Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson

Snapshot by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I'm always looking out it for Sanderson material I haven't read, and I saw this in a picture on one of his Instagram posts. Weird that I hadn't heard of it before.

The concept of snapshots was a little hard to grasp at first. I don't know if he didn't explain it well, or if I just wasn't ready for it. I was halfway through the book before I really grasped the concept and the implications, and then it was over really quickly. I almost want to go back and re-read it with the understanding I have now, but now that I know the ending I doubt it would be worth it.

So in the end, I liked it, but it's not my favorite Sanderson story. By the time he got the story spun up, it was over. He had more bones, not enough meat. I often feel like I want his novels to last longer, but this was different. It felt incomplete somehow. Don't get me wrong, I liked it, but it just wasn't great.

A final thought: I'm trying to avoid any spoilers here, but I'll state what the twist ISN'T. I was waiting the whole time for one of the main characters to meet themselves in the snapshot and had theories about what that would mean. Didn't happen. Well played, Sanderson, well played. I hope it was intentional misdirection, or else you might have missed an opportunity in my opinion...

Fun fact, I finished this one in the bottom of the Grand Canyon as I waited out the hottest part of a July day at Phantom Ranch. Great way to kick back and let my legs recover from the hike down!