Review: The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Paper Magician (#1) by Charlie N. Holmberg (2014)
224 pages
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: 47North
Source:I received a free e-book from the publisher through Netgalley. This did not affect my honest review. Thanks 47North and Netgalley!
Purchase: Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon

Goodreads 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.

My Review

The Paper Magician is a magical read. Who knew that paper magic would be so spellbinding? When reading the very detailed (okay, sometimes maybe a little too detailed) picture the author paints for the reader of Ceony and Thane putting life into paper my heart fluttered. The beautiful images Holmberg was able to create left a lasting impression on me. I swear I could actually feel the magic through the pages. Holmberg does a wonderful job at slowly building this world where paper magic exits. You won't find any info dumps in this book, although I do wish there was a little more world building here and there, but it isn't necessarily necessary.

The characters are fun and rather genuine. Ceony is an interesting woman. She is 19 years old and would rather bond to any other magic than paper, it's too bad she has no choice in the matter. It was either she bond with paper or nothing at all. She chose paper, and I'm glad she did, even if she tended to complain about it a little too much at first. I had a wonderful time reading about Ceony's adventure of learning paper magic. I would love to be a paper magician. Thane is her teacher, and he is damn good at it. Thane is a rather complex character, more so than Ceony, and he is very likable and kind of bizarre. There is a romance forming between Thane and Ceony that may not sit well with some readers since there is a 10 year age gap, but for whatever reason it didn't really bother me.

My only real complaint about the novel would be that the pace of The Paper Magician was a little shaky. At times I felt like the flow was perfect, at other times it stalled, and still sometimes it flew by. It felt uneven. I do like how the story starts out with a lightness to it and ends on a more dark note.
Side note: There are a lot of weird things that happen in this book, but in this case I found the weird to be cool and refreshing and not too out there. It's a good different.

I'm not sure this book is for everyone, but I think experiencing the paper magic alone would make this book worth reading. I can't wait to get my hands on the next book in this trilogy. I need to see more paper magic.