The Paper Magician
Ratings167
Average rating3.4
This was a really interesting concept and fairly easy read. I finished the book because of those things, not because I felt very connected with the protagonists, which would have been my preference. There was just a little bit if world and character building lacking for me. I didn't realize we were turn of the century alternate-magical England until a quarter of the way through the book. I feel authors shouldn't be afraid to be more up front about that sort old thing. That said, the idea was so compelling, it did make up for it a little.
Quite enjoyable. Give the audiobook a try as well. I feel all Britishy inside after finishing it
It was ok. One plot sequence just went on and on and on, and I kept wondering if that part would end. I'll read the rest of the series, but so far it is not nearly as enjoyable as the author's Whimbrel House books.
8/10/2023
This was a very short and arbitrary book. Infact it was so short that it suffered extremely from not having any natural progression of events.
Every went like this
Apprentice protagonist meets kind and sweet teacher → crazy lady barges in and steals his heart →protagonist learns about his whole life while getting the heart back and confesses→ fight, gets heart back→ done
To me it read like an outline with sparse details. Things were happening because the author said so, not because it was a natural progression of the story.
I couldn't immerse myself in it despite the interest in the magic system.
Final Rating: 1 Star
This is a fun book. The magic system feels unique to me, and that may be my favorite part of this book. I don't typically go for love stories, but this was a fun one. It wasn't too cheesy or steamy. I could see certain elements of the story being allusions to a ln even greater romantic story, but I will leave that for the romantics.
This book started out strong. The magic system is cool, and I feel like it had good potential. That being said, I got bored once Ceony goes to retrieve Emery???s heart. Witnessing his happiest memories, hopes, worst moments, and doubts was a cool way to explore Thane???s character but it felt like a shift away from the stuff that made me want to read the book in the first place.
Ceony was an okay character. I kept forgetting that Ceony was 19 because she acted liked a young teen. It would have been a four with all that but then the romance thing started. She, a nineteen-year-old, likes Thane (her teacher who is in his thirties) and while she doesn???t actively encourage, Ceony doesn???t do anything to stop. Thane does not initiate encounters or reciprocate the feelings in this book. At the end of the book, it???s implied that they???ll get together and have kids.
I???m not sure I want to read to the other ones due to this.
I really enjoyed this. Very interesting world-building with characters and concepts that are well crafted and actually make sense in that world. At the same time, leaves a lot of room to build and flesh things out, so I'm looking forward to further installments in the series.
An interesting take on magic, to be sure. I felt disappointed that romance was brought into this story, as otherwise the plot and subject matter was fairly unique.
This was a fun read but felt like it got a bit muddy in the middle. Will be continuing on with the series.
I loved the magic system. It's cute and charming. However, as a historical fiction novel it mostly failed. If we are in Victorian London why does the dialogue sound very American and not even American for the time period? That was a bit jarring. But I really loved the story overall.
Interesting and creative. Like the unique magic and the problems the main character faces.
Another protagonist I hate. No, this is not “adult fantasy”. This is YA fantasy. Your typical YA romance.It started all right. The idea of paper folding magic was wonderful. But the [b:Daddy-Long-Legs 1499952 Daddy-Long-Legs (Daddy-Long-Legs, #1) Jean Webster https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1545901408s/1499952.jpg 1710545] trope was yuk and it just went worse from there.It's so damned melodramatic. A 19 years old girl falling in love with her teacher, who is... what? at least 25, most likely much older than that. (“He looked to be about 25 which meant this happened several years ago”, or something like that.) And she gets really upset and jealous when she finds out he has an ex-wife. Come on!And when she started putting on makeup in the last chapter... OMG!I will not be reading any more Charlie N. Holmberg.
The concept of magical manipulation of man made materials was cool. The book itself though was just okay - I would have loved to have had way more magic and ways less dwelling on mostly irrelevant memories.
I actually enjoyed this book a lot and am planning to continue the series, but I felt like there was something missing and the plot seemed to get rushed through the world building. My hope is that the rest of the series is fantastic.
I just picked this one randomly out of the suggested reads from Amazon, not really expecting much from it other than an enjoyable read. It was that and much more! I was shocked out how fast we were thrown into the action, and intrigued by the idea of a 20's era England with some Magic elements. I loved the story building and character arcs, though I did feel that the relationship between Ceony and her Mentor felt a tad bit rushed. This was such an intriguing premise and I highly suggest it!
THIS BOOK!!! It started with so much promise! After the first 40% I was ready to give this 5 stars. I loved the magic, the world, the imagination. Then it got dark. So incredibly dark. It went from folding paper to blood magic and gore. It went from Harry Potter magic to The Evil Within/Resident Evil. It became a complete mess. It also perpetuates a relationship between teacher and student. NOT OK! Someone needs to get the rights to the world and make a new book out of it.
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.
I liked this book. It was a quick read. However, it could have been fleshed out a little bit more. The premise is interesting. I also liked that the hero of the story was a female who didn't let her lack of training stop her from trying to save the day. My only problem is, is that the book is set at the early 20th century but didn't read like a book from the early 20th century and the people didn't act like they were from that era. I understand that this is an alternate world with magic but it was a little odd to suddenly see dates in the 1800s and early 1900s. I am looking forward to seeing where this series is going next.
A new take on magic with cute and fun characters. Streamlined in a good way (so many books seem to follow the trend that overly complicated and ponderous equals good). Looking forward to the next book in the series.
I liked the magic system, although it didn't make much sense. I liked the characters, although they weren't fleshed out. Beyond the smaller flaws, the two things that kept me from really liking it were that it was much too short and the romance... the romance.
solid early 20th century historical fantasy, bit YAish -I'm not convinced with the romance, why the fuck is it always girls and their older teacher/mentors? but the magic is fun to explore.