The Rithmatist

** spoiler alert ** Review: I am so confused about my feelings on this book. On one hand, I liked it...truly. I like it. I liked how a fairly complicated magic system was so enjoyable and unique to read about. Having read his other YA series, I was not at all surprised by how well this book caught m attention throughout. It was well-paced, even in scenes where there is little to no action, I found myself enjoying reading them, instead of getting bored. For context, I am referring to, the scenes where Joel was drawing in his classes with melody, the ice cream scene ♡ and interactions with professor fitch. Furthermore, I loved reading about the mystery, it was a pleasant experience, trying to figure out who did it. I especially loved that whilst doing so, we learnt more about Joel and his family. I appreciate that Joel isn't the powerful 'Chosen one', it made him more relatable in a sense. In addition, to Joel's character being a highlight, I particularly liked the side characters too? Melody made such a good character dynamic to Joel, her lack of seriousness made the whole reading experience more enjoyable and fun; plus I totally ship them, it was so adorable watching them appreciate each other's company and qualities as the book went on. I was also glad to finally see teachers/adults see potential in the main character, It was refreshing to see a main character be recognised by an adult for what he can do, rather than what he isn't. Did I mention how much I love Brandon Sanderson's writing style? <33 Anyhow, I am going to give it 3 stars. As great as it is, I felt like I wanted more development whether it was the plot or in the characters - basically I feel like it was missing something, like maybe if professor Nalizar was 'defeated/exposed' also, I feel like the little battle at the end could have been a little longer or more action-packed. Oh and maybe have more mini-action scenes scattered in the book- more so in the middle of the book. All in all, although this isn't a new fafavorite, I don't regret picking it up and will definitely pick up the next book- if it ever comes out :) If not, ill read more of his books.

Inhalt: Wie wird man Magier, wenn man nicht zaubern kann? Mit diesem Problem kämpft Joel tagtäglich, denn nichts wünscht er sich sehnlicher, als ein Rithmatist, ein berühmter Kreidemagier, zu werden. Doch so sehr er sich auch bemüht, seine Kreidefiguren bleiben leblos – bis zu dem Tag, an dem plötzlich das Schicksal aller Rithmatisten auf Joels Schultern ruht. Einem Tag, an dem eine lange verborgene Gabe in ihm erwacht … (Quelle: Verlag) Meine Meinung: Steelheart war mein erstes Buch von Brandon Sanderson und hat sich direkt einen großen Platz in meinem Herzen erkämpft. Und das völlig zu Recht. Während ich Woche für Woche die Heyne Seite nach dem Nachfolgeband von Steelheart durchforstet habe, der ünrogens auch endlich bald erscheint, bin ich vor langer Zeit über Der Rithmatist gestolpert und er erschien mir als die perfekte Wartezeitverkürzung. So kam das Buch dann auf meine Wunschliste und ich habe es direkt gelesen, als es dann endlich erschienen ist. Und schon nach den ersten Seiten musste ich feststellen: Der Rithmatist ist mehr als nur ein kleines Trostpflaster während des Wartens auf Firefight. Nein. Der Rithmatist ist viel mehr. Denn er kommt ohne Probleme an Steelheart heran und ist vielleicht sogar noch viel viel besser. Was es mir beim Lesen besonders angetan hat, war die Rithmatik, die viel mit unserer Geometrie zu tun hat, in der Welt von Joel aber eine Zauberkunst ist. Denn jeder, der bei der Weihe zum Rithmatisten ernannt wurde hat die Fähigkeit auf Kreide lebendige zweidimensionale Wesen zu erschaffen und aus geometrischen Formen und Linien werden ganz Verteidigungsanlagen. Das hat mir als Mathe-Fan einfach unglaublich gut gefallen und meine Begeisterung war geboren. Zugegeben, die ganze Rithmatik klingt, wenn ich euch so davon erzähle wirklich unglaublich schwer und kompliziert und beim Lesen von Wörtern wie Sperrlinie, Easton-Verteidigung oder Formlinie können wir uns erst einmal nichts darunter vorstellen. Hier kommt jedoch eines meiner Highlights im Buch ins Spiel. Denn zwischen zwei Kapiteln finden Leser immer tolle Zeichnungen mit Erklärungen, sodass man leicht in die Welt der Rithmatik eintaucht und beim Lesen lernt. Wie schon gesagt sind diese liebevollen Zeichnungen ein echtes Highlight für mich und unterstützen das Verstehen beim Lesen. Abgerundet wird das Ganze noch von der Weltkarte vorne im Buch und von den vielen kleinen Zeichnungen, hauptsächlich Kreidlinge natürlich, die sich auf fast jeder Seite tummeln. Würde man mich fragen, wer der beste Rithmatik-Schüler der Armedius Akademie ist, würde ich ohne zu zögern sagen Joel. Keiner ist mit so viel Freude bei der Sache, keiner interessiert sich so sehr für die Geschichte der Rithmatik wie Joel und noch dazu kann Joel beinahe perfekt die selbst schwierigsten Verteidigungen zeichnen. Da gibt es nur ein kleines Problem: Joel ist gar kein Rithmatist. Und genau das tat mir am Anfang im Herzen weh. Denn wenn es einer verdient hat Rithmatist zu sein, dann ist es Joel. Doch irgendwann gab es einen Cut in meinem Denken und ich habe angefangen es gut zu finden, dass Joel eben NICHT Rithmatist ist. Ich musste an Steelheart denken und hier findet man die entscheidende Gemeinsamkeit: Man muss nicht stark sein um Großes zu vollbringen. Das zeigt uns Brandon Sanderson in jedem seiner Werke denn immer sind die augenscheinlich schwachen die wahren Helden und das macht sie nur noch liebenswerter und heldenhafter. Das ist für mich die wichtige Botschaft hinter der Rithmatist. Zusammen damit, dass man wenn man zusammenarbeitet großes vollbringen kann. Aber davon mag ich euch nun nicht mehr verraten. Sonst entstehen Spoiler. Ich bin restlos begeistert von der Idee der Rithmatik, von Joel als einen unglaublich tollen und liebenswürdigen Protagonisten und natürlich auch von Brandon Sanderson und seinem perfekten Schreibstil, der den Leser sofort in der Welt des Buches gefangen nimmt. Aber abgesehen davon bin ich auch begeistert von der eigentlichen Geschichte des Buches. Kaum haben wir uns in der Welt von Joel zu Recht gefunden passiert es auch schon: Rithmatik-Schüler verschwunden spurlos und bald schon beschäftigen sich viele verschiedene Parteien mit dem Fall. Und natürlich wird auch Joel mit hineingezogen und trägt seinen Anteil dazu bei. Das Geschehen schweißt den Leser förmlich an die Seiten denn immer wieder gibt es neue Wendungen und Theorien und man wird mehr als einmal überrascht. Ich kann euch versichern, es gibt keinen Cliffhanger. Das Geschehen an sich wird gelöst. Dennoch gibt es auch einen Konflikt, der die ganze Reihe übergreifen wird und ich kann gar nicht abwarten erneut in die Welt der Rithmatik einzutauchen und mit Joel das gesamte Rätsel zu lösen. Leider werden wir uns allerdings noch eine Weile gedulden müssen, denn der zweite Band erscheint erst 2017 auf Englisch. Bewertung: Ihr konntet es schon in meiner Rezension lesen: Ich bin restlos begeistert und habe nicht die kleinsten Kritikpunkte. Der Rithmatist entführt seine Leser in eine perfekt konstruierte Welt voller Rätsel und Magie. Wunderbar ausgestaltete Charaktere, der tolle Schreibstil von Brandon Sanderson und auch die Zeichnungen runden das Leseerlebnis ab und machen Der Rithmatist für mich zu einem Lesehighlight in diesem Jahr. Deshalb vergebe ich begeisterte 5 von 5 Füchschen und noch dazu den Lieblingsfuchs für besonders tolle Bücher. Vielen Dank an Heyne fliegt für die Zusendung dieses tollen *Rezensionsexemplars.

My fist Sanderson YA novel. I can’t wait for my kids to read this story one day!

On Advanced Structures in Rithmatic Theory Disclaimer: This is not a review. It's a "let's break magic for funzies'' post! Okay, since I'm still in an brainy mood being somewhat fresh off of finishing The Glass Bead Game by Hesse, and being one of those eccentric mathy types that curses me with an innate desire to extrapolate out the rules / stretch the axiomatic limits of magic systems, let's do this! ✨⚛️👨‍🔬 In this book we are introduced to a magic system where people called Rithmatists battle each other using special lines and figures drawn out of chalk. We are told that there are 4 commonly known rithmatic lines, with 2 new lines being discovered throughout the novel. The first line is called the Line of Warding (LoW), which is a circular-shaped line drawn around the rithmatist at the start of a battle to protect them from chalk attacks. The strength of such a line is determined by how evenly/smoothly it is drawn and also by its curvature, with circles being equally strong all around, and ellipses being particularly strong at the tips of its major axis (the "sharper/pointy" ends) and weaker at the points along its "flatter" minor axis. The second line is called the Line of Forbiddance (LoF), which is a single straight line that projects out an invisible defensive wall perpendicular to the surface it is drawn from, with its strength determined by its straightness, and its height determined by its thickness. The third line is called the Line of Vigor (LoV), which looks like a sine wave and is used to shoot at opposing forces. It can be used to help destroy chalklings (animated chalk drawings that can move and fight), hit and wear down the defenses of a LoW, or bounce off of a LoF. Since they behave similar to light waves, they are stronger / higher energy when they are more tightly drawn / have higher frequency, and weaker when "stretched out". The fourth line is called the Line of Making (LoM), which are basically the lines used to create chalkings or animated drawings that can follow very specific instructions given by the rithmatist and be used to attack the opposing defenses of other rithmatists. They can't affect anything besides chalk, unless you add the Glyph of Rending (GoR) to it. All four of the above traditionally-known rithmatic lines are summarized in the picture below: The next two newly discovered lines are the Line of Silence (LoS) and the Line of Revocation (LoR), with the former possessing the ability to absorb loud sounds above a certain threshold and the latter being similar to the shooting ability of a LoV but with the extra property that it can affect physical matter and not just chalk drawings. Here's an example of the latter: Furthermore, in the rithmatic duels in the book, we are introduced to various defensive structures that rithmatists construct around themselves. In the book, usually one circular LoW is drawn around the rithmatist, and anchored to this spot via LoF's strategically placed inside the circle (so that if hit by a powerful LoV, the circle doesn't move from its original spot). Smaller circles are then drawn on various bindpoints along the original circle based on the points of intersection of an imagined overlapping triangle placed onto the circle. Now given all that background, let's get our creative juices pumping, shall we? Rather than having one primary circle/LoW with smaller circles branching off from the bindpoints, what if we instead began drawing equivalent-sized overlapping circles, building out a grid of these and tiling/tessellating outwards on our plane? We could get something similar to the Flower of Life pattern by varying between squared-circle, centered square, or triangular lattice patterns. So why do this? Not only are we building out our defensive structures from which we can then easily jump between (unlike the walls/LoF, the circles/LoW do not project an impenetrable physical wall in front of us), but if we examine our structures closely, we can see that we are simultaneously drawing oscillatory waves / LoV, built from half of the circumference of each consecutive circle translated sideways, which can be temporarily locked and then shot out once the other half of the circle is destroyed, or which can be triggered by you dismissing that other half of your chalk circle, leaving just a curve left to become the wave/LoV to shoot. Because the book emphasizes the fact that the rithmatist has to juggle between offensive and defensive drawings, this bottleneck is partially relieved by this strategy of killing two birds with one stone. But wait, can this strategy also let us simultaneously kill THREE birds with one stone? It turns out that because of certain theories of aesthetics based on data compression and symmetry we can exploit the fractal quality of larger circles and curves being built out of smaller ones to allow us to construct drawings of chalklings themselves like the butterfly and flower vase shown below. This allows us to launch a really strong offense of chalkling armies on command by dismissing select portions of our circles, turning a previously thought strong defense into a super strong offense, catching an opponent by surprise. We can even create a mobile version of our base of operation (eg - a mecha suit) since chalkings can do what you tell them to do, so you can tell it to halt once it arrives at a certain place and then you can draw back certain circles and lines to anchor it back in place, reconstructing your base. Or we can totally eschew the idea that we need a base to begin with and go entirely mobile, running around, dodging and firing Lines of Vigor like a ninja, while strategically setting up key "mirrors" out of LoF so that we can fire non-intuitive bounce shots at opponent's who aren't as adept at calculating their angles and timing. Now remember how we emphasized that our main bottleneck / limiting factor in a fight is really a combination of the time it takes to think vs. the time it takes to draw? What if we could alleviate the cognitive load on our precious mental bandwidth by automating some of our thinking and running our processes in parallel. "Now,” Fitch said, settling down on the floor, “there is a lot more to being a successful Rithmatist than lines. The ability to draw is very important—indeed, quite foundational. The ability to think is even more important. The Rithmatist who can think faster than his or her opponent can be just as successful as the one who can draw quickly. After all, drawing quickly does you no good if you draw the wrong lines. We know that chalk diagrams can interact with each other via waves/LoV or chalkings themselves, and that chalklings themselves aren't completely destroyed once hit. Could we recast this apparent weakness into a strength? Like many things in life, it's only a matter of perspective! We can view "movement" or even "partial damage" as a primitive notion of "state" or "memory" (for example, having two states of motion representing our "true/false" or "1/0" in binary). If we systematically organize simple chalkings in a grid-like fashion such that they only move a certain way if they receive a certain interaction / input, then we can at least have the computational power comparable to what's known in the Chomsky hierarchy of languages as a context-sensitive grammar and create something similar to a cellular automaton like in Conway's Game of Life. So why is this useful? It turns out that this logical structure is sufficiently Turing-complete in that we can use it to build a computer composed entirely of simple interacting chalk agents. This will then allow us to create a primitive version of a "battle calculator" (similar to army regiments waving alternating flags in Souls of the Great Machine acting as analog logic components of a computer) which then allows us to intelligently calculate the trajectories and ballistics of incoming and outgoing fired Lines of Vigor. Furthermore, because we have a working computer, we can then write a program that implements an optimization algorithm that intelligently allocates the proportion of resources + time that should be spent firing LoV at our opponents, shoring up our defenses, or drawing chalkling armies. All this calculation and processing can be automated and scheduled via primitive cron job-like programs, or alternatively react to opponent's actions via simple strategically placed geometric constructions that act as sensors to our chalk machine and can signal to each other via LoV reflected off of LoF similar to an optical computing machine. Again, all this is done to help free up our precious personal mental bandwidth that is the bottleneck in most chalk fights, allowing us to turn our attention to the grander picture of forest-level strategy over tree-level tactics and eliminating much of that switching-cost of cognitively jumping back and forth between the levels. Superior logistics like this wins wars! Now that we've seen how to wield the power granted by knowledge of basic Theory of Computing principles, let's get back to our humble physics of chalk magic, shall we? Because we'll probably need to buy ourselves time to construct our elaborate chalk structures (even if we've made it easy through use of our repetitive circle symmetry), we can leverage our knowledge that these lines behave mathematically like light waves. Since we know LoV bounce or reflect off of LoF, we can borrow an idea from the geometry of optics to create something known as a Retroreflector. By arranging our LoF in a "zig-zag" /\/\/\/\/\ pattern made out of 90-degree components like shown below, we can create a shield that effectively bounces all beams right back in the same direction as our opponents, striking them with their own shots! And by creating a maze-like network of these, we can strategically time our "dismissing" of our chalk lines to take in opposing shots and trap them bouncing around in our network until we want to release them all at once in rapid succession! Now we know that LoV behave like light or sine waves, with "tighter squiggles" possessing more energy than "stretched-out squiggles". From something known as wave interference we know that smaller waves can superpose or combine together to form a wave of bigger or smaller amplitude. Furthermore, we know from the mathematics of Fourier series that we can re-create the shapes of other waves by summing multiple (weighted) smaller waves together like shown below. As rithmatic theorists, perhaps we can speculate on the nature of this apparent distinction made between Lines of Vigor (which are your traditional sinusoidal curved waves that can only affect chalk drawings but cannot affect matter) vs. Lines of Revocation (which are sharp, jagged, "saw-tooth"-shaped waves which can interact with matter. Since we know that LoR (jagged w/ a straight line through it) are described as being a cross of LoF (straight line) and LoV (wavy-line), then we can guess that a LoR is pretty much composed of a LoF giving it the ability to interact with physical matter combined with LoV's added up together to give it the sharp jagged shape, like in the image below: And because we can create other types of waves like triangle waves and square waves (ex - using only odd harmonics) through this Fourier process of summing smaller waves, could we perhaps speculate on yet-to-be-discovered rithmatic lines? Also notice that saw-tooth-like waves are similar to the wave shapes generated by a violin bow across strings, and that other sounds are represented by other wave shapes. Could this wave-like relation to sound and hence time be the reason chalklings are affected by certain man-made time-keeping instruments like clocks? Maybe also form the mechanistic basis for how sound gets dampened by Lines of Silence? "Yes, there are some strange references to the workings of clocks in the early records, and we haven’t been able to figure out why. Early chalklings reacted to them, though they no longer do so." And from a chalk-being: "Do you know why time is so confusing to some of us, Joel?” Nalizar asked...“Because man created it. He sectioned it off. There is nothing inherently important about a second or a minute. They’re fictional divisions, enacted by mankind, fabricated.” He eyed Joel. “Yet in a human’s hands, these things have life. Minutes, seconds, hours. The arbitrary becomes a law. For an outsider, these laws can be unsettling. Confusing. Frightening." The above theory also makes me wonder about rithmatic properties of non-differentiable points along a curve, like the jagged points of the saw-tooth graph (or cusps / spinodes / singularities)? How about the endpoints of lines? I question this since we know that curvature not only plays a role in the energy stored in a LoV (tighter vs. stretched-out waves), but it also plays a role in the strength of a LoW (ellipse vs. circle). Are the presence of these singularities potentially related to the ability to project out from the 2D universe into the 3D one and interact with matter? Also, could our aforementioned subjective theory of aesthetics being built from underlying symmetrical circles potentially explain why certain "more aesthetic" chalkling drawings are stronger than "badly drawn" ones? "He’d always seen Rithmatics as…well, something scientific and measurable. A Line of Warding’s strength was proportionate to the degree of its curve. The height of a Line of Forbiddance’s blocking power was proportional to its width. The lines all made direct, measurable sense...There has to be an objective point of reference that determines what makes a good drawing and what doesn’t—even if that objective point of reference is the subjective opinion of the Rithmatist doing the drawing.” Building further upon this wave theory of rithmatics, we know that like light waves LoV are capable of refracting, or in other words, when traveling from one medium to another different medium at an angle, there may be a change in the direction of the wave due to one side of the wavefront being slowed before the other. We know refraction in real-life is further due to light being an oscillatory electromagnetic wave that interacts with the charged particles of the material through which it is propagating through, causing these charged particles to create electromagnetic oscillations of their own that then interact with the original light wave. Translating this into rithmatics, does this imply that there is an inherent "chalkiness" to every material? Could we perhaps use the above properties to create a "chalk prism" that can separate out potential spectral colors (wavelengths) of a particular wave / LoV? Maybe this can help us discover new rithmatic lines / learn how the ones we have relate to each other? Furthermore, because all of these chalk waves lie on a 2D surface, they all topologically have the same polarity or orientation (they only "wiggle" within the horizontal direction of the plane). Can we investigate the dimensional and topological properties of chalk waves? Could we create chalk knots? Also, there are many ways in which 3D projects down to 2D, hence losing information. Where did that "information" go? And what's this whole deal with curvature + symmetry? Symmetry tells us what things remain the same/constant across structure, in essence, what remains invariant, so by Noether's Theorem this might elucidate Laws of Conservation, helping answer where the energy from sound went when absorbed by a Line of Silence. Is there some hidden "chalk dimension" we've yet to discover? Also, what's the "divine number"?! "The only truly eternal and perfect shape, it has been a symbol for the Master’s works since the ancient Egyptian Ahmes first discovered the divine number itself.” Special cursed thanks to Sylvin for convincing me to read this + derailing my previously planned reading order of books. I will half-grudgingly admit that, yes, this was fun. Dusts!

Dear Brandon Sanderson, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself if I keep reading your books. They are heartbreaking. I offhandedly prepared myself for bed sometime around 8 and tossed in a couple minutes of cozy reading, then those couple minutes became a couple hours because I didn't notice the time passing. Also, if you saw my note that essentially reads "I hate the characters so much, I'm considering giving up on this book," I am very sorry. Because really, in the beginning of the book, I despised all the characters. I despised Melody's "I hate everybody and I'm not even going to try to get along with them" attitude, Nalizar's arrogance (and name (view spoiler)[because let's be honest, you cannot give a character a name like Andrew Nalizar and not expect him to be a vllain (hide spoiler)]), Fitch passively letting everyone walk all over him, the lack of understanding, superiority, and bigotry that suffused the general population of Armedius, and most of all, Joel's "everything that isn't Rithmatics is stupid and useless and not worth paying attention to" attitude. It was so, so difficult to get through the beginning pages of the narration with that attitude. What was good about the beginning? Well, everything else that's typically good about Sanderson's books. The worldbuilding is truly incredible; I think I like it even more than that of Steelheart's, although I like the imagery of the cities in Steelheart more. That series is my aesthetic in dystopia. This Sanderson book had a quirky sort of Neil Gaiman atmosphere to it, with its an odd, complex little magic system and strange, Snicket-esque names. (So apparently Korea is the most dominating force in the world, and Nebraska, a real-life rural nowhere, is an island of chaos, turmoil, and chalk monsters. I can get behind this.) The way he named things was hilarious. And the springpunk setting — I LOVED IT. I don't bump into many stories like it, but it's definitely something I'm interested in reading more of. Also, the little notes on basic Rithmatics? I lived for those. Beginning aside, the characters get better, I swear. I love Melody with all my heart, and I really want to see more of her and Joel's friendship (emphasis on Friendship Not Romance; I'm so sick of boring dystopian heterosexual romance) and her relationship with her family. Fitch was yes. Joel definitely grew more likable, in part because the narrative starts getting deeper into Rithmatics and farther away from those Stupid, Useless, Not Worth Paying Attention To topics, but also because he really does develop into a better, more open person. Nalizar doesn't really improve, and the ending made me hate him more. It's all right, since you're set up to hate him anyway. Also, I don't make a habit of reading mysteries — and I don't plan to — but this was definitely a good one in that aspect! I did manage to guess who did it, as well as a couple other plot twists, but it still surprised me a good amount of times while also having an open ending instead of tying up every last loose end. Cough, cough, here's a warning about that— the sequel isn't going to come out until at least 2017. :) :) :) 4/5, would definitely recommend for: premise, worldbuilding, and characters. Also for if you like fantasy, murder mysteries, or both.

Just love this book I don't like giving this book more stars than the Mistborn (Era One) series, but though I I think I enjoyed that series more over all, this book just captured me. Sure, there are elements that are derivative, but that doesn't matter. What really made this book so wonderful fort me was the banter between Joel and Melody. Much like Sanderson's other works, characters are well crafted. But the back and forth between these two just rings so true. It's sad that Sanderson has struggled to get his head back into the world the Rithmatist, following his Wheel Of Time sabbatical. I really do hope he does do it someday tough, there is just something extremely special about this book.

oh, it was good. was a bit slow for me in the beginning, but man... mr Sanderson knows how to write a book

4.5 🌟 Brandon Sanderson è un genio. Non so come sia possibile, ma gli riesce bene tutto. Anche questa volta la storia mi è piaciuta! I cerchi disegnati col gesso mi hanno ricordato i cerchi alchemici di Fullmetal Alchemist (che sia voluto? 🧐). Joel all'inizio non mi stava particolarmente simpatico, ma è riuscito a farmi cambiare idea su di lui man mano 😌 Melody è decisamente la mia preferita, fantastica ❤️ Per alcuni versi protrebbe essere letto come uno standalone, ma sembra che ci sarà un seguito. Forse. Chissà quando XD.

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.