Today’s post is on The
Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson. It is the first in a new YA series. It is
378 pages long including book discussion questions and published by TOR. The
cover is grey with front piece like parchment with a clockwork horse at the
bottom. The intended reader is young adult but anyone who has read Sanderson before
will love this book. There is no sex, no language, but the violence can be
intense. There Be Spoilers Ahead.
From the dust jacket- More than anything, Joel wants
to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in mysterious inception ceremony,
Rithmatists have the power to infuse life into two-dimensional figures known as
chalklings. Rithmatists are humanity’s only defense against the wild chalklings-
merciless creatures that leave mangled corpses in their wake. Having nearly
overrun the territory of Nebrask, the wild chalklings now threaten all the
American Isles.
As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing- kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery, one that will change Rithmatics- and their world- forever.
As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students learn the magical art that he would do anything to practice. Then students start disappearing- kidnapped from their rooms at night, leaving trails of blood. Assigned to help the professor who is investigating the crimes, Joel and his friend Melody find themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery, one that will change Rithmatics- and their world- forever.
Review- Once again Sanderson creates an inventive world
with dynamic and fascinating magic system. Sanderson is a brilliant writer and
once again I am in awe of his ability. This is an alternate history with strong
Steampunk themes. The characters are interesting and they grow over the course
of the book; like good characters should. Each chapter starts with drawing and
a little more information about rithmatics. At first these do not make sense
but as the story goes on and you get more information about rithmatics things
begin to come together. Of course there are questions that Sanderson saves for
the next book; like is really going on in Nebrask or what came back from there
wearing a human skin. As a fan of the Slender Man mythos I did enjoy the nod to
it in the form of one of the villains. I strongly recommend this book and
Sanderson in general. If you have not read him yet then this a great place to
start. He has all the style of his Mistborn
series but written for a lighter audience. I will be paying this book if I don’t
get it for my birthday.
I give this book a Five out Five stars. I get nothing for my
review and I borrowed this book from my local library.
No comments:
Post a Comment