# Spellwright by Blake Charlton



## Werthead (Dec 19, 2010)

Nicodemus Weal is a student at the magical academy of Starhaven, where  students are taught how to use magical languages to forge spells of  great power. However, his grasp of magic is uncertain due to his  cacography, which corrupts his spellwriting and distorts sorcery. When a  powerful magician is murdered, suspicion falls on Nico and his mentor,  Agwu Shannon, a former radical. As the authorities continue to question  Nico and Shannon's loyalties, they in turn learn of a threat stalking  the corridors of Starhaven...
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Spellwright_  by Blake Charlton is the opening volume in a trilogy which is based  heavily around the use of magic. Many fantasy novels use spellbooks and  sorcerers muttering incantations in mystical tongues, but few go deep  into the languages and techniques used. Here it is a central theme of  the novel and Charlton's use of cacography (a real term, referring to  deliberate misspelling for comic effect) as a sort of magical dyslexia  is inspired. Certainly this magic system, with its use of spelling and  English Lit. terms to describe how it works, is the book's greatest  triumph. I can certainly picture Brandon Sanderson reading this book and  thinking, "Damn! I should have thought of that!"

Elsewhere, the  book is more of a mixed bag. At its heart the book is an attempt to  subvert standard fantasy tropes about prophecies and chosen ones, with  the introduction of counter-prophecies and some musings on the  reliability of prophecies in the first place. None of this is  particularly new, but some of the ideas are well-presented and followed  up on.

The book's biggest problems focus on pacing and  characterisation. The former is problematic as the entire book (more or  less) takes place in Starhaven and there's the definite feeling of  wheels spinning as the characters run around the place learning more  about history, magic and backstory in a fairly expositionary manner.  This isn't helped by some breakdowns in logic (particularly the secret  of a certain bridge, which should be fairly obvious to people who've  looked at the thing for more than ten minutes) and some wince-inducing  dialogue (the villain's tendency to explain his key weakness - he can't  cast spells within Starhaven's walls - to everyone he meets). The  prologue gives the impression that the book might be a long, tense hunt  thorough the academy to uncover the villain, but instead he fairly turns  up every few pages to mutter some cartoonish threats and then vanishes  again.

Nico  has the makings of an interesting character. In his youth, certain  birthmarks indicated he might by the Halcyon, the prophesied saviour of  the human race from the demonic hordes lurking on the western continent.  However, his cacography and the marring of the birthmark has convinced  the authorities that he isn't the Halcyon after all. Nico, who loves  stories about great warriors saving the world from evil, is frustrated  by this thwarted chance at greatness, which makes him prime material for  manipulation (by both sides) and leaves him a conflicted character. His  mentor Shannon is a shady figure with his own agenda and dark past, not  quite the typical benevolent teacher-figure normally beloved in  fantasy. As our primary protagonists, they succeed in capturing the  reader's interest. Other characters, unfortunately, fall a bit flat,  such as the druid Deirdre who never really seems to develop, despite  major character revelations about her late in the book.

_Spellwright_  can be a frustrating novel. It has all the ingredients of being a  successful, if not hugely original, fantasy piece. Unfortunately the mix  isn't quite right. Enormous chunks of the book are given over to  detailed descriptions of the magic system which is original and  interesting, but these bog down the pacing elsewhere. There's an  enormous amount of story and background that we are told about in major  info-dumps rather than learning about organically. The villain is  cliched and uninteresting. On the flipside, the book's take on prophecy  is an interesting minor subversion on standard fantasy tropes and some  of the revelations towards the end of the book open up the story to  something more interesting.

_Spellwright_  (***)  ultimately overcomes its shortcomings to end up as an enjoyable  fantasy tome, intriguing enough that I'll be giving the sequel _Spellbound_ a shot when it arrives next year. The novel is available now in the UK and USA.


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