In Blake Charlton’s Spellwright, if you can’t spell right, you can’t become a spellwright at the wizard school in Starhaven, where Nicodemus Weal lives. He has a unique disability: every spell he touches goes wrong, partly because he can’t spell the words written in his body, and partly because a piece of his soul lies trapped in an emerald held by an evil demon. If the story so far sounds a bit like a Harry Potter episode written by Terry Pratchett, please keep reading!
Nicodemus is a cacographer – one whose magic mixes up others’ – a condition treated as a severe learning disability. So he lives separately from the other wizards, with the wizardly equivalent of special ed kids, where the kindly Magister Shannon patiently tries to teach them basic functional spells. The problem is Nicodemus is more “special” than he realizes. When one of the master wizards dies falling off a bridge, supposedly due to a “misspell,” and then two cacographic students are killed, Nicodemus and Shannon fall under suspicion, causing widespread mistrust and paranoia. And because of the enquiry into the murder, Nicodemus acquires notoriety and an alarmingly persistent stalker, and unwittingly fosters the widespread rumor that he may be the savior of the world or its downfall. Either way, he seeks answers, most of which come at great cost.
This coming-of-age-as-a-wizard tale is one of the most creative and exciting fantasies I’ve read in a long time. Charlton’s world-building is phenomenally creative, based on the idea that the world is created, sustained and potentially destroyed by the use of language. The author makes words equal magic in a profound and fun way: as part of a wizard’s physical body – written on the skin. As a disabled wordsmith, Nicodemus makes a sympathetic and interesting hero – one who fights to complete himself and become the master he knows he’s born to be. The history of the world is revealed bit by bit as the story progresses, until it finally emerges as a fascinating place where gods and demons vie for ultimate power, using humans and various constructs (golems and gargoyles!) to do their dirty work. It’s mythology, fairy tale and high fantasy combined. There’s a fascinating scene where the “yelling librarians” confront the Bookworms! Guess who loses?
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