The Frugal Wizard's Handbook for Surviving Medieval England

Published in 2023, The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England is a standalone science fiction fantasy novel by American author Brandon Sanderson. The novel was the second of four “Secret Projects” funded by Sanderson’s record-breaking Kickstarter campaign in 2022, which was the most successful in the platform’s history until 2025. A comedic blend of portal science fiction and medieval fantasy, the story follows a man who awakens in a field in what appears to be Anglo-Saxon England with no memory of his past. Armed with only a few charred fragments of the titular handbook, he must navigate a land of local lords, warrior-poets, and dangerous figures from his own world while piecing together his identity and purpose.

The novel intersperses the main narrative with excerpts from the fictional guidebook, a text from the near future with satirical commentary on the rules of interdimensional travel. The story explores themes such as The Malleability of Identity and the Power of Self-Reinvention, The Clash Between Scientific Rationality and Mythological Reality, and The Responsible Use of Power to Build Agency and Define Worth. Sanderson is known for his fictional Cosmere universe, which includes his bestselling Mistborn saga and The Stormlight Archive series. He also completed Robert Jordan’s The Wheel of Time series after Jordan’s death.

This guide refers to the 2024 Tor Publishing Group paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, and suicidal ideation.

Plot Summary

The narrator is a man who awakens in a burned circle in a field with no memory of his identity. Dressed in a mix of archaic and modern clothes, he finds scorched fragments of a book titled The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, a location that matches his surroundings. He hides as locals, led by their thegn, Ealstan, investigate the strange scene. That night, the narrator sneaks into the nearby village of Stenford. While drinking from a river, he remembers he has medical nanites that provide healing and nutrition.

The narrator infiltrates Ealstan’s fort to recover more pages from his book. One page suggests he has purchased this “Earth-lite™” dimension from a company called Frugal Wizard Inc.â. He remembers that he is from a near-future Earth where body augments and alternate dimensions are commercially available. He has traveled to a version of medieval England, but he doesn’t remember his purpose. Excerpts from the handbook and illustrations alternate with the main chapters and provide a world-building picture of dimensional travel, discovered in 2084, as an enticing and exploitative enterprise.

The narrator is ambushed and captured by Sefawynn, a traveling poet or “skop,” and her younger brother, Wyrm. While interrogating him, Wyrm tries to cut him with a knife, which fails to pierce the subcutaneous platings in the narrator’s forearm. Sefawynn concludes he is a grifter pretending to be a supernatural being called an “aelv.” The narrator plays along and agrees to a fake banishing ritual, powered by Sefawynn’s poetic boasts, to appease Ealstan. He then has a sudden, painful memory of a girlfriend named Jen, who he knows is dead.

Two messengers arrive, whom the narrator later recognizes as men from his world: Ulric Stromfin, a cartel boss, and Quinn Jericho, his enforcer. Realizing they want him dead, he and Sefawynn hide. Ulric kills a guard with a futuristic pistol to force Ealstan into obeying his authority. Mistaking Wyrm for Ealstan’s son, Ulric takes the boy hostage.

After they leave, the narrator finds a handwritten page from his book revealing his name is John West and his former profession was a cop. He mistakenly concludes he is a hero on a mission to stop the cartel. John discovers he has hidden stealth augments, including night vision and a vocal modulator built into his body, but his vital head and chest augments have been mysteriously disabled. To explain these modern advances, he tells Sefawynn that he is a wizard, but she is skeptical. They set out with Ealstan to rescue Wyrm from the town of Wellbury. John adopts the name Runian, meaning writer, and masquerades as a powerful aelv.

During their journey, John learns he is in an Anglo-Saxon-like dimension where the god Woden forbids writing. He discovers that his modern artistic skills, which he learned in art school, appear magical to his companions. They encounter Viking-like raiders called Hordamen, and John uses his augments and drawing ability to bluff them into leaving. The bluff leads to a confrontation on a Hordaman ship, where an unseen force protects John and causes the captain’s axe to fall apart. John draws a forbidden rune on the deck, which spontaneously bursts into flame, destroying the ship and solidifying his reputation as a powerful being. In the process, they rescue another captive, a Zoroastrian missionary named Yazad.

The group finds shelter at Yazad’s “preserve” near Wellbury. John notices he is being followed by a helpful spirit, or “wight,” that stacks rocks and performs tasks for offerings. A mysterious old woman named Thokk describes a red-haired man she encountered, and John’s sketch of the man triggers a memory of his police partner, Ryan Chu. They sneak into Wellbury, where John confronts the local reeve, Wealdsig. Quinn appears and reveals John’s true past: He is a failed boxer and a lowly door guard for Ulric’s cartel who washed out of the police academy and threw a match in a fixed fight. This revelation shatters his heroic self-image, restoring his painful, self-loathing memories, and forcing him to realize he stole the dimension from Ulric to escape his failed life. Meanwhile, Sefawynn and Ealstan are discovered trying to rescue Wyrm. In the ensuing fight, Ealstan is mortally wounded by arrows. Tired of being seen as a coward, John’s boxing skills kick in and he fights off the attackers. He heals Ealstan by transferring most of his medical nanites to Ealstan’s body, an act of power that awes Wealdsig, who allows them to leave. Sefawynn begins treating John with solemn reverence, and he feels undeserving and deceptive.

The group travels to Maelport, the earl’s seat, where Ulric has established his base. A romance develops between John and Sefawynn. They are ambushed by bandits working for Ryan Chu, who knock John out with a blackout grenade. John awakens to find Ryan, who explains that Ulric is exploiting the dimension’s probability-altering nature to fix lotteries in their home world. Ryan has trapped Ulric in this dimension by sabotaging his portal and believes Ulric has a secondary beacon to call for backup.

To repair his relationship with Sefawynn, John provokes Ryan into revealing his pathetic past, confirming he is not a hero. Sefawynn and John reconcile, accepting each other’s flaws. John learns from a disembodied voice, a wight only he can hear, that the presence of people from his world acts as a “poison,” damaging the dimension’s magic. Ryan devises a plan for John and the bandits to create a distraction while he disables Ulric’s beacon with the help of a double agent.

John’s party and the bandits lead an assault on Maelport. John kills one of Ulric’s enforcers and captures Quinn. Suddenly, a massive Hordaman fleet invades the city, attacking outlanders and locals alike. John realizes Ryan has walked into a trap, and Ulric never had a second beacon. Ryan was lured to Maelport so Ulric could steal Ryan’s beacon to call in a rescue team.

John and Ealstan race to Ulric’s headquarters, where they find Ryan captured. Ryan’s inside agent is revealed to be Jen, who is alive and has been in a relationship with Ryan during most of her time with John. Jen thought it was easier to let John believe she was dead than feel betrayed. Ulric’s check-in team arrives with technology and repairs the portal. Ryan and Jen escape through the portal, but John deactivates it and remains in Wellbury, unwilling to abandon his friends to Ulric and the Hordamen invaders.

In the city square, Sefawynn defies Woden, and her powerful boasts inspire the city’s wights, unseen spirits, to turn on the Hordamen, disassembling their weapons and bodies. Thokk reveals she is the goddess Logna and was the wight helping John. She explains that the machines of John’s world weaken her, and he must be the one to subdue Ulric.

Inspired by his companions’ heroism and no longer weighed down by his past cowardice, John returns to the bunker and confronts Quinn. In a rematch of their fixed title bout, John bluffs that he has reactivated his augments, giving him the psychological edge to defeat Quinn. He sends Quinn through the portal before smashing its controls and crushing the beacon. Ulric shoots John in the chest, but Ealstan, having killed Ulric’s other soldiers, uses a gun from a severed arm to kill Ulric.

John recovers, and Logna explains that his poisonous effect on the land can be mitigated if he travels constantly. This allows him to stay with Sefawynn, as his presence also shields her from Woden. Finally at peace with himself, John decides to stay. Months later, Logna watches John and Sefawynn travel the land, restoring its magical runestones. Logna reveals she guided John to this dimension and knows the password to his augments. She accesses Ryan’s encrypted files on John’s laptop, which contain the sum of their world’s knowledge, and begins reading how to repair dimensional portals.