From the hordes of attacking chalkings, to a filigree of gears on the chapter titles, to diagrams of Rithmatic patterns, this story is a visual delight. Luckily, this novel has a wealth of pictures. The defensive circles of chalk are a convolution of interlocking spheres.įew readers could visualize them without pictures. He steals into the classrooms of Professor Fitch to watch demonstrations. In this story of a magic school, the protagonist is a disenfranchised servant. His infatuation with Rithmatic magic has driven his life-and ruined it when he learned he could not become one. That’s where the scholarly Joel comes in. The madness of his scrawling defies understanding. His antagonist, the Scribbler, is kidnapping the students of a magic school with chalky minions. With the monsters in this world flat, Brandon Sanderson ties one dimension behind his back and still creates terrors. Like demon cockroaches, they’ll gnaw me to the whites of my bones. Skittering, squirming caricatures will swarm across the floor. If any weakness exists, the enemy chalkings will find it.

My drawing will need precision, lines straight, angles exact. Scrawling wave patterns that snake outward in white blasts of power. Defending it with chalk drawings that come alive. Just so I could hold one and imagine drawing a circle of protection around myself. I wish the hardcover book came with three pieces of chalk. If you love the idea of dominating through geometry, then The Rithmatist is the gearpunk fantasy for you.

The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson