Thoughts on Spellwright
Aug. 25th, 2011 11:04 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altogetherisiI've tried to write about this book I read like three times now, and it's yet to come out right. But I really want to, because I have ~feelings to express, and also, I've avoided other people's opinions thus far, but I really want to see what other people think, so I should just write something and then I can wander the internet.
It's Spellwright by Blake Charlton. I bought it from the independent bookshop I always visit in Devon. I picked it up because I was staring listless at all the books with black covers, thinking, try something else! If it has to be dark, why not dark blue or dark green! I love dark green. Then I spotted this book, which happened to be dark green, and I was like, well, I can't ignore it now. It has runes on the cover. Runes are some of my very favourite things. Seriously. And then, yeah, the blurb sounded awesome, so I went with it.
Basic summary - in the high fantasy land Spellwright is set in, words have power. There are mundane languages, like English, and there are also magical languages. Nicodemus is training to be a wizard in an institution rather like a university in a place called Starhaven; he is magically literate, and fluent in both the wizardly languages, Magnus and Numinous. Spells are written in runes within the body and then cast into the world - some spells are simple phrases, others have several paragraphs, some takes entire scrolls and books to store. Losing your magical abilities is called being censored. Nicodemus writes spells fast, and for a while people thought he might be the Halcyon, a person prophecised to help in the coming apocalyse, the War of Disjunction, when all language and civilization would be destroyed by demons. Except, Nicodemus is cacographic, which is kind of like being dyslexic. He has some trouble with mundane language, and is worse with the wizardly ones, because not only do his attempts to spell often go wrong, but his touch can cause other language to mispell as well causing damage and dangerously broken spells.
And then, something starts killing the cacographic boys in Starhaven, and Nicodemus' life gets a bit crazy. Ahem.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. However, I found that the beginning, perhaps the first two thirds, were rather better than the end. I loved the world building, which I found to be fascinating and different and for the most part subtle, and the magical system was just awesome. The characters were good, though I did inevitably find myself wishing for more women. The are two interesting, different and well developed strong female characters around the place - just, most of the screentime is Nicodemus and his male mentor, and most (though not all, at all) of the background characters were men. I suppose that's the "a default person is male, white, straight" mentality where diversity is recognised as good and sought for by the creator, and so shows up in the main characters, but isn't yet automatic, and so doesn't make it so much in the extras.
Still, it does write about Nicodemus' cacography in a way that is simply fascinating, and Nicodemus' and others' attitudes toward it were really interesting. I found myself at some points in the book not at all clear what I thought of it precisely. Some people consider Nicodemus crippled, or dangerous, or a possible anti-Christ figure, the Storm Petrel, the bringer of chaos and the Disjunction. But other characters acknowledge it as a difficulty but not as something that should define him or hold him back from what he is capable of. Nicodemus himself has a very interesting relationship with it - generally he accepts it, but he hasn't really incorporated it into his identity and so is open about how he would deeply appreciate a cure, especially since then he might yet become the Halcyon, a great hero.
I found this whole angle fascinating. I mostly wanted Nico to embrace his cacography, not get better from it, and to be awesome while being cacographic, not to only be awesome in the event he was healed. I mean, it wasn't clear - as with many things I suppose - whether it was something that could be cured, or whether even discussing it like that is cruel or ableist or something? But I admit, there were moments when Nico wanted to not be cacographic, wanting to fulfill the prophecy, that I sincerely wanted that for him too.
I won't tell you how this plotline works out. It wasn't one of the things I found disappointing though. I thought, from my ignorant position at least, that it was an issue that was explored sensitively and gently and interestingly, what it meant for Nicodemus' life and the lives of other cacographers, how other people regard him, how it has influenced his personality and development as a person as well as his general abilities. Just, how it is a part of his life.
The writing was better at the beginning of the book. Or maybe I just felt that way? Nearer the end, there was a lot of exposition, and characters explaining what they had worked out, and what had happened in the past, which I got a bit tired of and a bit saddened by, because I think the writer is good and perhaps could have worked more of that - clues and foreshadowing and explanation - in earlier on. Plot twists and reveals are always best when there was a fair chance for the reader to figure it out but didn't. And there is no way you could have figured out what is really going on IMO until it is literally being spelled out for you because the author simply hasn't given you enough information about certain things. I mean, other things could be figured out, purely because he wrote it well. But then, that makes it even more annoying, because it's like, you gave us little clues before, why not for the rest of this stuff?! I might be being too harsh, as Nicodemus spends most of the book with little idea what is really going on, but yeah. That left me a little disappointed really.
Also, the pacing at the end of the book gets a bit weird. I won't say what happened exactly, but most of the book takes place in, I don't know, about a week, and an awful lot happens on the last two days or so, building to a climax. So, that's great right? Right. But then, there's this bit after the climax, which I guess is important for setting up the next book, but. Well, it's just diffferent from the rest of the book, and weird, and yeah. It feels like the author and the editors weren't really sure how to handle it. I don't know whether I wish it was longer, and so could be more in line with the rest of the book, or cut completely. It could have been an entirely different book, except for how it wasn't massively exciting. But yeah. That was odd.
Oh and. I was ever so slightly sad that there was one bit character that I really liked and that we never saw again, but I guess that's just the way these things go sometimes.
So basically. I liked this book, but I was also disappointed by it. And I was mainly disappointed by the end, and I was mainly disappointed because I liked the beginning and the middle so damn much. I feel like it was a wonderfully conceived idea, and some of it - the world building, including elements of politics, the difficulties and prejudices cacographers face, religious and superstitious beliefs, and particularly the history of Starhaven and this larger fantasy humanesque civilization - was absolutely pulled off splendidly. But yeah, some of it wasn't pulled off quite so well, and more than anything that's a shame, because the story is good, the ideas and concepts are great, and the author is definitely very capable.
I enjoyed it. But I can't shake the sense that it had the potential for me to have enjoyed it more.
I liked it, and I'm definitely going to read the sequel, principally because I am so fascinated with this world and with wtf might happen next, and because even when it wasn't perfect, it was still good. I am mean, I know I sound kinda sad and disappointed, but that's not really fair to it. If it had been at the beginning how it was at the end, I still would have liked it. It's just unfortunate that it started out so so well, and then ended kinda averagely.
I feel like it wouldn't be honest of me to say OMG YOU GUYS THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER IT IS SO COOL AND PERFECT but equally, I really want to stress for a long while there I thought that's the review I would be writing. Which should really count for something. A lot of this book made me squee with excitement, and laugh out loud, and go "ohhhhhh..." and clutch it to me. A lot of the time I spent reading it was me reading slowly, and only letting myself read a few chapters each time for fear I would gobble it all up too fast and not savour it. Plus, I am attached enough to carry it around for a while, and to have felt hesitant to share even my thoughts on it. I definitely love it. I love it a lot.
I feel like I'm being disproportionate here. If I could write a review that focussed on what I liked in proportion to this minor issue I have with how the writing style changed at the end of the book, a) this post would be much longer and b) there would be a lot more gushing about how much I seriously, seriously adore the whole magic system it presents. Also, there would be more !!!!!!! because that is how I felt for most of reading this. I only feel let down because I was on such a high before. There needs to be adequate recognition for how happy and interested and excited I became while reading this book to have gained such high an expectation.
I have a lot of affection for this book, and for the most part it is great. I really wish I could recommend it without all this cavaeting. Particularly since I just realised, if anyone reads it after they've read this they'll probably spend the whole time just waiting for it to get less good. Or else they'll think it was fine and wonder, perhaps even slightly hurt, what my deal with it even was. What's a bit of exposition between friends, Isi? What's your problem with a differently paced epilogue bit, Isi? Why did you care so much.
Or worse, perhaps people that might have read it if I'd written the OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH YOU GUYS EVERYONE MUST JOIN ME IN THE LOVE review will now avoid it, and miss out on something they might have loved. Oh god, the responsibility! Why did I even think writing about this book was a good idea in the first place. Gah.
But yeah. Definitely getting the sequel.
It's Spellwright by Blake Charlton. I bought it from the independent bookshop I always visit in Devon. I picked it up because I was staring listless at all the books with black covers, thinking, try something else! If it has to be dark, why not dark blue or dark green! I love dark green. Then I spotted this book, which happened to be dark green, and I was like, well, I can't ignore it now. It has runes on the cover. Runes are some of my very favourite things. Seriously. And then, yeah, the blurb sounded awesome, so I went with it.
Basic summary - in the high fantasy land Spellwright is set in, words have power. There are mundane languages, like English, and there are also magical languages. Nicodemus is training to be a wizard in an institution rather like a university in a place called Starhaven; he is magically literate, and fluent in both the wizardly languages, Magnus and Numinous. Spells are written in runes within the body and then cast into the world - some spells are simple phrases, others have several paragraphs, some takes entire scrolls and books to store. Losing your magical abilities is called being censored. Nicodemus writes spells fast, and for a while people thought he might be the Halcyon, a person prophecised to help in the coming apocalyse, the War of Disjunction, when all language and civilization would be destroyed by demons. Except, Nicodemus is cacographic, which is kind of like being dyslexic. He has some trouble with mundane language, and is worse with the wizardly ones, because not only do his attempts to spell often go wrong, but his touch can cause other language to mispell as well causing damage and dangerously broken spells.
And then, something starts killing the cacographic boys in Starhaven, and Nicodemus' life gets a bit crazy. Ahem.
Overall, I enjoyed this book. However, I found that the beginning, perhaps the first two thirds, were rather better than the end. I loved the world building, which I found to be fascinating and different and for the most part subtle, and the magical system was just awesome. The characters were good, though I did inevitably find myself wishing for more women. The are two interesting, different and well developed strong female characters around the place - just, most of the screentime is Nicodemus and his male mentor, and most (though not all, at all) of the background characters were men. I suppose that's the "a default person is male, white, straight" mentality where diversity is recognised as good and sought for by the creator, and so shows up in the main characters, but isn't yet automatic, and so doesn't make it so much in the extras.
Still, it does write about Nicodemus' cacography in a way that is simply fascinating, and Nicodemus' and others' attitudes toward it were really interesting. I found myself at some points in the book not at all clear what I thought of it precisely. Some people consider Nicodemus crippled, or dangerous, or a possible anti-Christ figure, the Storm Petrel, the bringer of chaos and the Disjunction. But other characters acknowledge it as a difficulty but not as something that should define him or hold him back from what he is capable of. Nicodemus himself has a very interesting relationship with it - generally he accepts it, but he hasn't really incorporated it into his identity and so is open about how he would deeply appreciate a cure, especially since then he might yet become the Halcyon, a great hero.
I found this whole angle fascinating. I mostly wanted Nico to embrace his cacography, not get better from it, and to be awesome while being cacographic, not to only be awesome in the event he was healed. I mean, it wasn't clear - as with many things I suppose - whether it was something that could be cured, or whether even discussing it like that is cruel or ableist or something? But I admit, there were moments when Nico wanted to not be cacographic, wanting to fulfill the prophecy, that I sincerely wanted that for him too.
I won't tell you how this plotline works out. It wasn't one of the things I found disappointing though. I thought, from my ignorant position at least, that it was an issue that was explored sensitively and gently and interestingly, what it meant for Nicodemus' life and the lives of other cacographers, how other people regard him, how it has influenced his personality and development as a person as well as his general abilities. Just, how it is a part of his life.
The writing was better at the beginning of the book. Or maybe I just felt that way? Nearer the end, there was a lot of exposition, and characters explaining what they had worked out, and what had happened in the past, which I got a bit tired of and a bit saddened by, because I think the writer is good and perhaps could have worked more of that - clues and foreshadowing and explanation - in earlier on. Plot twists and reveals are always best when there was a fair chance for the reader to figure it out but didn't. And there is no way you could have figured out what is really going on IMO until it is literally being spelled out for you because the author simply hasn't given you enough information about certain things. I mean, other things could be figured out, purely because he wrote it well. But then, that makes it even more annoying, because it's like, you gave us little clues before, why not for the rest of this stuff?! I might be being too harsh, as Nicodemus spends most of the book with little idea what is really going on, but yeah. That left me a little disappointed really.
Also, the pacing at the end of the book gets a bit weird. I won't say what happened exactly, but most of the book takes place in, I don't know, about a week, and an awful lot happens on the last two days or so, building to a climax. So, that's great right? Right. But then, there's this bit after the climax, which I guess is important for setting up the next book, but. Well, it's just diffferent from the rest of the book, and weird, and yeah. It feels like the author and the editors weren't really sure how to handle it. I don't know whether I wish it was longer, and so could be more in line with the rest of the book, or cut completely. It could have been an entirely different book, except for how it wasn't massively exciting. But yeah. That was odd.
Oh and. I was ever so slightly sad that there was one bit character that I really liked and that we never saw again, but I guess that's just the way these things go sometimes.
So basically. I liked this book, but I was also disappointed by it. And I was mainly disappointed by the end, and I was mainly disappointed because I liked the beginning and the middle so damn much. I feel like it was a wonderfully conceived idea, and some of it - the world building, including elements of politics, the difficulties and prejudices cacographers face, religious and superstitious beliefs, and particularly the history of Starhaven and this larger fantasy humanesque civilization - was absolutely pulled off splendidly. But yeah, some of it wasn't pulled off quite so well, and more than anything that's a shame, because the story is good, the ideas and concepts are great, and the author is definitely very capable.
I enjoyed it. But I can't shake the sense that it had the potential for me to have enjoyed it more.
I liked it, and I'm definitely going to read the sequel, principally because I am so fascinated with this world and with wtf might happen next, and because even when it wasn't perfect, it was still good. I am mean, I know I sound kinda sad and disappointed, but that's not really fair to it. If it had been at the beginning how it was at the end, I still would have liked it. It's just unfortunate that it started out so so well, and then ended kinda averagely.
I feel like it wouldn't be honest of me to say OMG YOU GUYS THIS IS THE BEST BOOK EVER IT IS SO COOL AND PERFECT but equally, I really want to stress for a long while there I thought that's the review I would be writing. Which should really count for something. A lot of this book made me squee with excitement, and laugh out loud, and go "ohhhhhh..." and clutch it to me. A lot of the time I spent reading it was me reading slowly, and only letting myself read a few chapters each time for fear I would gobble it all up too fast and not savour it. Plus, I am attached enough to carry it around for a while, and to have felt hesitant to share even my thoughts on it. I definitely love it. I love it a lot.
I feel like I'm being disproportionate here. If I could write a review that focussed on what I liked in proportion to this minor issue I have with how the writing style changed at the end of the book, a) this post would be much longer and b) there would be a lot more gushing about how much I seriously, seriously adore the whole magic system it presents. Also, there would be more !!!!!!! because that is how I felt for most of reading this. I only feel let down because I was on such a high before. There needs to be adequate recognition for how happy and interested and excited I became while reading this book to have gained such high an expectation.
I have a lot of affection for this book, and for the most part it is great. I really wish I could recommend it without all this cavaeting. Particularly since I just realised, if anyone reads it after they've read this they'll probably spend the whole time just waiting for it to get less good. Or else they'll think it was fine and wonder, perhaps even slightly hurt, what my deal with it even was. What's a bit of exposition between friends, Isi? What's your problem with a differently paced epilogue bit, Isi? Why did you care so much.
Or worse, perhaps people that might have read it if I'd written the OMG I LOVE THIS BOOK SO MUCH YOU GUYS EVERYONE MUST JOIN ME IN THE LOVE review will now avoid it, and miss out on something they might have loved. Oh god, the responsibility! Why did I even think writing about this book was a good idea in the first place. Gah.
But yeah. Definitely getting the sequel.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 12:21 pm (UTC)That is actually creepily similar to what you said, but I swear it's not the same book lol.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-25 02:07 pm (UTC)And, what was the book you read recently that was similarly confusing. Perhaps I should read that? Or, maybe not if it just isn't very good.
I am using my Seb icon purely because it is green, and so is Spellwright. It really does have a beautiful cover.
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-29 12:36 pm (UTC)I looked for the book at my library but no luck! It may not be out here yet, or it may only just be out and thus not at the library. Sadly, I can't afford to buy books so I'll have to wait!
The book I read was called Rivers of London by Ben Aaronovitch (I think, I'm not sure about the spelling of his last name) that had the alluring description of 'what would happen if Harry Potter grew up and joined the fuzz'. It didn't quite live up to that, but it's definitely not the worst book ever!
(no subject)
Date: 2011-08-29 01:23 pm (UTC)I shall look out for that book in future!