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3.51 AVERAGE
3.51 AVERAGE
Loved this!! Wish it had been longer with more detail, but a great read.
This one was not what I expected but I loved the ending so much. I’m hoping the next books will fit into a challenge or I’ll have the time after all my reads. I’ll probably listen to them because it was a little hard to get through at times.
I enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was a fairly quick read with an interesting concept. I am looking forward to reading the rest of the series.
4.5 stars, but I rounded up because I haven't enjoyed a book this much in a long time.
A very interesting read.
This story don't go where I expected. The characters had so much growth. I really enjoyed the world and the story.
This story don't go where I expected. The characters had so much growth. I really enjoyed the world and the story.
Like an off-brand Howl's Moving Castle, though lacking the kind of likable main character that made Howl so memorable.
A romantic fantasy, The Paper Magician is the first book in the trilogy. The protagonist is a young who is a magician in the late 1800's - early 1900's. In this first book the author takes the reader through the struggles of Ceony, the protagonist, as she becomes a young adult and transitions into role leaving her dreams and settling into to her present.
I will probably read [bc:The Glass Magician|22341276|The Glass Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy, #2)|Charlie N. Holmberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410466975s/22341276.jpg|41739586],the next in the series, but the ending of the first book did not leave me with a compelling need to read the next book.
Previously, I had read [bc:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387124618s/9361589.jpg|14245059] which I loved and then I ordered [bc:The Paper Magician|20727654|The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy, #1)|Charlie N. Holmberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405618531s/20727654.jpg|40051132] which I thought would be similar. Though of the same genre, there just was not the page turning suspense in [b:The Paper Magician|20727654|The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy, #1)|Charlie N. Holmberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405618531s/20727654.jpg|40051132].
I will probably read [bc:The Glass Magician|22341276|The Glass Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy, #2)|Charlie N. Holmberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1410466975s/22341276.jpg|41739586],the next in the series, but the ending of the first book did not leave me with a compelling need to read the next book.
Previously, I had read [bc:The Night Circus|9361589|The Night Circus|Erin Morgenstern|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1387124618s/9361589.jpg|14245059] which I loved and then I ordered [bc:The Paper Magician|20727654|The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy, #1)|Charlie N. Holmberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405618531s/20727654.jpg|40051132] which I thought would be similar. Though of the same genre, there just was not the page turning suspense in [b:The Paper Magician|20727654|The Paper Magician (The Paper Magician Trilogy, #1)|Charlie N. Holmberg|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1405618531s/20727654.jpg|40051132].
adventurous
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
This was such a good quick read.
I also just thoroughly love how quirky Mg. Thane is
I also just thoroughly love how quirky Mg. Thane is
World-building? - 5. I absolutely love Charlie Holmberg’s ability to construct novel systems of magic and integrate them into historic time frames.
Pacing? - 2. The story abruptly changed course about halfway through the book. I felt this book needed to be at least half again as long to make it fit: we’ll see if that happens in the next two books!
Character development? - 3. I feel like Ceony hardly grew or developed at all throughout the book. Her opinions did an immediate about-face in the beginning of the story, and then we learn more about her mentor than herself in the second half. I do see this is a series so hoping to see her arc develop over the course of the series at least.
Narration? - 2. While the narrator was fantastic in her native dialect, switching between a North American accent during narration and a poor rendition of a British accent during dialogue was extremely distracting to say the least. I almost DNF the audiobook but at least the second half of the story doesn’t have much dialogue.
Finally, there were so many extraneous and fabulous details about the MC that, having not yet read the remaining books in the series, seem unnecessary or at least plunked down instead of woven in.
The first half of the book really caught me so I will be continuing with the series, but definitely hoping the author picked a different voice actor for the audiobook!
Pacing? - 2. The story abruptly changed course about halfway through the book. I felt this book needed to be at least half again as long to make it fit: we’ll see if that happens in the next two books!
Character development? - 3. I feel like Ceony hardly grew or developed at all throughout the book. Her opinions did an immediate about-face in the beginning of the story, and then we learn more about her mentor than herself in the second half. I do see this is a series so hoping to see her arc develop over the course of the series at least.
Narration? - 2. While the narrator was fantastic in her native dialect, switching between a North American accent during narration and a poor rendition of a British accent during dialogue was extremely distracting to say the least. I almost DNF the audiobook but at least the second half of the story doesn’t have much dialogue.
Finally, there were so many extraneous and fabulous details about the MC that, having not yet read the remaining books in the series, seem unnecessary or at least plunked down instead of woven in.
The first half of the book really caught me so I will be continuing with the series, but definitely hoping the author picked a different voice actor for the audiobook!
Maybe it's the springtime air befuddling my brain, or maybe I'm just feeling very generous, but I thought this book was lovely.
Taking place in an alternate London where magic is not only possible but widely accepted, Ceony Twill has just graduated from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined at the top of her class. Since people can only enchant materials that are man-made (paper, rubber, plastic, glass, metal), Ceony will be bound forever to one element and subsequently sent to apprentice under a higher magician of that element. She hopes to become a Smelter, or a a metal magician, able to charm bullets and daggers and jewellery and the like. However, she gets called into the headmistress's office only to be told that she will have to become a Folder- a paper magician- due to the lack of skilled Folders.
Reasonably, Ceony is angry and bummed out. I mean, what in God's name is the use of being solely able to use magic with paper? It's incredibly lame. Not to mention, what could one even do with the skill of Folding, besides making some badass origami?
SPOILER ALERT: Some pretty cool stuff!
So Ceony is sent to become an apprentice to Emery Thane, a talented Folder who lives on the outskirts of London. Thane is delightfully mysterious and eccentric and almost immediately likable, whereas Ceony takes a bit of getting used to. She comes off, at first, as a bit of prude and a stuck-up, but eventually proves her worth. Because if there's one thing you can say about Ceony Twill, it's that she's practial. She's smart, capable, and maintains some of the grit she acquired through growing up in poverty. She doesn't pout over her lost dreams of enchanted bullets, but fully devotes herself to mastering the complex and whimsical art of paper magic (which, it should be said, is much less lame than it first sounds).
But when Thane's past catches up to him in a frenzy and Ceony comes face-to-face with Excision, the forbidden practise of blood magic, she'll have to go further than she ever thought she'd have to in order to save her mentor and the magical community as a whole- and the only help she'll get is from the paper she's been studying.
I've seen a lot of "DNF" reviews on here, and I can honestly understand why someone would put this book down. The first third of the book is, to put it bluntly, quite boring. It's just about Ceony studying paper and cooking and Thane mysteriously leaving for days at a time. And when the plot does finally pick up, it does so incredibly abruptly. However, like I said before, I really liked the story for reasons I can't put my finger on. It redeemed itself in the last half.
Sweet dreams of paper swans and fortuity boxes!
Taking place in an alternate London where magic is not only possible but widely accepted, Ceony Twill has just graduated from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined at the top of her class. Since people can only enchant materials that are man-made (paper, rubber, plastic, glass, metal), Ceony will be bound forever to one element and subsequently sent to apprentice under a higher magician of that element. She hopes to become a Smelter, or a a metal magician, able to charm bullets and daggers and jewellery and the like. However, she gets called into the headmistress's office only to be told that she will have to become a Folder- a paper magician- due to the lack of skilled Folders.
Reasonably, Ceony is angry and bummed out. I mean, what in God's name is the use of being solely able to use magic with paper? It's incredibly lame. Not to mention, what could one even do with the skill of Folding, besides making some badass origami?
SPOILER ALERT: Some pretty cool stuff!
So Ceony is sent to become an apprentice to Emery Thane, a talented Folder who lives on the outskirts of London. Thane is delightfully mysterious and eccentric and almost immediately likable, whereas Ceony takes a bit of getting used to. She comes off, at first, as a bit of prude and a stuck-up, but eventually proves her worth. Because if there's one thing you can say about Ceony Twill, it's that she's practial. She's smart, capable, and maintains some of the grit she acquired through growing up in poverty. She doesn't pout over her lost dreams of enchanted bullets, but fully devotes herself to mastering the complex and whimsical art of paper magic (which, it should be said, is much less lame than it first sounds).
But when Thane's past catches up to him in a frenzy and Ceony comes face-to-face with Excision, the forbidden practise of blood magic, she'll have to go further than she ever thought she'd have to in order to save her mentor and the magical community as a whole- and the only help she'll get is from the paper she's been studying.
I've seen a lot of "DNF" reviews on here, and I can honestly understand why someone would put this book down. The first third of the book is, to put it bluntly, quite boring. It's just about Ceony studying paper and cooking and Thane mysteriously leaving for days at a time. And when the plot does finally pick up, it does so incredibly abruptly. However, like I said before, I really liked the story for reasons I can't put my finger on. It redeemed itself in the last half.
Sweet dreams of paper swans and fortuity boxes!