Changes

|title=The Rithmatist

|sort=Rithmatist, The

|publisher=Orion Childrens

|date=May 2013

|website=http://www.brandonsanderson.com

|video=xCI85V1LO5A‎

|summary=After a slightly slow start, this steampunk-tinged fantasy really takes off. An excellent magic system and some great characters have got me really looking forward to the next book!

}}

Rithmatists - those with special talents who defend ordinary people against wild chalklings - must study and train hard at school to create the defenses , lines, and chalklings they'll use when they get to Nebrask, the frontline. Joel, a pupil at one such school, Armedius, studies harder than anyone else. He has a superb grasp of the strategies involved and knows he would be an asset out at the front. But Joel isn't a Rithmatist at all. They're chosen in a special ceremony, and Joel was passed by. Now, as just an ordinary student at Armedius, he sneaks in to join the Rithmatics students whenever possible. That seems like all he can do - until Rithmatics students start disappearing. Could Joel's lack of ability keep him safe, and therefore allow him to help solve the mystery?