Spellwright is the debut novel from Blake Charleton and is set in a world where words are magic in a literal as well as metaphorical sense. It deals with the protagonist's cacography (think dyslexia for the magical language) and his struggles to overcome it and take his place in prophecy. Nico must learn whether he is the Storm Petrel, destined to change and corrupt language and lead to the demon invasion or the Halcyon, the protector of order in language. This is my second readthrough of the novel and I'd forgotten just how much fun it is. The characters are likeable and engaging, the world is believable and there are some amusing scenes such as the Jejunus cursing match. What I liked: The magic system: The magic system in this book is well thought out and absolutely fascinating. The author himself describes it thus: "Imagine a world in which you could peel written words off a page and make them physically real. You might pick your teeth with a sentence fragment, protect yourself with defensive paragraphs, or thrust a sharply-worded sentence at an enemy’s throat." In our world, words can create, destroy, heal or wound but only in the most…
Spellwright is the debut novel from Blake Charleton and is set in a world where words are magic in a literal as well as metaphorical sense. It deals with the protagonist’s cacography (think dyslexia for the magical language) and his struggles to overcome it and take his place in prophecy. Nico must learn whether he is the Storm Petrel, destined to change and corrupt language and lead to the demon invasion or the Halcyon, the protector of order in language. This is my second readthrough of the novel and I’d forgotten just how much fun it is. The characters are likeable and engaging, the world is believable and there are some amusing scenes such as the Jejunus cursing match. What I liked: The magic system: The magic system in this book is well thought out and absolutely fascinating. The author himself describes it thus: “Imagine a world in which you could peel written words off a page and make them physically real. You might pick your teeth with a sentence fragment, protect yourself with defensive paragraphs, or thrust a sharply-worded sentence at an enemy’s throat.” In our world, words can create, destroy, heal or wound but only in the most…