Yumi And The Nightmare Painter

I've been paying more attention about storylines and writing quality. The change I'm trying to make this year is to be more exhaustive in my reviews. This book had elements that felt familiar and yet I couldn't put my finger on it. I'm glad I read the final notes after the story to realize it was inspired by one of my all-time favorite games: Final Fantasy X. It all made sense now!

Characters

Yumi and the Painter are the main driving forces of this story. I find it pretty fun when authors have to imagine how a character would react to things that are normal in a different life/world. The shower, the clothes, Yumi was so used to her routine that she wasn't even able to think outside of the box that was created for her. She understood her purpose and served it well for years and years. Painter, on the other hand, was all over the place. After destroying his friendships he stayed in a limbo until his story and Yumi's finally crossed.

After the reveal of what brought Painter to his situation I felt both understanding and confusion. I could understand and relate to the responsibility and pressure of having other people's future on your shoulders. The confusion came from the handling of it, there's only so long you can about your life while crossing paths so often without ever facing the truth. If the Painter was moved to a different part of town where he wouldn't have to cross paths with Akane and the others I could have believed how things evolved. The main excuse that can make it all "make sense" is the fact that he was pretty young when it all happened, not everyone reaches a certain level of emotional maturity that early and might prefer escaping reality for as long as possible. Either way, I enjoyed the character. He lost his way and almost gave up on a brighter future.

Yumi has a LOT of excuses, I can see how some very unorthodox behaviors don't seem that way if you grew up like that. She blossoms outside of her realm and her quirkiness fits well. She introduces a different perspective on art to the Painter.

Story

I'm "bored" of Sanderson writing fun and original stories over and over again. His way to bend inspiration coming from other sources always provides a great reading experience. I'll admit, this storyline wasn't as strong as many of his most famous books and it was reminiscent of Elantris, a bit predictable yet fun. I believe it was half way through the book that my theory was aligning a little too well with where the story was going. That didn't slow me down though!

Unlike many (maybe?), I appreciate a story with an unconventional ending. Where we land before the Epilogue would have been just perfectly fine to me but I did want to hear more from Hoid. I also appreciate Sanderson exploring romance more. I'm not particularly interested in Romantasy but I understand that some of it is unavoidable and can naturally fir as part of the story (as long as it's not the main focus, I'm good!).

Theme

I noticed, by the end of the book, that the few highlights were mostly around art and what it means to us.

“It can summon spirits,” he said. “But it can’t create art. Art is about intent, Yumi. A rainbow isn’t art, beautiful though it might be. Art is about creation. Human creation. A machine can lift way more than Tojin can—doesn’t make it less impressive when he lifts more than almost any human being.” He smiled at her. “I don’t care how well a machine piles rocks. The fact that you do it is what matters to me.”

In today's day an age you can replace "machine" with "AI" and this quote still stands. Another one:

This was art. Something the machine, however capable in the technical details, could never understand. Because art is, and always has been, about what it does to us. To the one shaping it and the one experiencing it.

Ah! This comes at a great time since I'm writing an essay (or just a regular post I haven't decided yet) about coding as a form of art. The fact that one can do it doesn't make it any less impressive because a machine can.

Writing

I noticed some patterns and words that Sanderson likes to use somewhat frequently (e.g. churn), and his style remains so effortless to read. I started "The Strength of the Few" and the amount of words I have to look up has increased exponentially. I'm not sure which one I prefer but I think Sanderson definitely has the ability to make his raw writing skills more intriguing. Granted, I wish I could write as beautifully as he does so I'm definitely pushing it here.

Rating

This is closer to a 4.5 but I rounded up because I enjoyed the journey quite a bit. I was very torn as I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a re-read and I might change my mind later on, for now 5 it is!