It was no surprise to me that this was my favorite of the Year of Sanderson novels after I read the post-script. Not only was this novel (and the art) influenced by Manga, but it was also influenced by one of my favorite video games, Final Fantasy X. Sanderson took the idea of a fantasy world where two characters had fantasy jobs and wrote a surprisingly sweet romance story around it. The nightmare painter, Nikaro, walks the streets at night trying to find nightmares, shadow creatures that prey on humans while they sleep. When he encounters a nightmare, he must trap their shape by painting them into a less frightening form. Nikaro, or Painter as he prefers to be called, studied art, but he doesn’t see the point in painting Nightmares as something other than bamboo. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s effective. What does it matter if his pictures aren’t original or elaborate? It’s a job, a job to stop the nightmares, and shouldn’t he just use the most reliable and easiest method to contain the aberrations?
Yumi is a Yuki-Hijo. In her world, Yuki-Hijos pray to the spirits and petition them to make technology that will allow her people to survive the blazing sun of her world. Plants float in the sky and it’s necessary to have flying machines to dust and harvest those plants. As a Yuki-Hijo, Yumi is extremely proficient in her craft. The way she summons the spirits is by stacking rocks to cause them to come forth. Yumi is probably the best there is at the job she does; she can attract more spirits on average than any other Yuki-Hijo. The only problem with being a Yuki-Hijo is it is a job of servitude. She lives her life under constant supervision and every part of her life is ritualized, from bathing to eating, to what she wears.
By a strange turn of circumstance, Yumi and the nightmare painter find themselves linked in their respective worlds. The nightmare painter now inhabits Yumi’s body and Yumi inhabits his. The other is present to provide guidance, but they are unable to interact with their own world. The two opposite spirits, Yumi of a world of light, and Painter of a world of darkness, must learn to teach each other their crafts to continue protecting their respective worlds. Yumi is miffed by the squalor that Painter lives in and how he does the absolute minimum to get by. Painter is shocked by the lack of freedom Yumi experiences in her life and struggles with achieving the same level of rock-stacking artistry she so effortlessly performs.
It is a story of two characters learning to understand and respect each other’s perspectives. As a bonus, guess who our narrator is? None other than the incorrigible Hoyd, but this time, he’s not struck with a curse that prevents him from explaining everything that is going on. Instead, he has accidentally been turned to wood and now decorates his Spren’s ramen shop in Painter’s world. If only he could figure out a way to cure himself of this affliction and tell everyone what’s happening.