Review: 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 of the American Isles.
As the son of a lowly chalkmaker at Armedius Academy, Joel can only watch as Rithmatist students study 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.
Bestselling author Brandon Sanderson brings his unique brand of epic storytelling to the teen audience with an engrossing tale of danger and suspense—the first of a series. With his trademark skills in world-building, Sanderson has created a magic system that is so inventive and detailed that that readers who appreciate games of strategy and tactics just may want to bring Rithmatics to life in our world.

I decided to buy a copy of The Rithmatist when I saw that many people had picked up Brandon Sanderson’s books at BEA and said great things about them. This book was absolutely amazing and fun to read.

Sanderson totally invented a new world that was believable and fun to read about. There was some true history to the novel while he also altered a bunch of things to make a brand new world (like separating the North American continent into several different Islands). Rithmatics was a very interesting subject and I’m glad the author went into a lot of detail when talking about the history and schematics of it. The illustrations in the story and at the beginning of every chapter added to the novel and made rithmatics that much more understandable and believable.The chalklings and the whole dueling stuff in the novel also made The Rithmatist a special read.

Joel is one of my new favorite male characters. He’s smart, witty, and although he was a brat sometimes I could relate with him in how he loved learning and he thought like an actual person. Joel’s one of those characters who would likely be a secondary character in most books because he doesn’t have the special abilities (as far as we know), but I enjoyed him as the main character because he brought a lot of meaning to 

the novel and I can’t wait to find out what happens with him in the next book.

The ending….ugh, can I just say that I need the next book now? It won’t come out til 2015 though…*sob*. There wasn’t really anything I didn’t love about this novel and I finished it in about two and half hours, only stopping to eat a snack. 5 stars!