Beautiful and simple. Book 2, here I come! Delightful, whimsical and beautifully written, The Paper Magician is a unique spin on tales of magic. It has a touch of the Harry Potter magic mixed with The Parasol Protectorate.

This book did not hold my interest at all. There were issues with it and characters that I couldn’t find it in myself to like at all.

I got accepted to review this book years ago, but unfortunately never got around to reading it. Apologies for this.

From the wordbuilding to the writing, everything was a little confusing and bizarre, which is a bit of a shame because the premise was so promising! (Paper and origami magic!)

It's been years, lol, and I'm just cleaning out my Netgalley. Sorry I didn't read better before! I'm now better at NetGalley and getting books read on time.

The first in a fantasy series. A great set of characters inhabit a slightly twisted version of the real world, where magicians serve and are bonded to a single element, and once they have chosen that element they are bonded for life. The pacing is terrific, surprises abound and a hint of necromancy completes the picture. A great entry to a new world.

Interests have changed - no longer going to review this book as its bo my cup of tea any longer - sorry

Remember how earlier this month I complained about my habit of putting off reading books that I know I'll probably really enjoy? I'm here to tell you I did it again. This time it is The Paper Magician and Charlie N. Holmberg I need to apologize to. This is a delightful book I should have enjoyed back in 2014, although I'm also very grateful for the distraction it gave me now. Thanks to 47North and NetGalley for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I love books about magic, especially when they're this inventive with their world-building. In The Paper Magician, every magician is bonded to a specific element or material forever. That is the material your magic will be tied to for the rest of your life and there is no way of breaking it. I enjoyed the way this tied the magic into everyday life as well, where every material has its own use in industry etc., meaning that magicians are needed for every material. And then there is the dark side of this all, the Excisioners whose chose material is flesh. Holmberg really brings these types of magic to life through her writing, especially in the more descriptive moments. There is a joy to most of the magic in The Paper Magician which was very fun to read.

Ceony would not have chosen paper for herself, but a new paper magician is needed. Hence she will now apprentice under Mage Thane, who turns out to be a great, if mysterious, teacher. But her training is cut short when disaster strikes in the shape of an Excisioner and Ceony has to save her teacher. Initially I was a little confused as to what we were working towards, plot-wise, but the journey through Thane's heart is very much the goal itself. As Ceony gets to know more about Thane, her new skills will be put to the test as she battles for her own life and his. The plot of The Paper Magician moves fast once the action begins, but it is offset by moments of calm and emotional depth that ground the action and allow the characters to grow and develop. Despite some of the more intense scenes in regards to the Excisioners, I do think The Paper Magician could be suitable for a wide age range. Occasionally I did question the power balance between Ceony and Thane, but much of it will depend on how it is developed in the next books of the series.

This was Holmberg's debut novel and I was enraptured by it. There is a soft glow to the book, which perhaps doesn't make a lot of sense but feels correct. It's not whimsy, per se, despite the cottagecore feel of it, but rather a sense of comfort and warmth, despite the rather bloody setting of the second half of the book. Ceony is a lovely main character, driven and ambitious, willing to learn but also stubborn. Emery Thane is a quiet but humorous counterpoint, never giving away too much and yet saying more than he perhaps means to. (See, ambiguous!) I got strong Howl's Moving Castle vibes from The Paper Magician, especially the Studio Ghibli film adaptation, but didn't hate it. Perhaps it was part of the gentleness of it, Ceony's fieriness, and the need to save a mysterious magician by digging into his heart and past. I have set my sights on The Glass Magician next.

The Paper Magician is a lovely read that brings together many of my favourite things about magic in novels. For lovers of magic and Howl's Moving Castle (which I assume is an overlapping group), this is a great read!

My thanks to NetGalley and Amazon Publishing/47North for an eARC copy of this book to read and review.

Things I liked about this book.

1) The cover.
2) The premise.

Unfortunately the writing was too clunky for me to enjoy past the 3% mark. I read some other less than positive reviews and can see that the book would not be worth finishing, for me. Everyone's taste differs, so this may be your jam, but it wasn't mine and I am going to cut my losses where I can.

Would recommend if you are looking for something different and have read everything else.

2, I didn't hate it but I didn't let myself get far enough to hate it, stars.

I unfortunately was not able to read this book. I was excited when ever I had chosen to download or pick this book up on Netgalley. However, time moves by so quickly and I never got to read it.

I'm absolutely delighted about the universe of The Paper Magician. I definitely preferred to read about how paper magic worked, and learn more about this magic. It was definitely an interesting take to have Ceony wander through Thane's (can't remember what it was). But as much as I loved the world, I'm not completely in love with the characters, and especially not the romance (though I also did root for them (but hey, that is also how the plot set them up for me).

I requested this one back in the day as I had every intention of reading it. However, its been years and I still haven't gotten around to it and while I feel guilty at not reviewing a book I think that I need to admit to myself that I won't be reading this one anytime soon....if at all.

I loved how creative the magical system was, but I wish there was more detail about the magical world and how it works -- maybe the sequel will shed more light on this.

The Paper Magician is the first in a series by Charlie M. Holmberg. It's set in what I would call a steampunk era in England but with some magic thrown in for fun. The magic system is loosely defined as any magician having an affinity to work with only one type of medium, and that medium must be manmade. For example, mediums can be things like paper, plastic, glass, metal, and even flesh (eeek! More on this later). Every magician must bond with their medium however, and once that bonding is complete, said magician cannot work with any other medium.

The story begins with Ceony Twill arriving at Magician Emery Thane's home to begin her apprenticeship. To a reader such as myself who would love to have any type of magic at her fingertips, Ceony is just plain frustrating. She is being forced to bond and work with paper, when she would rather become a Smelter causing her to act like a spoiled brat. Sadly this made me dislike the main character early on. However, she grows as a character as she begins to learn and appreciate her craft. I liked her character development. 
Ceony's training is very short lived when her teacher is attacked and his heart stolen by an Excisioner (Flesh Magician). Excisioner's are obviously bad magicians as they tend to work with mediums such as blood and tissue. The claim is that since people can have babies, hence creating flesh, they can use it as a magical medium. Anyways, Ceony is then thrust on an adventure she shouldn't be anywhere near prepared for to save her teacher who's quirky ways but sweet actions have grown on her.

The student falling for their teacher thread of this story didn't fit very well, and that may just be because I don't like those situations. However, Ceony is an adult and Emery isn't crazy amounts older than her so technically we're good. Just not my cup of tea. I wish the story had more to do with her training and how paper magic could work. The idea is a really good one, however when Ceony is up against fully trained, evil magicians her paper magic just "magically" saves the day despite it not working that way before that point in the story. Magic systems need limits and rules. I don't like when magic just saves the day.

The concept of the story did still catch a lot of my interest, and I barely put this book down once I started. I think that fact alone says that it has something special. I am happy and excited to get started on it's sequel, The Glass Magician. I was definitely inspired to go work on my origami skills! The whole time, I just wanted to get paper crafting! I may have to go dig all that pretty paper out and start folding...

My Thoughts:

As I'm sure most of you know by now because I talk about it a lot, I'm on a mission this year to read books that have been sitting on my TBR for a long time. One of the oldest books on my TBR is The Paper Magician. Therefore, I want to dedicate this week to finishing the whole series on Audible, via Kindle Unlimited. I recently read the first book, and didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to.

At first, I was actually really enjoying The Paper Magician. I found the paper magic to be fascinating. I wanted to learn as much as I could about it, and was intrigued by the other types of magic as well. I'm not sure how to explain where things went wrong without giving spoilers, but I'll try. The first fourth of the book was fantastic. If the book would have continued on the path of Ceony learning about increasingly difficult paper magic, I probably would have had no problems with it.

Then, everything started to happen inside the heart (trying to be vague so I don't spoil anything). After that, the book was more about Emery's life, and feelings, and I was just bored. There was very little paper magic involved, or any type of magic for that matter. I also thought that the romance that happens towards the end of this book was incredibly unnecessary, and farnkly, kind of gross and disturbing considering the situation. Even though it was only briefly touched on so far in the series, it was highly inappropriate, and made me uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, I only enjoyed a small part of The Paper Magician. Even though I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, I do plan on continuing the series. I'm hoping now that the heart issue is solved, the rest of the series will go back to being how it was in the first few chapters, with Ceony learning about paper magic, and possibly other sorts of magic as well. The world that Ceony is in is intriguing, and I hope to learn more complex details about it.


I give The Paper Magician: 2.5/5.

Adored this book! I am hooked!

Thoughts as I read the book:

13% What is with the Mg before the names? Really would like to know. Magician??
17% Boy is she suspicious...
38% She actually thinks she can handle this alone?! Oh, sorry, she has a paper dog and bird!
59% Was not expecting the romantic interest like that.
100% Paper has more power than she may realize apparently...

Holmberg’s historical fantasy is set in a very different Victorian era, where people are able to ‘bond’ to a man-made material and perform magic with it. Ceony is an exemplary student of the Tagis Praff, and was excited to become a Smelter someday, but she is assigned to become a Folder, that is, a magician who binds to paper and performs magic with it. She thinks it is a mostly useless skill, more aesthetic than amazing. Now, having seen R.O.D., I was naturally excited, because do you know what you can do with paper magic??

(Btw, if you loved this book, go see that anime – weird boob physics aside, it is AWESOME!) Granted this is more origami and enchant paper than the flamboyant manipulation of paper, but it is different for a regular YA fantasy. The world is the best part of the book, because imagine a world where people are able to manipulate materials at will! (A nanotechnologist’s paradise, that’s what it is!)

The first third of the book is her settling in and slowly appreciating the power of paper magic, under the tutelage of her teacher, Emery Thane – (who is totes going to be the love interest in future books) a seemingly eccentric but genius Folder. After an Excisioner attacks him and steals his heart, she sets out to retrieve it before the enchanted paper heart she makes for him in its place falters and he dies. Keep in mind, she is an apprentice, and should be no match for an experienced flesh magician, but girl has spunk and courage and she WILL complete her apprenticeship under Thane, dammit! Most of the book then is her journey through his heart (like, she is literally inside his heart!) and learning about him as a person, while also honing her paper skills to duel against the Excisioner.

The novelty of the concept and the world-building are the high points of this book. Ceony comes across as a little bratty at first, but it develops into a determined personality. The story, while simplistic in being a quest-like plot, is engaging and keeps you on your toes. The writing is good, and one can picture the plot, much like the visualization Ceony performs with the stories. That little twist in the ending has me interested in the nature of magic in the world, and how rigid the rules are. Overall, this has been a good start to a uniquely shaped series.

Nice and quirky was easy to get into with a good story that kept me enthralled. The characters were interesting and easy to connect with

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

First in The Paper Magician series

3.25 stars

Ceony Twill never wanted to become an apprentice in the art of paper folding. When she arrives at Magician Emery Thane’s house, she is far from ecstatic. She was the top of the class and this isn’t the field she desired, but once she is bound to paper she can never leave the field. As she discovers the intricacy of paper, Ceony becomes more entranced by its beauty. Someone from Mg. Thane’s past is coming back for revenge and Ceony will have to go through a journey into Thane’s heart (his literal heart) to save him. I have had an ARC of this book for far too long. I have been getting better at reading ARCs as get them, but I have a ginormous backlog of ARCs that I must read. I wasn’t sure if I was going to pick this one up any time soon, but I was approved for a copy of the fourth book in the series and I decided to read the first book to decide if I would like to continue. I’m glad I picked this up. It was fun and the concept is incredibly unique. It’s not often you read about someone using magic through paper or having to embark on a journey through someone’s heart after their heart is ripped from their chest. These are probably spoilers, but I’m telling you this upfront because if I had known these details I would’ve been much more excited to go into this novel. While this isn’t the strongest novel in the fantasy or magical-wielding genre, I think it’s pretty unique and I want to see more people reading it. Holmberg’s writing style is simple and breezy. It isn’t complex and this makes the story very readable, but it also poses a hinderance to worldbuilding, characterization, and prose. This was Holmberg’s debut novel though and if this is what she is producing at the start of a fantasy series, then it is pretty promising and has a lot of room for growth.


Whimsical Writing Scale: 3

The main female character is Ceony. I like Ceony. She is a simple girl who has moments of strength. She isn’t a new favorite of mine, but I did really like her journey. I will say however, that I felt her decisions were a little off the cusp and impulsive. This made her a little hard to root for because things could’ve gone very bad for her, but they didn’t. (I kind of wish they had though; I would’ve loved some tragedy.) Also, she falls for Thane quite rapidly and it is one-sided, which is totally relatable and nice to seen portrayed in a fantasy novel, but it probably won’t stay one-sided for long.


Kick-Butt Heroine Scale: 3

The main male character is Emery Thane. He is supposed to be a bit of an oddball, but he didn’t seem all that odd to me. He seemed like your typical magician who happens to have a tragic past. Nothing new and I can’t whether or not I like him because I don’t feel like I know him.


Swoon Worthy Scale: 2.5
The Villain- Holmberg isn’t afraid to create a villain who loves terror and pain. It’s definitely creepy. I would’ve loved to see more development as to why this woman had a change of heart and what turned her into someone who uses blood for magic.


Villain Scale: 3.25

Overall, the story is a lot of fun and it offers a unique twist on a genre that is overrun with magicians. I did like the directions the Holmberg decided to go and I do plan on continuing with the series. This series has a lot of promise and I think that it will be one that I become a fan of. I do recommend this to lovers of rapid-fire fantasy that focuses more on the story than on the worldbuilding.


Plotastic Scale: 4

Cover Thoughts: I love this cover. It’s stunning and it fits with the story quite well.

Thank you, Netgalley and 47North, for providing me with a copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.

Very intriguing and innovative plot. Well done with the world building too. However, I didn't like the pace and the characters.