“Charlie is a vibrant writer with an excellent voice and great world building. I thoroughly enjoyed the Paper Magician.” —Brandon Sanderson, author of Mistborn and The Way of Kings 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 … 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.
From the imaginative mind of debut author Charlie N. Holmberg, The Paper Magician is an extraordinary adventure both dark and whimsical that will delight readers of all ages.
Short-Listed for the 2015 ALA Fantasy Reading List
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A unique fantasy
I enjoyed this book. It had interesting and unexpected twists and turns. I was disappointed when I reached the end of the book because I wanted it to continue. I’ll read the other two books in the series too. The characters were well written and felt like real people.
The magic in this book is so enchanting and original, and the descriptions so beautiful. I loved every minute of it.
I bought this series because it came recommended to me as I cannot seem to get over The Starless Sea all these months later. The book takes place in the early 1900s, but it isn’t necessarily written as such (which I appreciate, I’m not a fan of olde English when I’m trying to read, it slows me down). Ceony has been assigned an apprenticeship as a paper magician. Normally students are free to choose what they will study, but in this case, there just aren’t enough paper magicians. Ceony comes into this role fairly uninformed as the extent of what she will be able to do has yet to unfold (pun regarding the folding of paper intended).
So I liked learning what they can do, I thought it was fun and imaginative, and when the story switched to this quest to save Thane, I was a bit disappointed thinking this was the end of the cool stuff they were doing. But Ceony is incredibly smart (despite the fact she came into this with prejudices towards Thane), and the things she figures out to do in the name of saving him were creative. When the book ended, I wasn’t ready to let them go, and thankfully, I bought the entire series so I can continue on and see what is in store for them. This was such a fun read, I wouldn’t compare it to The Starless Sea, as others have done, but I would say Holmberg has a great imagination, and for that, I’m thankful.
What do you do when you’re forced to become the magician you don’t want to be? Do your best of course! Ceony is sent to bond and train as a paper magician. She thinks paper magic isn’t useful until she has to face an enemy that shapes magic from the skin and blood; an enemy from her master’s past! I like Ceony’s character, feisty, determined, and yet compassionate. There isn’t a great deal of romance in this story, but the possibility for one as the series continues. The same it true of the story line and magic; this book is more of a stage setter for what I hope is potentially an entertaining, magical, and hopefully romantic adventure to come!
The story is engaging from the start. The characters are what you’d expect to find in a magical fantasy world. I look forward to continuing with the series.
There was one thing that bugged me a little bit. And I wish I was possible give half stars. But Ceony’s hair kept changing from red to blonde. It’s not even described as a strawberry blonde which could be considered as either.
I mostly enjoyed the book,
I really enjoyed the premise of this books and its unique take on magic. I only wish the series was longer.
This was a nice book, with a compact plot and cast of characters. The idea of magic performed through man-made items, like paper, was interesting. Ceony wasn’t my favourite character from the start, but she improved towards the end of the book. Emery remained slightly distant, but he made an excellent character, especially in the latter part where we got to go through is heart’s contents.
However, the world-building could’ve used more careful work. The charm of a world almost like ours with interesting differences stemming from the particulars of the chosen fantasy system only works if the setting is sound. Now, it took me until the middle of the book to even be sure this wasn’t a modern world with some historical quirks, and not the other way round. The author hadn’t bothered even with the basics of the era she had set her book in. I tried to take them as part of her special world, but every out of place notion or item jolted me right out of the world. It marred the reading experience so thoroughly that I won’t be continuing with the series.
The bad guys were really bad and the good guys were really good…
Have you ever sat down, tired of all the books about Magical orphans who turn into kings, or the like? Have you ever tried to come up with a magic system that is new and different? Well here’s the story of a young lady in what I might term an “alternate world” where magic is real – and so is boring magic that no one wants to learn because metal magicians make all the money. Think of someone settling on becoming a backcracker because they couldn’t get into a real medical school. This world and situation is quite similar – factor in also the very prim and proper way a young lady must behave while being tutored by a male master Paper Magician and you have a story that is interesting, intriguing and yet easily digested. Enjoy your dessert!
Quite remarkable, especially as a first book.
A fresh idea (with several nods to Harry Potter) filled with charming characters and interesting situations.
I look forward to the following books.
An interesting take on the “rules” of magic. Our heroine is book-smart and pretty innocent (read: young YA). Mg. Thane is a very respectful teacher to his apprentice who quickly gets enamored with him.
This is very much Ceony’s story as we learn about the larger world of magic through the device of walking through Emery Thane’s life as remembered in his heart.
Taking a tour of his heart is a clever way to get to know him without the creepiness of a 30-year-old man who lives with his 19-year-old student to appear to take advantage of the power imbalance of their relationship.
For a book that clocks in at only 226 pages, Charlie Holmberg’s The Paper Magician sure delves into a lot of backstory. Stranger still, most of the history lessons aren’t about the main character.
That would be Ceony Twill, a recent graduate of the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined. Ceony wants to be a Smelter, a magician who works with metal. But because Folders are in short supply in Holmberg’s version of early twentieth-century Britain, she’s apprenticed to Emery Thane, one of the country’s few paper magicians. Ceony takes the development hard—once a magic-user bonds to a material, he/she can cast spells with no other medium. And paper seems good for little more than origami-style parlor tricks.
But Ceony gradually starts to see the merits of her assigned craft, as well as those of the quirky Thane. So when his ex-wife Lira, an Excisioner (a magician who works with blood), appears and steals his life force, Ceony does everything she can to rescue him.
Here’s where the backstory bonanza comes in. While trying to save Thane, Ceony falls into a trap of Lira’s that enmeshes Ceony in Thane’s memories (instead of just, you know, killing her). Getting out requires exploring all the nooks and crannies of Thane’s past, through which we learn much about him… but only a little about Ceony.
Holmberg keeps the historical spelunking reasonably interesting by interspersing it with chase scenes of Lira pursuing Ceony through Thane’s pivotal moments. And Ceony grows in the process. But the digression goes on a bit long for such a short tale, and the way Holmberg literally develops one character in the character of another—while ambitious—didn’t quite do it for me. Especially since Ceony keeps telling herself that, to escape, she has to get through all of Thane’s core memories; by the third repetition or so, it starts to feel like Holmberg is trying to convince the reader to stay the course.
The magic system is fun, though, and even with the backstory overload, The Paper Magician is as quick a read as its page count suggests. Worth a look if you feel like knocking something out in one sitting.
(For more reviews like this one, see http://www.nickwisseman.com)
I liked it, but it was too short!
I started this book to read with a Book Club. I was unable to attend, but I so enjoyed the story that I am excited to listen to the other books in the series. I liked the development of the characters. The characters came to life with the Audible reading that I listened to. I liked how the magic was out of the ordinary.
This story was fun and well developed. It was clean and made me happy and tear up when needed.
I would recommend this story to others that enjoy some magic.
The whimsical cover of this book drew me in, and I was not disappointed when I started to read. The characters are engaging and fully fleshed out. Watching the relationship between Ceony and Emery unfold is a delight. The concept of folding paper as a conduit for magic is terrifically original. Kudos to the author for that. My only reason I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5 is that I found Ceony’s voyage through Emery’s heart a bit too long, so by the end it became tedious. But on the whole, this was a great read.
My niece recommended this to me, so I borrowed it from Amazon Prime. Total fantasy, but not in any way offensive. Cute little romance with a lot of paper thrown in, and some blood and gore. But, not enough to get me to read the rest of the series.
Good character development.
Very “The Night Circus”-esque. I loved the different kinds of magic, and it was an adorable story that was a pleasure to read.