kickstarter campaign of all time.
November 2022 saw the release of The Lost Metal, the seventh volume in the Mistborn saga, and the final volume of the Mistborn Era Two featuring Wax & Wayne. Now that the first arc of the Stormlight Archive is wrapped up, I’ve started writing the third era of Mistborn in 2025.
Most readers have noticed that my adult fantasy novels are in a connected universe called the Cosmere. This includes The Stormlight Archive, both Mistborn series, Elantris, Warbreaker, four of the five Secret Projects, and various novellas, including The Emperor’s Soul, which won a Hugo Award in 2013. In November 2016 all of the existing Cosmere short fiction was released in one volume called Arcanum Unbounded. If you’ve read all of my adult fantasy novels and want to see some behind-the-scenes information, that collection is a must-read.
I also have three YA series: The Rithmatist (currently at one book), The Reckoners (a trilogy beginning with Steelheart), and Skyward. For young readers I also have my humorous series Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, which had its final book, Bastille vs. the Evil Librarians, released in 2022. Many of my adult readers enjoy all of those books as well, and many of my YA readers enjoy my adult books, usually starting with Mistborn.
Additionally, I have a few other novellas that are more on the thriller/sci-fi side. These include the three stories in Legion: The Many Lives of Stephen Leeds, as well as Perfect State and Snapshot. These two novellas are also featured in 2025’s Tailored Realities. There’s a lot of material to go around!
Good starting places are Mistborn (a.k.a. The Final Empire), Skyward, Steelheart, The Emperor’s Soul, Tress of the Emerald Sea, and Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians. If you’re already a fan of big fat fantasies, you can jump right into The Way of Kings.
I was also honored to be able to complete the final three volumes of The Wheel of Time, beginning with The Gathering Storm, using Robert Jordan’s notes.
Sample chapters from all of my books are available at brandonsanderson.com—and check out the rest of my site for chapter-by-chapter annotations, deleted scenes, and more.
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 3, 2025
My first Sanderson book that I considered such a disappointment (well, Wind and Truth WAS a disappointment, but still generally fun to read). Maybe because it wasn't part of Cosmere? The mix of futuristic sci-fi and fantasy? The main character whining all the time? I am not sure.
In theory, the idea is not bad, but I just did not want to read the phrase "I will Nintendo you" in what is supposed to be a fantasy book. Or having the main character giving scores to EVERYTHING around him. Yes, at some point this is mentioned, but still. The story left me completely uninterested, but the final hit was the romance. I thought Sanderson had become better at it and maybe he has, but NOT in this book. 2 women around his age exist and both are romantically mentioned one way or another and... damn, no. Just no.
The characters themselves are likeable enough, but I just couldn't really get invested in the world itself to really care about them. There is logic and soooome whimsy, but all in all it's like a dumbed down middle grade book. Thokk was great to read along with Ealstan, but they couldn't save this.
On the bright side, it's a short book and it does have some nice, intense scenes which were great in the dramatized version, but that is pretty much all. The ending is not really open-ended, but it couuuld be, which I'm not against!
In theory, the idea is not bad, but I just did not want to read the phrase "I will Nintendo you" in what is supposed to be a fantasy book. Or having the main character giving scores to EVERYTHING around him. Yes, at some point this is mentioned, but still. The story left me completely uninterested, but the final hit was the romance. I thought Sanderson had become better at it and maybe he has, but NOT in this book. 2 women around his age exist and both are romantically mentioned one way or another and... damn, no. Just no.
The characters themselves are likeable enough, but I just couldn't really get invested in the world itself to really care about them. There is logic and soooome whimsy, but all in all it's like a dumbed down middle grade book. Thokk was great to read along with Ealstan, but they couldn't save this.
On the bright side, it's a short book and it does have some nice, intense scenes which were great in the dramatized version, but that is pretty much all. The ending is not really open-ended, but it couuuld be, which I'm not against!
January 18, 2025
Enjoyment 10/10
Concept 8/10
Execution 9/10
Writing 8/10
Plot & Logic 10/10
Pacing & Structure 9/10
Atmosphere 10/10
Characters 8/10
Intrigue 9/10
World Building 10/10
Audio Performance 10/10
Rating: 4.61/5
Concept 8/10
Execution 9/10
Writing 8/10
Plot & Logic 10/10
Pacing & Structure 9/10
Atmosphere 10/10
Characters 8/10
Intrigue 9/10
World Building 10/10
Audio Performance 10/10
Rating: 4.61/5
April 16, 2025
A great book by Brando Sando. Using the amnesiac trope to draw you in then using classic Sanderson writing to get you invested then tripping you up. Masterfully lays up the twist then never springs in, keeping you in suspense until the very end.
January 29, 2026
The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England - by Brandon Sanderson - First let me just say how delightfully enjoyable and unique I found this novel. Time travelling futuristic cartel/mafia types, nano technology and a medieval society in a different dimension based on an evolutionary tree that follows Norse/Viking !mythology - Yeah I know right? Read it in essentially a single reading minus me going to bed at 4 am and immediately picking it up when I woke up, had I not been exhausted I would not have put the book down. A+ 10/10 Super fun book that departs from anything I've read by Sanderson yet.
February 4, 2026
This is not my fave but it was decent. Writing was alright.
February 13, 2026
not what i expected, almost quit in the beginning but I did finish it, not really my thing
September 21, 2025
*I received an eARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. My thanks to NetGalley and Orion*
Note - I ended up listening to the dramatised audiobook version of this book.
A man awakens in a clearing with no memory of how he got there, or who he is, but he does know that he doesn't belong there.
Using the scattered pages of a book, the man pieces together that he has somehow travelled to what appears to be medieval England.
As his memories slowly return, the man allies with some of the locals and works with them against a shared enemy.
I had been meaning to read a book by the author for a very long time, and the blurb for this novel intrigued me enough to request a copy through NetGalley.
The protagonist, whose name we do learn as well as his past, was likeable and relatable. I felt sorry for him upon learning some things, but I found his constant need to review things annoying and didn't think his jokes were particularly funny.
There were several of the supporting characters that I liked and enjoyed finding out more about.
There were some very interesting concepts in this novel, and I did enjoy the world that the author created.
The plot was enjoyable and held my attention, but I wasn't gripped. However, I did like the character development and the relationships that formed between the characters.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read.
Note - I ended up listening to the dramatised audiobook version of this book.
A man awakens in a clearing with no memory of how he got there, or who he is, but he does know that he doesn't belong there.
Using the scattered pages of a book, the man pieces together that he has somehow travelled to what appears to be medieval England.
As his memories slowly return, the man allies with some of the locals and works with them against a shared enemy.
I had been meaning to read a book by the author for a very long time, and the blurb for this novel intrigued me enough to request a copy through NetGalley.
The protagonist, whose name we do learn as well as his past, was likeable and relatable. I felt sorry for him upon learning some things, but I found his constant need to review things annoying and didn't think his jokes were particularly funny.
There were several of the supporting characters that I liked and enjoyed finding out more about.
There were some very interesting concepts in this novel, and I did enjoy the world that the author created.
The plot was enjoyable and held my attention, but I wasn't gripped. However, I did like the character development and the relationships that formed between the characters.
Overall, this was an enjoyable read.
May 26, 2025
Fun graphic audiobook with excellent narrators. I loved the voice actor for John. Really well done. Unfortunately, I was either not in the mood for this sort of tale or else it didn’t move fast enough to suck me in. I found myself wanting to get to the end without caring much about what happened. I just wanted to my next book. It might have been the audiobook format contributing this because, as fun as it was to listen to, all the strange terms and names made me long to see the spelling. And all the time spent describing things made me long to skim. Again, probably my fault for not being in the mood. I should have waited to listen to this. Still, it was an enjoyable if far-fetched story.
April 8, 2025
Just like actors have range, so do writers and this was Brandon Sanderson's way of showing off his range as a writer. I had just finished The Mistborn Series when coming across this book and it was delightful palate cleanser after a few weeks of ready heavy high fantasy. That's not to say that the world building or execution of this story was anything but perfection. What really shocked me was the different writing styles between the two - both equally enjoyable!
April 1, 2025
My first Brandon Sanderson book! I really enjoyed the dramatized adaptation. I really didn't know what to expect with this one. I went in very blind to what it was about but you get an idea from the title. It was a fun, silly read but I did start to lose interest in the middle. Pushed through and was satisfied by the end.
September 23, 2025
3.5 🌟
I LOVED Sanderson's Tress, and the Alcatraz books were also super fun. This one is an equally well-written book, but maybe not quite as much my style. The world-building is creative and awesome, but it's a bit more sci-fi than fantasy, and I'm not a big fan of the genre. That said, I did enjoy the adventures and can think of many who would love this!
I LOVED Sanderson's Tress, and the Alcatraz books were also super fun. This one is an equally well-written book, but maybe not quite as much my style. The world-building is creative and awesome, but it's a bit more sci-fi than fantasy, and I'm not a big fan of the genre. That said, I did enjoy the adventures and can think of many who would love this!
November 20, 2025
This was lots of fun!
A light, low stakes standalone that the graphic audio brings to life with quirky humor, whimsy, and great sound effects. I loved the comedic tone and the plot, and it was hilarious watching a very average guy get dropped into the past and try to cope. Easy to listen to and perfect for fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Overall, a delightful time!
A light, low stakes standalone that the graphic audio brings to life with quirky humor, whimsy, and great sound effects. I loved the comedic tone and the plot, and it was hilarious watching a very average guy get dropped into the past and try to cope. Easy to listen to and perfect for fans of Dungeon Crawler Carl.
Overall, a delightful time!
November 15, 2024
Cute, and creative… I never fully got on the MC’s team though. Loses a star because I just didn’t manage to care about the characters. Also WTF with the whole Jen plot line… and the romance at the end felt random and boring unfounded.
January 22, 2025
Graphic audio really does bring some life to stories, I am not sure i would of enjoyed it as much just reading it. Not huge twists or addictive plot but such a cool concept turning Alternative Dimensions into a legit business and excuse of escapism.
June 30, 2025
Not really my favorite read of BranSan. It was good and intriguing, but the language was pretty heavy and grew annoying in this one. It was long and seemed to go on; I started losing interest at the end, despite the cool revelations.
October 22, 2024
It wasn't a Sanderson book I'm used to. And not the kind of book I enjoy.
November 17, 2024
this was so different from what brandon writes lol but the dramatization edition helped me enjoy it more
December 12, 2024
Cute, light-hearted, entertaining. Not what I was expecting, but it was fun regardless.
January 31, 2025
I don't even want to review this because I have barely got any ideas of what it was but for a weird mix of medieval England and sci-fi time travel and vikings?
February 10, 2025
A fun time but the amnesia aspect was a choice
April 17, 2025
Easy read, funny stuff. I have had a hard time reading pretty much anything, but hammered this out pretty darn fast.
August 10, 2025
Not my favourite out of the collective work but 4 stars because it genuinely made me laugh out loud, involuntarily, A LOT.
September 1, 2025
Not my favorite, but I finished it.
October 4, 2025
very entertaining
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews