Just Finished Reading The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson

Brandon Sanderson, one of my favorite authors of fantasy fiction, already occupies my attention with two of his ongoing series, Mistborn and The Stormlight Archives.  He has also begun a new fantasy series for young readers, the first installment published in 2013 and titled The Rithmatist...I just read it. It's set in an alternative world similar to ours, but with marked differences: where the United States is lies the United Isles instead...and magic is present with the discovery of Rithmatics centuries earlier.  What is Rithmatics? It involves the precise drawing of circles and other geometric shapes around oneself (presumably by one with the rare magical powers of a Rithmatist) with chalk that projects force into the real world.  Although Armedius Academy...the school that Rithamtist wannabe Joel, the main character, attends...holds Rithmatics competitions, the ability is primarily used in war, to fight the scourge of "Wild Chalklings" that has plagued this world and is now being fought on the isle of Nebrask.  There are specific strategies for winning at Rithmatics that involve different types of drawing...Sanderson lays several of them out in detail, although I couldn't make heads nor tails of them.  To become a Rithmatist involves going through a religious ritual...and a special room of inception...at age eight: only about one in a thousand come out with the special magic ability.  Joel, now in his teens, missed his chance when his father, a master chalk-maker, suffered a fatal accident and he stayed with him instead of going to the inception.  Joel's lack of Rithmatic ability, though, doesn't stop him from learning everything he can about this field.  Generally rejected by Rithmatic professors, Joel finds a friend and tutor in Professor Fitch, as well as a rebellious Rithmatic student, Melody.  In the meantime, Rithmatists are disappearing and the circumstances indicate violence, possibly death.  Can Joel help to solve the mystery?  And who is this sinister new Professor Nalizar...Joel strongly suspects him of foul play...

The idea of working in two-dimensional drawings and making them materializing in three dimensions is an intriguing idea, but it's already been done before in a SpongeBob SquarePants episode when the lovable yellow sponge comes across a magic pencil that a frustrated artist dropped into the sea from his boat...his drawing of himself springs to life and causes all kinds of havoc.  The Rithmatist was an enjoyable read, but I was a bit disappointed and a little confused by the ending.  Brandon Sanderson is supposed to come out with a sequel to it, but it's been five years and counting now.,.apparently, this series isn't high on his priority list...