Review: The Paper Magician

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



Book description:

Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic… forever.

Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Thane turn out to be more marvelous than she could have ever imagined — animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.

An Excisioner — a practitioner of dark, flesh magic — invades the cottage and rips Thane’s heart from his chest. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane’s still-beating heart—and reveal the very soul of the man.

Review:

I absolutely loved the idea of this book as far as the magic was concerned. Ceony's personality and / or immaturity did not bother me either since she is suppose to be a young apprentice. I loved that Emery made her a paper dog for company. There are so many things about this book that I did enjoy. The characters had a certain innocence that did fit with my idea of being set many years before now. The "historical" part of the book seems to be a touchy subject in some reviews I have read, but I did not care as much about any historical inaccuracies. The story was what I consider to be sweet and had great promise. I enjoyed the discussions of the different kinds of magicians & what the apprentices had to learn to become full magicians.

I liked the idea of it being common to have magicians (& apprentices) in society, and of course where there is good magic someone has to drudge up some bad magic. The story was quite tame enough for a clean teen read actually. I loved Ceony's trip through Emery's heart as a way to give the reader history and connection with the points of action and conflict in the story.

I was provided this book free for an honest review. I read this first book, as well as the 2nd book. I will also read the third book when possible.





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