The Glass Magician

Enjoyable and pretty fast-moving follow up to the Paper Magician by Holmberg. In this one, the protagonist picks up in her 2nd year of training and again becomes embroiled in a crazy series of events resulting from the aftermath of the previous book (trying to avoid spoilers here!). These two books are close enough that it could have been a single volume, honestly. And that's a good thing. The romantic head-talk is a bit much (for a guy), but honestly, that's the only detractor to this one, and is likely something specific to me. Definitely will be following up with the 3rd in the series before long.

I like Ceony, but there were some seriously overconfident choices made by an apprentice in this story. I kept thinking about Harry Potter, and how at least in the first books, trouble found him rather than him chasing after it. I wonder how this story may have gone if it had shifted slightly in that direction a little more. An easy, entertaining read otherwise.

I was hoping the potential I saw in the first book would be used in this book... But sadly, I don't feel like it was. It wasn't horrible but it was lacking something. And it's sad because I'm loving the idea of this whole world and the magic... It's just not being brought together properly.

I do wish I had read this sooner after finishing book 1, because I couldn't remember everything, but I still had a good time reading this and I liked everything.
I don't know if I have many complaints?? I just wasn't always connected to the book, so sometimes my attention wandered. I also wonder on Ceony's actions and why she couldn't think of other options?
Seriously though, this is such an interesting world.

I liked this second book more than the first. The cheesy romance is still there, but the pacing was much better. I wish the magic system made more sense, but it didn't bother me as much this time. Maybe I was just used to it.

Better than the first one. More thrilling. I expected less, but honestly, the second one is totaly readable.

I quite liked this, and even more than The Paper Magician, I still don't think this trilogy is amazing but it was a fun, quick paced read and the romance is SO CUTE.

Read my full review here: http://teachocolateandbooks.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/the-glass-magician-by-charlie-n.html

Well, that was unexpected.

While this book is even more engaging than the previous one, I feel like it kind of drags on at some points and getting through those scenes was a bit of a struggle for me. The romance is slightly thicker and tends to make its way into the spotlight every now and then, but it's still adorable so I have no complaints about that part.

The antagonists, however, still suffer from the same issue Lira had. They lack depth. Their motivations and backgrounds are unclear, making it feel like they're evil for the sake of being evil. That makes it hard to feel anything for them.

I really liked Ceony's friendship with Delilah too, so the ending leaves me feeling a bit bitter... but otherwise it was a very enjoyable read.

reviews.metaphorosis.com

2.5 stars

Ceony Twill, apprentice paper magician, saved her mentor and love interest from death. But evil folk are still at large, putting Ceony and her friends and family at risk. Left out by the powers that be, she nonetheless struggles for a solution, while learning surprising things about the nature of magic.

The Paper Magician, the first book in the series, started strong, but soon bogged down. This second book retains Holmberg's strong writing skill, but falls short in plotting and storytelling.

The first book introduced a not-very-credible romance, and unfortunately this sequel doubles down on it. Holmberg largely discards the interesting magic system that drew me to the book, in favor of what feels like a young-teen crush, as told by a twenty-year old. I've got nothing against romance novels, but I'd have liked to see the story offer more. Even when there's a sudden and jarring shift to mentor Emery's point of view, we learn little new about him, despite the story's intense focus on what he really feels.

Much as the Harry Potter series is really more a young person's adventure story than a fantasy story, the Paper Magician series is more a teenage romance than steampunk alternate history. The magic system, initially so promising, is reduced to simple tricks, never really explained. As with Potter, the spells are largely cast with a single word and some preparation - spells that anyone could do without much training, calling into question why there is such an elaborate training and apprenticeship program.

The governance of the magical world is similarly confusing. Choice of a type of magic is built up as a critical and personal choice, yet Ceony was forced (it's never clear how) to choose paper. She has graduated, but it still subject to the decisions of her former teacher. She's apprenticed to a master magician, but the former teacher seems to control the apprenticeship as well.

In short, what at first appeared to be a very promising series about magic has dumbed down into a constant internal “he loves me, he loves me not” dialogue, punctuated by the brilliant apprentice and cook casting random spells. With endless status updates about her braid (which plays no important role whatsoever).

All in all, this book is hard to recommend. If you're a fan of romance novels, feel free. If you're more interested in a consistently-built world, or in novel magic, look elsewhere. I personally won't be going on to the third in the series, because while a somewhat interesting new magic idea was introduced at the end of this book, I feel certain that the coming focus will be on a romantic setup that was predictable from the first chapter of book one. However, Holmberg certainly has talent, and I hope she applies it to something sturdier in the future.

NB: Received free copy from Net Galley.