Customer Reviews

Spellwright

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Blake Charlton's fantasy debut came highly recommended, and I was looking forward to see what the buzz was all about. Spellwright is definitely a throwback book, reminiscent of epic fantasy and sword & sorcery novels from the 80s and the early 90s. Indeed, this is the sort of story that brings us back to a time when authors such as David Eddings, Terry Brooks, Raymond E. Feist, and Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman dominated the bestseller lists. And given Brooks and Feist's popularity, it appears that there is a huge market for books like Spellwright. Though they differ in style and tone, Charlton's fantasy debut reminded me of Feist's Magician: Apprentice.

Here's the blurb:

Nicodemus is a young, gifted wizard with a problem. Magic in his world requires the caster to create spells by writing out the text . . . but he has always been dyslexic, and thus has trouble casting even the simplest of spells. And his misspells could prove dangerous, even deadly, should he make a mistake in an important incantation.

Yet he has always felt that he is destined to be something more than a failed wizard. When a powerful, ancient evil begins a campaign of murder and disruption, Nicodemus starts to have disturbing dreams that lead him to believe that his misspelling could be the result of a curse. But before he can discover the truth about himself, he is attacked by an evil which has already claimed the lives of fellow wizards and has cast suspicion on his mentor. He must flee for his own life if he's to find the true villain.

But more is at stake than his abilities. For the evil that has awakened is a power so dread and vast that if unleashed it will destroy Nicodemus... and the world.

As a throwback book, Spellwright embraces a lot of the traditional tropes of the fantasy genre. Which, in the end, will either please or put off readers. Fans of the "New Grit" movement and the school of hard knocks established by George R. R. Martin, and which includes writers such as Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Brian Ruckley, and Richard Morgan might have a hard time getting into this one. In Spellwright, the heroes are good, the villains are evil. The forces of good always beat the odds and manage to come out on top, with secret knowledge or power falling into their lap in the nick of time. The good guys are all handsome and beautiful, while the bad guys aren't. The whole good vs evil shebang. Which is not inherently a bad thing, mind you, provided that you are prepared to read such a work. On the other hand, readers who prefer subversion of these same tropes and clichés and love authors known to do that like Steven Erikson might not like Spellwright. Personally, although I much prefer grittier SFF books and series, as a child of the 80s I mostly enjoyed this homage to the works which made me fall in love with the genre.

The worldbuilding is classical and we only get a few glimpses at Charlton's universe. It will be interesting to see more of the world as the story progresses in the upcoming sequels. I'm looking forward to learning more about the Solar Empire, Language Prime, the Chthonic race, and a number of other concepts, as well as the ancient history of Charlton's world.

What truly makes Spellwright stand out is the imaginative magic system Blake Charlton created. Just when you think you've seen it all, like Brandon Sanderson in the Mistborn trilogy, the author came up with something fascinating and unique. Spellwriting allows magic-users to write spells using magical languages. It takes a while to fully understand how it's done, but once you do it allows Charlton to be quite creative and make Spellwright something special.

The characterization is a bit uneven and there are various bumps along the way. Nicodemus Weal, a dyslexic spellwright suffering from cacography, is the principal protagonist. Believed to be either the prophesied savior or destroyer, he is a likeable main character. The problem is that he is at times extremely naive and not necessarily the sharpest tool in the shed, while sometimes he appears to puzzle out key pieces of the mystery in a way that feels contrived. The same can be said of the cast of secondary characters, though Deidre and Shannon have a few surprises up their sleeves. Another detail which did not always work out well was when random conversations were used to cover info dumps.

The pace is good, and the short chapters keep the rhythm moving steadily forward. Despite the tropes, Blake Charlton wrote an engaging -- if not the most original -- story. Spellwright makes for a good reading experience that does bring back memories.

It's too early to say whether or not Spellwright will be the fantasy debut of the year. And yet, I would hazard a guess that Charlton's debut probably sits in the pole position at the moment. It will be interesting to see if Tor Books will attempt to market this one to the Terry Brooks and Raymond E. Feist crowd. Their fans are legions, and most of them would likely enjoy Spellwright quite a bit.

There is no doubt that Spellwright has a lot of potential, which bodes well for the rest of the rest of the series to come. I'll be curious to read the sequel, Spellbound.