The Rithmatist

Joel attends Armedius Academy in an alternate America of the early twentieth century, a nation made up of sixty islands. A small number of children there are chosen as Rithmatists. They learn to draw chalk lines that hold back wild chalklings, and Joel was not chosen, though nothing matters to him more.

Talented students begin to vanish from the school. Joel sets out to learn why, working alongside Melody, a Rithmatist who struggles with the art, and Professor Fitch, a teacher who has fallen out of favour.

This is young adult fantasy with a mystery at its centre. The magic runs on precise rules, so drawing and defending are matters of method rather than whim, and the puzzle of the disappearances is worked out within those limits.

Most of the action is held back for the end, while the pace builds steadily toward a final confrontation. There, Joel's wish to belong among the Rithmatists meets the danger that has been taking the school's best students.