Review–The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician #1) by Charlie N. Holmberg


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The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician #1)

by Charlie N. Holmberg

Summary: 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.


Source: I received a digital copy from NetGalley
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Review:
I feel like I’ve neglected this book for quite some time now. I saw so many mixed reviews that I kept pushing it off for a later time. Finally, I decided to pick it up and I’m really glad I did. I loved The Paper Magician!
Ceony was a bright magician and she had high hopes to bond to a cool medium and become a Smelter. Due to the small amount of Folders left in the magical community, however, she was told she would become a Folder and her medium would be paper. And so she became the Magician Emery Thane’s apprentice.
I liked Mg. Thane immediately, though I did sense he was quite young to be teaching anyone. I loved that he had a paper skeleton butler named Jonto and he created a paper dog for Ceony when he realized she missed her own dog from home. I could sense that she would find her place there and learn to love her medium.
Things got quite crazy when Mg. Thane’s life was at stake due to a an Excisioner stealing his heart. I loved how the story took a weird turn and Ceony had to battle through the chambers of his heart in order to save herself and take the heart back to his body. I liked that I still knew so little about how the magical world worked because I didn’t feel like it was boring, slow, or that the story gave me entirely too much information.
I couldn’t wait to pick up book two! I definitely recommend the series so far. I think it’s a magical and whimsical tale that is as simple as it is enchanting. It’s not a complicated fantasy, but it’s not a middle grade fairy tale, either. I can’t wait to see what happens next.

4%25252520star







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