The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

by Brandon Sanderson

Nevertheless, my gut said I was a person who trusted his gut.

Teleport someone from Ancient Egypt to the modern era, and they’d be indistinguishable. Same passions. Same cleverness. Same biases, if about different things.

Your physics class might have taught you that Einstein invented E=mc2—but conduct a surface-level investigation, and you’ll find the idea of mass–energy equivalence was built upon the backs of dozens of scientists all working simultaneously. Einstein was simply the best with pithy notations. In short, The Beatles didn’t invent modern rock. Modern rock invented The Beatles. Your life isn’t unremarkable. You are merely living in the wrong time.

Complete and total avoidance of uncomfortable emotions? He was speaking my language.

It hadn’t really helped. But I’d liked it. It didn’t have to mean anything, not really. I’d started doing it with a purpose in mind. Then I’d kept on because it felt fun. It felt interesting. I enjoyed it. Five stars. This is me. Who I am. And I didn’t have to explain that to Ryan Chu.

No one thing had ruined me. It had just…piled on.

“Killing is desperation, not strength. To live without killing…that is a strong society.

The book lied. This place wasn’t simple or pastoral. It was brutal. Terrible. Soul-crushing. Minus the murderous Vikings, the people had been wonderful. Inspiring. Cleaner, friendlier, and cleverer than I’d ever imagined. But the general feel of the time? It sucked. These people lived such hard lives, even if you discounted the constant threat of invasion. Without modern medicine, what would happen to my friends here? Would Sefawynn die in childbirth? Would Ealstan survive countless battles, only to die of an infection from cutting his finger on a nail or something? I wanted to protect them, help them. Bring them technology—on this point, I agreed with the book. Its goals, if not its motives. Yet, did I dare? What if doing so destroyed the magic that made their world so unique?

Ealstan kept pace with us as we caught up with the others. As we reached them, he spoke. “Do not be ashamed of your joy,” he told us, his voice intense. “Regardless of what aelv Ryan says. This is not a thing of shame. It is why I fight. It is why my sons bled. Never be ashamed of joy.”

We guarantee 100 percent that you will be released from your contractual obligation to post on social media about how wonderful your dimension is. Instead, you will be forbidden from talking about it.

and my mind—being the ridiculous piece of work it was—searched for a rating I could give this entire experience. I settled on no rating. The whole point of those had been to figure out what I wanted in life. Now that I had it, well, maybe I would need to rethink the system entirely. (...Five out of five. You served me well, rating system. Enjoy your retirement.)

Turns out, even a coward can save the world. So long as you leave him with no other options.