The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (Secret Projects #2), by Brandon Sanderson

  The Frugal Wizard is a nice little standalone story, a science fantasy that is at once a white room story (man wakes up without memory) and a non-Asian isekai (in a parallel world derived from history, fantasy or gaming). Luckily, not a Cosmere novel, either; you know how I feel about pointless "cinematic universes". I like how these "secret projects" led to more original stories, unconstrained by arbitrary rules of fitting in with anything before or after.

  In the book, a man from a far technological future of mankind, where purchasing access to your own parallel dimension is a reality yet dollars and marketing pamphlets are still a thing, wakes up in a medieval setting without knowing who he is. His character follows a classic hero's arc - a Brandon Sanderson specialty, where he first thinks he's the hero, then finds out he is not, only to become one. The setting is a bit too silly, with a rather disappointing villain that is not fleshed out more than the typical psychotic bully, but it makes up for it with a satisfying redemption plot, some playful romance and a colorful, magical and curated version of medieval England.

  I especially liked the jabs towards the popular depictions of the era, which I hear are quite inaccurate and probably the consequence of creators copying each other until it becomes culture. Fake it till you make it, I guess. But what's with the Odin hate? Everyone seems to dislike the guy lately...

  Bottom line: medium sized book with a silly, but not overly so, premise and a whiff of the early Sanderson work that I fell in love with originally.