Stephon

Author:Charlie N. Holmberg Published: September, 1st 2014 by 47North Series: The Paper Magician Trilogy #1 Length: 224 pages Genre: YA fantasy ISBN:9781477823835)  Source: AmazonCeony 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.The story revolves around Ceony Twill and her absolute distaste for the magic that she is assigned too. The setting of the story begins somewhere on the outskirts of London, England where she is being shown to the door of the man who will be teaching her paper magic. I noticed very quickly in the beginning that the writer choose to harp over and over on the fact that paper magic was not something the protagonist had any resolve to do. In her mind it was just short of a death sentence, but he talked about it so much that even after finishing the book I have very little care for paper magic myself. It also make the first five chapters incredibly hard get through. In saying that the story definitely starts to pick up after Magician Thane is attacked and Ceony goes after the heart thief. I will say that the wording used throughout the book is definitely easy to follow while still providing a challenge to the more advanced reader. If I had to pick one line that really sums up the book it would be “What about my mistakes? I think about them, too, but where would I be if I thought of nothing else? What sort of person would I be if I drowned in them?” The two major protagonist both carry dark secrets with them and has an affect on how they choose to interact with others and each other.As I approached the end of this book I was left wanting. There was a lot of filler material that I felt could have been left out and instead replaced with something else. There was a lot of opportunity to develop Ceony which I felt was not done very well. The story was very dry and repetitive at times which really disappointed me because I felt that there was so much potential for this book to really take off. I was happy with how the book ended because it definitely set the sequel up to be very engaging. I hope that it does not disappoint. It is definitely worth a read if you can forge through the dry material and repetition.I rated this book a 3/5. The ending really saved it.  

“It was up to him to pay back to the world in beauty and caring what Leslie had loaned him in vision and strength”

For such a short book, it deals and communicates the message of dealing with loss so well. The story in short is about a young man who finds a friend in an unlikely girl who moves in next door and how he copes with her loss when she is gone. Although it's done rather quickly I like the overall theme of remember those who have gone on before us and how we choose to carry on their memory. This book helped be cope with a loss the first time I read it and seems to do the same thing each time I pick it back up. It's a quick read that can actually be done in a day with very minimal interruptions.

“The crux of the matter is whether total war in its present form is justifiable, even when it serves a just purpose. Does it not have material and spiritual evil as its consequences which far exceed whatever good might result? When will our moralists give us an answer to this question?”

When reading this book it's really hard to imagine the pain and suffering that a whole culture had to and in a way is still dealing with based on the choice to drop the bomb. Whatever one's feelings may be about the situation this book is truly thought and emotionally provoking. It clearly calls out the long lasting effects of making uninformed and uneducated choices in situations when giving no thoughts to what could be the long term effects. With all that aside onto the actual review.

If you like learning about history or deeper moral concepts, this book is definitely for you. It really challenges us to think what people are capable of and what can be overcome in the worst of situations. It is a short read and can be tackled in a day or two at the most. The author does an amazing job of obtaining from any bias when delivering the thoughts of those who lived through this tragic event, but still delivers what I believe is a defining moment in our world's history. I would say this is not for the faint of heart and you want to set the time aside to really get into this book so that the full force of the message it's trying to communicate is absorbed.

“Nothing is more tragic than loving someone to the depths of your soul and knowing they cannot and will not ever love you back.”

What happens what an all powerful immortal empowers his son to revive the immortal enemy of his father and does nothing to stop him? He gets put in timeout, duh. Except timeout for a god of Olympus is being sent to Earth with none of his godly powers and completely unrecognizable. Enter Apollo, and this time there's nothing any of the other gods can do to protect him from the wrath of Zeus. Alone and with an unlikely friend Apollo must set to undo all the damage the was caused by his lack of inattention while he adored the praises from his son. We return to Camp Halfblood where the totality of Apollo's deeds are revealed and as a mortal he must atone for his actions if he ever expects to return to his immortal state on Olympus. As usual Riordan takes readers along for a quirky and hilarious ride as Apollo seeks to get back what was taken from him.

“Never shall I forget that night, the first night in camp, which has turned my life into one long night, seven times cursed and seven times sealed....Never shall I forget those moments which murdered my God and my soul and turned my dreams to dust. Never shall I forget these things, even if I am condemned to live as long as God Himself. Never.”

This is not the first time I've read this book nor will it be the last. This is the very definition of human suffering. Here driven to the brink and losing what defines us as human did one man find the will to live on. The moral challenges presented during the path Elie was forced to walk are ones that I can barely begin to comprehend. Even more so the challenges that were brought against his faith in God who he felt had abandoned him and his people. Suffering by its very definition is a state of existence that I'm not sure Elie was removed from until his death. This is a must read for anyone who examines or has interest in the human condition.