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The Rithmatist
The Rithmatist
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- I found Melody to be a good character, if potentially VERY tiring to hang around with in real life. Her heart was good, even if everything was Joel's fault and he was stalking her and it was all just so appalling!- This was set in the early 20th century, since they mention the turn of the century and a duel that happen in 1888, and I think it was done well. Sanderson usually writes new worlds, so to read 1888 I was initially confused. A dating system like we have? ...Wait, you mean this is OUR world, but not? Sanderson, you brilliant writer you.
- Because in that time in our world, it was? World War II played a huge role in balancing the sexes, and this world won't even have World War I. Europe has already been conquered by Asia, so instead we have the fact that both genders can become Rithmatists to balance things. When I figured out it was based in an alternate of our world, I was actually surprised at how equal they were.
- I didn't notice, and if the chapter drawings are important, good catch! Me, I was too busy enjoying them. I think I loved every single one and how they interacted with the numbers.
- The sketches were indeed great, and served a double purpose of not only teaching and illustrating, but ensuring that we the reader would imagine certain things how he intended. Melody draws "girly" unicorns, and now we know exactly what the wild chalklings look like. I was imagining the aliens from Asteroid before I saw the drawings. :-)
- I wouldn't say I'm disappointed with the end, but I am also VERY MUCH looking forward to the next book. A villain is stopped and another revealed, Joel and Melody not only discover they compliment each other, but reveal that a mundane can help a Rithmatist in duels. I want more, but I'm "okay" with what I got.
I wanted to make a second comment just regarding the world. This early 20th Century Other-Earth, different, at least, since the future 60 United Isles were discovered in the West.North America is made of islands, but the names are similiar. I loved that. The Californian Archipelago, Floridian Attols, Georgiabama, East Carolina, Nebrask...
Nebrask. A tower on this island the source of wild chalklings? The existence of chalklings at all! Did the continent break up because of this tower, in the past? No natives, and the Aztec empire's been fighting them for a long time...
Eqypt! Clockworks and windup trains and clockwork horses and such become more prevalent and replacing living horses at the same time as cars were becoming more popular in our world? I was actually impressed how the book sells itself as being about Chalk, and then gave me a such a rich clockwork world too!
Asia conquering Europe, forcing the king to the new world? It was at first mentioned in small things, and my favorite is Joel thinking the cooks were getting exotic by making German food. What? That was, in my opinion, a very good way of underlining that this was a world similar but different, without beating us over the head with it.
I love this world. It's familiar enough that I'm not scrambling to find a foothold, and strange enough that I'm continually shown new things.
Oh yeah. Melody would decidedly not be my friend in real life. I wonder what constitutes their "native" food. Just British-esque? I recall some fondness of sandwiches.
I liked how the exotic German food was apparently a hybrid with the JoSeun conquerors' food. Chopsticks for brats!
Having just reread the final chapter, does it seem like deaths don't actually happen at all in Nebrask? It's mentioned at least once in the book that deaths are relatively rare at the front, and then we see all these squiggly chalkings actually revert to humans! WHICH made me just realize! No natives when Westerners arrived, right? But there are all of these wild chalkings. Are *they* the former occupants of the United Isles??
I'd guess British/Asian, from their origin country, and then the fact that Joseun controls much of the rest of the world (Asia/Europe), it would have a big influence.Side-question, I don't recognize where that might have come from: JoSeun? I might be I'm being unusually oblivious, but I don't recognize where Sanderson might have gotten it.
...Excellent thought! I didn't even think of that, but it makes sense. You're right that we now know those who "died" on the front, probably didn't. And that's a good way of explaining what happened to our world's natives.
Hmm. If that is what Sanderson was thinking, then A. The tower probably popped up unexpectedly at some point, possibly leading to the creation of the isles, if they weren't already like that. Unless told differently, we have to assume the rest of the world is physically the same as ours, so when did the Isles come about?
And B. As seen when the Forgotten got hit by the acid, the chalklings can be returned to themselves if their controller/creator is killed. Beat the boss at the top of the tower, the natives return? ...That could get complicated.
Mod
But no, instead, we get this perfect meshing of skills that was there all along. It's not a Joel Ex Machina, or anything like that. And to see dear, over-dramatic Melody go from despair to success...
It just pushed a lot of the right buttons for me.
There were a lot of grace notes that made me happy. Much like the food thing, and the clockwork horse. Not the major point, but there, filling out the world. The fact that Melody's parents were not horrible...just sort of perfect. Annoyingly so. The idea of Knight-Senators. The names of the states. Etc...
Also, the end didn't bother me. Like I said, the Melee was satisfying. I think because the personal arcs were resolved (Joel gets to learn what he wants, the chalklings have transformed back, Melody feels that life is slightly less TRAGIC) I was more okay with there being story hooks left for the future.
Also, Sanderson is a robot. It's the only explanation for how fast he writes. Even though he's got a couple other series he's working on, I know I'll get the rest of the story sooner or later.
Mod
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseon
Apparently a Korean state that is responsible for most of the unification of Korea and Korean culture today. When faced with attacks from Japan and Qing put up a defense and became known as the hermit kingdom...
I'm guessing that was not their response in this world...
Mod
Sanderson and Lackey. We now know where the self aware and creative robots went, and I am A-OK with that.
-How awesome is Melody? Her life is a traaaAAAAGEDDYY!! Though, I must say, it has to be terrible to be called spoiled by a dumb teenage boy when all you want to do is not go die in war.
-Very sharp class distinctions, akin to the apparently comparable late 19th century of our own timeline. Ex- Joel got a penny for his birthday, but Melody gets a dollar a week.
-Awkward gender imbalance/prejudice that seemed out of place, honestly. It didn't seem to play much a role in this storyline or particular universe, so why was there fairly often mention of women filling the manly roles of journalist, secretary, or soldier like it was the strangest thing in the world?
-Did the pictures that indicate chapter numbers have anything to do with the contents of that particular chapter? I finally took note of the different pictures at the beginning of chapter 21 and have wondered. 21 was a reaper and I'm pretty sure there was a lot of death in that one. 23 was a turtle shell, so... defense? Joel and Melody *did* have to defend themselves. 24 was a unicorn, so Melody (was that the East Carolina chapter?). Am I stretching here, or on to something awesome?
-I loved the little sketches throughout.
-The ending was really disappointing. I felt like hardly anything was resolved at all and the next book isn't expected until 2015...