kodermike's review against another edition
3.0
Spellwright is the introductory novel of Nicodemus, a young aspiring wizard who has been branded a cacographer because of his disability. Simply put, he has magical dyslexia - in a world where spells are visible as strings of floating, physical text, a mere touch by Nicodemus can cause a spell to be misspelled, gaining new meaning and often as not warping it from simple to potentially dangerous.
As with many fantasy novels, there is a prophesy, and depending on interpretation Nicodemus could be a savior - or the equivalent of the antichrist.
I have to confess, I've wanted to read this book since it came out a few years ago, and anticipation breeds its own expectations that reality can rarely match. As is oft said, I wish Goodreads would let us use 1/2 stars. Charlton's book is right on the cusp between 3 and 4 stars, but ultimately I couldn't round up.
The cons, for me, were twofold. First, mechanically, I found the text to be agonizing to follow in some places. It is almost worst that this is an inconsistant problem, because the rest of the time you can get a sense of Charlton's emerging voice. Future books will not suffer this problem, and you can tell. Charlton can tell a story, but that fact is buried in this first novel, and only shining on occasion.
Secondly, and perhaps this is another writing advancement that will come in the future, there are far too many info dumps. In fact, this book is an amazing example of show, don't tell. There are so many cases where if Blake had stepped back and given pause, he could have demonstrated his point, leaving the reader to "discover" the truth on their own (and therefore feel both a minor sense of accomplishment, as well as feel more involved in the story).
I read the book in five days, with a real life interrupting. In my world, that means the book was a quick read, so caveat lector.
As with many fantasy novels, there is a prophesy, and depending on interpretation Nicodemus could be a savior - or the equivalent of the antichrist.
I have to confess, I've wanted to read this book since it came out a few years ago, and anticipation breeds its own expectations that reality can rarely match. As is oft said, I wish Goodreads would let us use 1/2 stars. Charlton's book is right on the cusp between 3 and 4 stars, but ultimately I couldn't round up.
The cons, for me, were twofold. First, mechanically, I found the text to be agonizing to follow in some places. It is almost worst that this is an inconsistant problem, because the rest of the time you can get a sense of Charlton's emerging voice. Future books will not suffer this problem, and you can tell. Charlton can tell a story, but that fact is buried in this first novel, and only shining on occasion.
Secondly, and perhaps this is another writing advancement that will come in the future, there are far too many info dumps. In fact, this book is an amazing example of show, don't tell. There are so many cases where if Blake had stepped back and given pause, he could have demonstrated his point, leaving the reader to "discover" the truth on their own (and therefore feel both a minor sense of accomplishment, as well as feel more involved in the story).
I read the book in five days, with a real life interrupting. In my world, that means the book was a quick read, so caveat lector.
chthonicgod's review against another edition
The r slur was abundant in this book
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism
jkusters's review
4.0
A very solid follow-up to Spellwright, introducing new characters, new conspiracies, and new magical languages. I must say I absolutely loved the character Francesca, such a delightfully acerbic wit, and felicity of tongue! I'm very much looking forward to the next book in the story.
the_nook_of_tomes's review against another edition
3.0
I first read this book a couple of years ago and only recently decided to continue with the series as the final book was released. I decided to re read the first book as I could only really remember the magic system, which is unique and I love, the plot however I couldn't remember much at all. Whilst re-reading the book I found the pacing slow and I did struggle to get through it due to the setting being the same for the majority of the book therefore we didn't see alot of this world. I did enjoy this read however I would have liked it to be a bit more fast paced. That being said this magic system is beautiful and unique and it's possibly one of my favourites in a high fantasy world. I enjoyed the characters and the character development in this book, I loved how they weren't your perfect hero's they are flawed and I enjoyed that alot. Upon completing this book I went straight into the second book as I didn't want to risk forgetting details again and I am happy I did! I would definitely recommend reading this series side by side especially now the third book is out.
the_nook_of_tomes's review
4.0
I enjoyed book #2 much more than book #1. we finally get to explore more of this wonderful world and more of the magic system which is truly unique and I thoughrally enjoy how the author develops the system in this book. This book is much more plot driven and I really love the addition of the character Francesca, I warmed to her instantly and I loved seeing her form opinions on our protagonist, who is more mature and more likeable in this book. I enjoyed the time jump, I think it saved the story from being drawn out and I think this series definately needed that time jump to have a better pacing. This book kept me entertained with only a few slower chapters, some of which were necessary and I enjoyed and others I lost focus and skim read (mostly Cyrus's towards the end, I didn't care for his character and I just wanted to get back to Francesca and Nico).
kyratt's review
4.0
It has been a while since I have read the previous book, but enough of the plot was repeated to make it understandable. In the beginning the character Francesca annoyed me. She didn't seem a believable female character with her weird crudeness and lack of inner thought and emotions. Around the middle of the book this was corrected completely. The attempts at puns and humour were a little too much for me though and not all the dialogue was great.
The story had alot of great fast paced action scenes that were fun to read through. The story was interesting and the world beautifully intricate, though hard to follow sometimes (which faction had which gods, demons..). The flying magic was great, and described amazingly visually. I could see the kites and airships as I was reading about them. The manipulation of cloth was something I have never read about in this way before.
For the originality and the story (and pace) it gets four stars from me. Very curious about part 3!
The story had alot of great fast paced action scenes that were fun to read through. The story was interesting and the world beautifully intricate, though hard to follow sometimes (which faction had which gods, demons..). The flying magic was great, and described amazingly visually. I could see the kites and airships as I was reading about them. The manipulation of cloth was something I have never read about in this way before.
For the originality and the story (and pace) it gets four stars from me. Very curious about part 3!
almightyc4's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
almightyc4's review
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5