The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson:
More than anything, Joel wants to be a Rithmatist. Chosen by the Master in a 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 studens 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 frind themselves on the trail of an unexpected discovery, one that will change Rithmatics--and their world--forever.
*5/5 Stars*
I wasn't going to give this book 5 stars originally..But dat ending!! I am not the kind of person who tries to figure out the ending, so I'm surprised. But I was totally shocked by the one that was actually written.
At first, I thought the story was kind of slow. There was a lot of explaining this new form of magic called Chalklings and there was a lot of Geometry going on. How to draw circles, different points of circles and how a crooked line could mess everything up. I didn't know that this book took place in the early 1900's. If you didn't read the map at the beginning of the book, you wouldn't really know that. There was one part where Joel and Melody were talking about women's rights and worrying about carriages and such...I was so confused...At one point I was curious about how the world was set up, so I looked at the map and saw the date...That would have been good to know earlier...unless I missed it...which I might have. XP Also, I had a small problem with the main characters. The characters acted a lot younger than 16. Melody was whiny and Joel...there was something about him that I thought seemed odd. Like he was way too immature to be 16. I thought he was 12 multiple times...
Despite my confusion with the ages of the characters, I did enjoy them. They weren't my favorite main characters ever, but I felt like they did grow a bit, and I have a feeling they will continue to grow. I LOVED the world. I loved that it was based in the US, but the US was broken down into islands and everything had an alternate history. I mean, chopsticks being essential to Italian food? How cool is that? ...Well it's pretty cool to me...XP Also, I enjoyed the nods to steampunk culture. And once I got used to the magic, thought even with the pictures I had a hard time picturing what was happening, and I thought it was a bit awkward at times, I loved it. It is very different from anything else I have ever read and I really appreciate the creativity! Especially the fact that it is an artistic type of magic. That is neat. ^^ I thought the twists were cool too. Rithmatics is more complicated than even the main characters think it is. And the whole problem with Nebrask, so interesting!! >w< I can't wait to find out what happens in the next books!!
Well, that's enough for now!~ I really love Brandon Sanderson...He is officially one of my new favorite authors. I don't think I could not like anything he writes!~ He is just that good. ^^
Until next time my sweet little peaches! Tootles!~
At first, I thought the story was kind of slow. There was a lot of explaining this new form of magic called Chalklings and there was a lot of Geometry going on. How to draw circles, different points of circles and how a crooked line could mess everything up. I didn't know that this book took place in the early 1900's. If you didn't read the map at the beginning of the book, you wouldn't really know that. There was one part where Joel and Melody were talking about women's rights and worrying about carriages and such...I was so confused...At one point I was curious about how the world was set up, so I looked at the map and saw the date...That would have been good to know earlier...unless I missed it...which I might have. XP Also, I had a small problem with the main characters. The characters acted a lot younger than 16. Melody was whiny and Joel...there was something about him that I thought seemed odd. Like he was way too immature to be 16. I thought he was 12 multiple times...
Despite my confusion with the ages of the characters, I did enjoy them. They weren't my favorite main characters ever, but I felt like they did grow a bit, and I have a feeling they will continue to grow. I LOVED the world. I loved that it was based in the US, but the US was broken down into islands and everything had an alternate history. I mean, chopsticks being essential to Italian food? How cool is that? ...Well it's pretty cool to me...XP Also, I enjoyed the nods to steampunk culture. And once I got used to the magic, thought even with the pictures I had a hard time picturing what was happening, and I thought it was a bit awkward at times, I loved it. It is very different from anything else I have ever read and I really appreciate the creativity! Especially the fact that it is an artistic type of magic. That is neat. ^^ I thought the twists were cool too. Rithmatics is more complicated than even the main characters think it is. And the whole problem with Nebrask, so interesting!! >w< I can't wait to find out what happens in the next books!!
Well, that's enough for now!~ I really love Brandon Sanderson...He is officially one of my new favorite authors. I don't think I could not like anything he writes!~ He is just that good. ^^
Until next time my sweet little peaches! Tootles!~
