A unique magic system like none I've seen before! 
 Fist pumps and kudos to Brandon Sanderson because The Rithmatist was fan-freaking-tastic amazing! He continuously amazes me with his ability to create new and unique magic system that draw me in and leave me wanting to know more. But why...why did The Rithmatist rock my socks off? Well if you read a lot of young adult fiction like I do, you might have noticed a certain formula that many of the books seem to follow. Young tortured youth meets boy or girl, instantly falls in love, or even worse the tired love triangle is thrown in. 
 Don't get me wrong I still read and enjoy many of those, but after awhile those are so predictable! There was none of that in The Rithmatist. It was full of mystery and knowledge seeking. I do have to admit though in several ways it reminded me of the Harry Potter books. 
 Sure, the protagonist Joel has a bit of tragedy in his past in the form of a passed away father, but that was many years ago and many people lose a parent while they are young. In ways because of who his father was it helped shape his interests and put him in a position to both pursue them, and yet at the same time perhaps miss his chance at doing our being something he greatly desires. For those of you used to a romance element in your YA fiction you won't really get that here. 
 What defines Joel and makes him stand out from so many other young characters I've read is that he is one major goal in life, to learn as much as he possibly can about Rithmatics. In this wonderfully realized alternate world to ours, there are some awesome similarities but crazy differences. All of what would have been the United States are islands! I loved the era they seemed to be in. Imagine stream punk but without the steam, just all of the gadgets, and no actual electronics. Fascinating thought right? 
 The magic system, Rithmatics, is based off of people imbued with the power to make their chalk drawings come to life. The lines they draw with chalk have power and this magic is used to fight off wild chalkling creatures that all originate from some tower on a central island. I'd you find this all hard to picture never fear, The Rithmatist comes chalker packed full of illustrations! This was one of my favorite parts. 
 At its heart, I consider this book a mystery fantasy. There were crimes that need investigating and solving. We see wonderful growth of character in Joel, and he has an excellent sporting cast of characters. 
 * This final copy was provided by the publisher for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.