8. The Rithmatist
I may be jumping the gun a little here. After all, this book was released less than two months ago. If you are an older reader, you may have read any number of things by Brandon Sanderson. He's the mind behind
Mistborn and the man who finished Robert Jordan's
Wheel of Time series. You may have even read his
Alcatraz books for middle readers. In a moment of hipsterness, I will say that I loved Brandon Sanderson's stuff before it was mainstream. I once went to a signing of his where I walked up to the table without waiting in line and had my copy of
Elantris signed. Nowadays, I have to wait in line for a couple of hours at a crowded Barnes and Noble to get whatever I'm giving friends for Christmas signed. So believe me when I say that I will willingly jump the gun in order to include this on my list. In years of avidly reading everything that I can get my hands on, I have never liked a Sanderson book as much as this one. Let's start with the fact that Brandon Sanderson comes up with a brilliantly inventive new system of magic for each one of his series and that automatically. The protagonist of this book, Joel, witnesses an extraordinary world where chalk figures can mean the difference between life and death and power and disgrace. There are battles, duels, and the equivalent of intramural sports based on your ability to doodle on a floor. The entire book is a murder mystery centered around Rithmatists, the people who are able to work magic through these chalk drawings. Joel is, however, like a Muggle forced to live at Hogwarts. He yearns to be a Rithmatist, but was not given the necessary gifts in life.
The Rithmatist has the adolescent flair and school intrigue of Harry Potter, told entirely from the perspective of an outsider. Personally, I can foresee the day when the Risk and D&D players set aside their die for a while so they can do some Rithmatics.