Reviews - The Paper Magician

2.73k reviews for:

The Paper Magician

Charlie N. Holmberg

3.5 AVERAGE

rcclenz's review against another edition

4.0

Great setting and a unique take on magic. A little too cheesy at the end for my taste but overall a nice read.

ayersparky's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark hopeful mysterious tense

ashleybuhrke's review against another edition

3.0

I’m teetering between a 2.5 and a 3 so maybe we’ll call this a 2.75.

While this story was unique for me, I just didn’t get in to it. Ceony’s relationship with Emery is weird, I didn’t get it. The story went way left field, didn’t get that either. I was hoping to be convinced that a paper magician was great and exciting but I didn’t find it to be. I’d be mad if I had to be a paper magician. Overall, the story was confusing and underwhelming. I wasn’t convinced and I will not be moving on with this series.

trashkitty6's review against another edition

3.75

adventurous dark fast-paced

incredibletheyhulk's review

3.0

The universe Holmberg builds is fascinating, but the characters are not. I love the idea of paper magic, and Excisioners are terrifying. The idea that paper magicians can make a story come alive before them is delightful, and writing words on paper as spells is such a cool concept. Ceony, however, was not well developed. She didn't feel like a full character to me. Mg Thane had more development, but he's not the main character. I'm also a little creeped out by a 19 year old student falling in love with her teacher after about a month.

bellatonin's review against another edition

2.0

The movement between scenes in the chambers of the heart was cool, as was the unique magic system. However, Ceony was a very inconsistent character, easily swinging between the emotional maturity of a 6, 13, and 19 year old, so rooting for her was difficult and confusing. Thane was an interesting character and well thought out, but Ceony lacks that depth and complexity, which is very frustrating since it is literally her story. The main villain was one-dimensional, designed solely to be the opposite of Ceony, so they weren’t a very interesting villain. Besides this, Ceony has some major plot armor to the point of impossibility, and on the whole, it was rather cliche. I finished it more so out of principle than enjoyment.