Yumi and the Nightmare Painter
core novel 2023 Cosmere
Record
| First published | 2023 |
|---|---|
| Original language |  EN |
| Work type | novel |
| Canon status | core |
| Reader rating | 4.42 (134,388 ratings, collected 2026-09-11) |
| Page count | 480 |
| First-edition ISBN | 9781250899699 |
Synopsis
Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is a Cosmere fantasy novel by Brandon Sanderson, the third of his Secret Projects, set on the planet Komashi. It unfolds in two settings: the city of Kilahito, shrouded in mist and lit by strange lines of power, where a young man named Nikaro, known as a Painter, drives off dangerous nightmare creatures with his ink art; and the neighboring village of Torio, where a young woman named Yumi serves as a yoki-hijo, using an ancient practice of stacking stones to summon and bind spirits. The two are linked when they begin swapping bodies whenever they sleep, forcing each to take on the other's duties. As Yumi grapples with painting and Nikaro struggles with spirit-summoning, scholars arrive in Torio proposing a machine to replace her role, while a nightmare of unusual strength spreads through Kilahito, evading every attempt to stop it.
Where it sits
- Universe: Cosmere
- Series: not part of a registered series (standalone work within its universe)
- Author: Brandon Sanderson
Notes
- Secret Project #3.
Neighbouring works
Publication order and internal chronology are tracked as two separate orderings and are never conflated: a book's place in one says nothing about its place in the other.
- Publication order, within Cosmere (standalone work): position 26 of 29: previous Tress of the Emerald Sea (2023) · next The Sunlit Man (2023)
Sources
← Cosmere dossier · All universes
Part of the Library. Fields without an identified source are omitted, never guessed.