The Rithmatist Author: Brandon Sanderson | Language: English | ISBN:
B00AJGNICW | Format: PDF
The Rithmatist Description
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Brandon Sanderson: his debut novel for the young adult audience
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.
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2013 A New York Times Book Review Notable Children's Book of 2013
At the publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management software (DRM) applied.
- File Size: 6111 KB
- Print Length: 384 pages
- Publisher: Tor Teen (May 14, 2013)
- Sold by: Macmillan
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00AJGNICW
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #13,794 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
First off, if you are a Sanderson fan, keep in mind that this is written for teens, so do not expect anything along the lines of his other books. This is NOT like Mistborn or his other works! So if you are looking for an epic novel in The Rithmatist, skip it and be patient for Sanderson's next work.
As the parent who was always on the lookout for good books, I appreciated reviews that helped me choose what to order. This is written with an eye to helping other parents. No spoilers.
The Rithmatist is about a young man, Joel, who is attending an exclusive school that trains both Rithmatist and non-Rithmatist students. Rithmatists have the ability to bring chalk drawings, called chalkings, to life, and to use symbols in chalk for defensive and offensive purposes. Joel is not a Rithmatist, although he yearns to be one and is trying to learn as much about the subject as possible. His father was a chalkmaker, but died 8 years earlier, and his mother works as a cleaning woman at night while Joel attends the school on a scholarship. He is a very smart, but only applies himself to those subjects that interest him. When Rithmatist students begin disappearing, Joel is assigned as a summerschool aide to a Rithmatist professor, and he becomes involved in the professor's investigation, along with another Rithmatist student, Melody.
From a parent's point of view, this is a good choice. It has no foul language or sexual situations of any sort. There is some violence, but it is generally not seen as it happens 'off stage.' And, the violence is of an otherworldly type and not something a child could ever experience or likely to cause nightmares.
I liked the way that Sanderson put moral lessons in the book, although it is not preachy at all.
Plot (taken from the book description)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
What I Liked
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Oh, boy. Where to begin?
1) Characters. I really liked the characters. I felt the characters of non-Rithmatist Joel and Rithmatists Melody and Professor Fitch were fantastic. They came to life for me, all having their own distinct personalities. I liked the absent-minded manner that Fitch mentored Joel and I liked the type of relationship that Joel and Melody have. They are complete opposites of each other and I thought Sanderson played with that brilliantly.
2) Setting. Most of this takes place at a school, so this does have a bit of a Harry Potter feel to it. In fact, I think you can draw a lot of similarities, almost like if Harry Potter went to Hogwarts with an interest in magic, but could not perform magic himself.
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