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Series: The Paper Magician Trilogy, book 1
Author: Charlie N. Holmberg
Genre: Historical Fantasy
Publisher: 47North
Date: September 2014
Length: 224 pages / Audio Book 7 hours 25 minutes
Free through Kindle Unlimited Subscription
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.
Description from Goodreads
HOW DID I MISS THIS BOOK?! I'm so upset, it's so great, so many students would love it, and I MISSED IT! I've even contacted some upper school librarian friends to tell them to consider this book for their collection. It might seem impossible for a book to be a light hearted Gothic story, but The Paper Magician pulls it off. I enjoyed this story so much and I just want to share it with all of my kids. I think there's a lot here that will appeal. My Kindle Unlimited download also included the audiobook version (which is fantastic, btw). I was so into this book that I played the audiobook in the car while I was ferrying my children all over creation. It even made me want to jog so that I could listen to the audiobook. (But let's be honest, jogging most definitely didn't happen.)
Just the right amount of origami: It's a truth universally acknowledged that at some point in their elementary school career, students will get into origami. Wether the phase is long or short, kids will go through it. (I have ordered so many types of origami books and we never seem to have enough.) The origami in this book is very simple and easy to identify. Who hasn't made a fortune telling box or been hit in the head with a paper throwing star? And there isn't a ton of detail about paper folding and creating the origami. It would get boring to have the action stop to give step by step instructions on creating a paper crane.
What I liked
World Building: An easily recognizable historical setting with easy to follow magical rules. A magician can only work with one type of manmade material. In order to work magic, the magician must bond with a material (glass, metal, etc.) Once bonded, the magician will not be able to magically affect any other material but the one they bonded with.Just the right amount of origami: It's a truth universally acknowledged that at some point in their elementary school career, students will get into origami. Wether the phase is long or short, kids will go through it. (I have ordered so many types of origami books and we never seem to have enough.) The origami in this book is very simple and easy to identify. Who hasn't made a fortune telling box or been hit in the head with a paper throwing star? And there isn't a ton of detail about paper folding and creating the origami. It would get boring to have the action stop to give step by step instructions on creating a paper crane.
Ceony: She's not perfect, but she is driven. She wants to be a successful magician and help take care of her family. She's very loyal and willing to change her mind about people. She's so disappointed to be a paper folder when she had dreams of working with metal and creating beautiful jewelry or fantastic weapons. Instead of moping and locking herself in her room, she is determined to become the best paper magician she can.
Emery Thane: Ceony's teacher is a quiet man with laughing eyes. I like that he's willing to let her learn from her mistaken assumptions without making her feel bad. He also has a surprising James Bond side and the prerequisite Tragic Past.
Emery Thane: Ceony's teacher is a quiet man with laughing eyes. I like that he's willing to let her learn from her mistaken assumptions without making her feel bad. He also has a surprising James Bond side and the prerequisite Tragic Past.
What I'm on the fence about
Too much description: Holberg is great at description, but there is such a thing as too much detail. Right at the beginning of the book we have a great description of Thane's home. And it goes on and on and on. Action sequences seem to come to an abrupt stop to describe the feel of sand and the smell of cold blood. I think a little less description will give the narrative a better flow without sacrificing the story.What didn't work for me
The Romance: Ugh. I thought the romance was too fast and a bit ridiculous. I think a slow build would have been better. Middle schoolers will like the romance but high school readers might roll their eyes, but they'll still enjoy it.
Rating: 4.5
The Paper Magician is basically Daddy Long-Legs with magical origami and a prim heroine forced to battle zombie body parts. It was a fun, fast read and one I think will be popular with middle grades readers looking for a bit of romance. The audio book version is great and would be a great way to pass the time on the drive to and from school.
Have you read this series? Am I alone in thinking the romance seemed tacked on? I saw an Amazon review where the reader complained that the origami was too simple - what did you think?
OOOH! This actually looks SUPER interesting. *Adds to goodreads*. The past week I've added more books to goodreads than I have ALL YEAR! THANK's FOR THE POST! Have an AMAZING DAY!
ReplyDelete-Jared
It's a fun and fast read, so you should be able to get to your TBR pile. :) I've almost started avoiding Waiting on Wednesday posts because my Goodreads wishlist just explodes.
DeleteWAIT. MAGICAL ORIGAMI!?!? HOW DID I MISS THAT FACT!! I mean, now that I think about it...paper magician. haha. Makes sense. *facepalm* But I love origami and I actually sell it in my etsy so this is 100% the kind of book I need in my life. 😍
ReplyDeleteAt the rate you read, you'll probably finish it over breakfast. It's what I call "brain candy", just something fun and fluffy. And I love the origami dog Fennel, cute and hard to kill! (I avoid books with animals in them because I bawl if anything happens to them.)
DeleteI've seen this book all over the place. I love the cover but it doesn't sound like it's for me. It definitely sounds like something that would hold your attention though with everything going on.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just hate it when everybody is in love with a book, and it has such a cool cover so your automatically drawn to the new shiny, but something about the summary turns you off? I see books I want to like because everybody else is raving, and the book would be so pretty on my shelf, but I just know I'm never gonna read it.
DeleteWow, this sounds really good! I had heard of this book, but had NO idea what it was about! It sound really unique! Sorry that the romance wasn't the best though. Otherwise sounds like a a huge win! Great review, so glad you loved it!
ReplyDeleteI'm willing to give book 2 a try because I genuinely liked the characters, the world so was so creative, and it was just fun. But, yeah, the insta love is disappointing.
DeleteThis sounds so so good! Gothic and light hearted sounds amazing and I love good world building. I'm definitely adding it on Goodreads right now!
ReplyDeleteCeony's dry tone was really fun and had me chuckling through most of the book.
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