The Rithmatist

Very much a young adult book, but still a lot of fun. This one reminded me of a cross between Elantris and Steelheart in a Harry Potter setting. The magic mechanic for this one focuses around a world where “Rithmatists” (think wizards) fight the worlds battles against a vague evil. Rithmatists fight by drawing figures in chalk that are effectively wards against evil, or offensive. The somewhat short story was entertaining all the way through, with great characters, a good magic system and just overall fun. Not the amazing, tell everyone you know fun, but an entertaining story. I'll surely read the next one in the series when it comes out.

I think this is the first YA marketed Sanderson that I have read. In this particular case, this still feels very much like any other Sanderson - the YA is probably more to do with the setting and the age of the protagonist rather than anything different in Sanderson's writing style. This could just as easily been a Cosmere book in the way it feels. Like most Sanderson books, the key device is based around some clever ‘hard' magic. In this case, magic is produced by drawing with chalk, but only if you have an innate ability to use it, determined through some test when you are a child. The rithmatic magic is used to fight against ‘chalkings' - wild creatures of chalk.

This takes the slightly tropey setting of a school for magicians, but adds the interesting twist that our main character, whilst being very knowledgeable about the theory of rithmatism, is not actual able to use the magic. The plot follow a murder mystery style pattern with an investigation into a series of disappearances of promising young rithmatists. As with any Sanderson, it is his character work and strong world building that really binds this story together. For the moment we only have this first book in this world, but I am sure that Sanderson will return to it at some point, and it is a fun one to read!