Just finished Rithmatist

[LewsTherinTelescope]

Stuff below is copied from a word vomit into the 17th Shard Discord. It's not particularly thought through, and so may have typos and things may be worded oddly. Also, the lines between paragraphs are because I posted them as separate messages (though I wrote it as one post), due to character limits on Discord, and so I needed a better separation since you can't have a blank line at the start or end of a message. I've kept them because eh, it works. And it emphasizes that I did not at any point go back and change anything in earlier parts. I also definitely brought some things up in multiple paragraphs because I forgot I wrote the earlier ones/came up with new ideas inspired by something I just wrote after the earlier paragraph. Oops. Aaaand this paragraph is ugly.

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Finished Rithmatist, and now I can join everyone else in a painful wait for the sequel. Loved the book. Bad at giving explanations, so I'll leave it there and just give thoughts below.

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I tried so hard not to fall for tricks, but still fell for Nalizar's red herring redemption... Welp, that's why I love Brandon.

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I actually wonder if Joel will somehow win Nalizar over eventually, because of the latter's curiosity. Of course, a redemption arc may be too cliche.

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I did expect the ceremony thing to fail, but I also sort of expected he'd still get power somehow. Though there's always the sequel.... But honestly I like him not having magic, and having to work together with Melody to counteract each of their flaws. That does however leave them vulnerable if they're separated. I expect Melody to develop her skill and be capable of holding her own without Joel, but I'm curious what'll happen to him.

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Current theory on Rithmatists, they're bonded to Shadowblazes, in a more symbiotic form of a Forgotten's possession. This gives an easy explanation for why one Rithmatist needs to die before another can gain power. This does however leave me curious why what I assume was the Shadowblaze left without bonding Joel. I hope Joel and Melody talk about Melody's inception or whatever it was called, so they can wonder about this themselves. Also, I hate characters refusing to communicate. So please *talk*.

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I can definitely see the Cosmere influence. Rithmatics would be right at home on Sel (if you lived in a circular country, which you could probably blame Adonalsium for). I think "the Tower" may have something like a Perpendicularity. I believe Brandon has said that avoiding Cosmere stuff in it would require changing where he intended the story to go a lot, and I could see a Perpendicularity being one of those things left over.

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But yeah, the magic just screams Sel. Very specific instructions, shapes made in a specific way and pattern, Intent.... However, Brandon had a different Shard planned that would have been in Rithmatist, so it can't even have originally taken place on Sel. So probably just a similar thing to there.

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I remember Brandon saying certain creatures (I don't remember which) were originally beings from the Spiritual Realm. I assume these are the Forgotten and possibly Shadowblazes. I remember him giving a fascination with time as one effect of that, and Forgotten and chalklings both seem to exhibit this. Shadowblazes are similar to both and so probably are as well. Assuming they're even different.... I could see them being the same as Forgotten and just choosing not to fully possess or something. Though I'll need to wait for the sequel to learn that...

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So glad that Joel and Melody didn't kiss at the end, no offence to those who like it but I hate the "celebratory first kiss" sort of thing. Now that I think about it, I don't know that Joel and Melody have moved on beyond "good friend" yet. I really hope they don't go romantic, because we need more platonic opposite-gender besties. This is probably the thing I feel the most relief at from the ending, honestly. I would bet money that they'll become romantically involved in the sequel, but for now I can pretend.

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I'll leave that as my last thought on the book.

[LewsTherinTelescope]

Just found out the Rithmatist world is halfish the size of ours. Sel is 1.3x our world iirc. I will now insist, despite anything Brandon says to the contrary, that the third Great Domain on Sel is the Rithmatist world, and I will ignore any logical issues with that like people sailing around the world.

[Lindy Moon]

So glad you liked it!

On 8/21/2020 at 3:41 AM, LewsTherinTelescope said:

Also, I hate characters refusing to communicate. So please *talk*.

I am the same way. Sanderson handles it really well though, I think. At least there's a reason for her not talking about it that's not just 'don't want to', 'assuming something and not checking if they're right', or 'plot dictates it". It's the same in Mistborn.

On 8/21/2020 at 3:41 AM, LewsTherinTelescope said:

So glad that Joel and Melody didn't kiss at the end, no offence to those who like it but I hate the "celebratory first kiss" sort of thing. Now that I think about it, I don't know that Joel and Melody have moved on beyond "good friend" yet. I really hope they don't go romantic, because we need more platonic opposite-gender besties. This is probably the thing I feel the most relief at from the ending, honestly. I would bet money that they'll become romantically involved in the sequel, but for now I can pretend.

Again, I'm the same way. I'm asexual and aromantic, so having the boy and girl always end up romantically together gets tiring (hence why I'm writing a book where they don't). And who knows, maybe Sanderson's assistant, Peter, or even Brandon himself, will see this. Could influence how it goes, since from what I've seen, he likes to avoid clichés.

[LewsTherinTelescope]

3 hours ago, MoonBlinked13 said:

I am the same way. Sanderson handles it really well though, I think. At least there's a reason for her not talking about it that's not just 'don't want to', 'assuming something and not checking if they're right', or 'plot dictates it". It's the same in Mistborn.

Yeah, he generally deals with it much better than a lot of authors. Doesn't use it nearly as often, and when it does happen there's often good reason. But I've seen it overused poorly so many times I just have a greatly annoyed gut reaction even when it's on its own perfectly reasonable 

3 hours ago, MoonBlinked13 said:

Again, I'm the same way. I'm asexual and aromantic, so having the boy and girl always end up romantically together gets tiring

Not even ace or aro myself, though I imagine it's something a lot of people who are will relate to, but most of my close friends are female and I'm male, and so the way people act about that stuff to our faces has made things real awkward to hang out in public sometimes. Neither me nor my friends really appreciate being told by people who barely know us that I'm just trying to get in their pants, y'know? (Though there's the occasional upside like that time a restaurant gave a friend and I a free slice of cake because they assumed guy + girl at table = a date, lol. But one or two slices of cake doesn't really outweigh the downsides.)

So I'm always happy when a guy and a girl can just be good close friends in a story. Bonus points if they can be strong platonic friends the entire time without romantic tension ever even entering the picture, instead of it having to be the resolution to a love triangle lmao. (Which is another trope where Brandon's mostly been more reasonable with the way he uses it, at least.)

3 hours ago, MoonBlinked13 said:

(hence why I'm writing a book where they don't)

Oh nice, you have more info on it posted anywhere?

3 hours ago, MoonBlinked13 said:

And who knows, maybe Sanderson's assistant, Peter, or even Brandon himself, will see this. Could influence how it goes, since from what I've seen, he likes to avoid clichés.

Doubt this comment in particular is gonna push that one over the edge 

But yeah, I imagine at the very least it's something he's thought about and weighed, and I do hope he ends up deciding not to go the relationship route with them. (Though amusingly, if it does go that route it's probably one of the relationships where I'd have the fewest complaints about it lol. But in a way that makes me want it to remain platonic more, because just because it could be a romantic relationship and even a good one at that doesn't mean it has to or even that it would be better off that way. Not every friendship is just because "it wouldn't work out if it was romantic so we had to settle for platonic", sometimes either route would likely go perfectly fine and they just don't mind it being the way it is because close friends are important too.)

Hmm I think this maybe, just maybe, is a topic that's kind of a sore spot for me  lmao

[Lindy Moon]

On 9/10/2021 at 4:56 AM, LewsTherinTelescope said:

Oh nice, you have more info on it posted anywhere?

Not at the moment, but I have a Wattpad where I'll hopefully end up posting some stuff. It's working title is Subterra and follows a boy named Aris as he looks into his brother's disappearance. Fairies and magic are involved.

[Eran of Arcadia]

The whole point of being a Brando Sando fan is not having to wait too long for a sequel, what even is this?

On the other hand, one of the academies seems to be a shout out to my alma mater so that's cool.

[SirLanz-a-lot]

That book was really interesting! I loved the Snape-like character of Nalizar. Joel suspects him the entire time, so I thought that he is for sure innocent. But then, twist! He is even more dangerous than I thought! The interaction of Melody and Joel are so interesting, too. Melody is such a colorful and emotion-driven person, while Joel is the more steady and logical person, though he is kind of gray. In my head they are headed straight towards a romatic relationship, but I see that other people are interpreting things differently (which is a valid view too). Their unofficial date was indicating to me that when other poeple see them as a cuple and none of them is activly denying this being a date, they have already moved on from platonic friendship. But of course this is just a try-out phase and they could go back to platonic friendship or move to romatic relationship from here.

One weaknes of the book, that I imediatly noticed was: Rythmatists have ankle-length cloaks. That would be super inconveniant when kneeling on the floor and thrying not to smear your circle of warding, while drawing chalklings and lines of vigor. I think, instead they should have official knee pads. Especially the older Rythmatists.

All in all, another Brandon-style genius book with lots of suspens, interesting characters and plot twists. Absolutly loved it.

[Valigus]

On 8/21/2020 at 2:41 AM, LewsTherinTelescope said:

So glad that Joel and Melody didn't kiss at the end, no offence to those who like it but I hate the "celebratory first kiss" sort of thing. Now that I think about it, I don't know that Joel and Melody have moved on beyond "good friend" yet. I really hope they don't go romantic, because we need more platonic opposite-gender besties. This is probably the thing I feel the most relief at from the ending, honestly. I would bet money that they'll become romantically involved in the sequel, but for now I can pretend.

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I'll leave that as my last thought on the book.

Yeah that’s all fair tbh, but im almost done and I get why people would want this but if there is a sequel I am almsot 100% sure they will get together. In a solid half of Joel’s interactions with melody he things about how she is “quite pretty” or is a wearing a dress that is “quite fetching” and the book actively puts them in situations where they look like a couple and neither of them seem to rail against the suggestion. 

speaking personally when i or others I’ve seen have been in situations like that they will usually tail against the implication if anyone brings it up, people generally find it very uncomfortable I feel like to be implied to be in a relationship or attracted to someone who they aren’t (attracted to or in a relationship with). So in my mind that goes a long way.

I could see her not reciprocating but Joel is attracted to her.

[LewsTherinTelescope]

On 5/30/2023 at 10:10 AM, Valigus said:

if there is a sequel I am almsot 100% sure they will get together

Oh for sure, I'd be very surprised if they don't. I can still have this for now though