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A review by bookph1le
The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
2.0
I feel so ambivalent about these books. On the one hand, I'm interested in the world Holmberg has created and feel it has a lot of potential. I really like the idea of a paper magician because it feels fresh and unlikely to me, and I really like that freshness in a fantasy and/or urban fantasy novel, as they're both genres that seem to fall into using a lot of the same tropes. However, there are some serious issues that plague this series. Spoilers to follow.
While I do like Ceony, she annoys me to no end because she's just plain dumb a lot of the time. She runs into situations without preparing herself and without considering the consequences of her actions, and as a result, she often makes things worse. The books want you to empathize with her and believe her well-meaning, but that's hard for me to do when I'm angry with her for being so recklessly impulsive.
Because of this, it annoys me that Emery is so tolerant of Ceony. I can tell from the setup of these books that it's inevitable that they'll get together, but it's so hard for me to watch him be so blind to such a major character defect on Ceony's part--not that he's perfect, mind. There was a scene in the previous novel that felt uncomfortably abusive to me, and that I felt should have been a deal-breaker when it came to Ceony's feelings for him, but I digress. Emery does get angry at her and shout at her in this book, but Ceony completely misses the forest for the trees, and I wanted to throw my hands up at the whole argument. Neither of them makes a coherent point, and neither of them grows in their understanding of the other, which leaves a serious ding in the romance for me. Blindness to a partner's flaws does not a good, grounded romance make.
These books do fall into one mega-trope, which is that of the super special bumbler who somehow manages to save themselves at every turn. Ceony is still an apprentice, which means she should be no match at all for the skilled bad guys she attacks. It takes an entire crew with a variety of skills to go after Saraj, but Ceony has somehow managed to go up against not only Lira, but also Grath. I find that irritating. Sure, dumb luck works sometimes, but I find it harder to suspend my disbelief when characters can do flagrantly idiotic things and still manage to come out on top. Wouldn't it be nice if things worked that way in the real world?
Some major peeves here of mine: the casual sexism embedded in these books, the racist portrayal of Saraj, and their excruciatingly hetero-centric view of the world.
The casual sexism comes through in a variety of ways. Ceony does all the cooking, laundry, and dish-washing. Well, okay, maybe she likes cooking. I could be okay with that; plenty of people like to cook. But, in this book, she cooks for another male character and promptly thinks he needs to get married so that he'll eat properly. Because apparently he can't learn how to cook himself? I mean, I know this is meant to be a period piece and all, but since pretty much nothing else about these books feels period-appropriate, it's a little hard to buy into that. I won't even get into Ceony's modesty philosophy, which is all kinds of messed up.
Early in the book, Ceony has an encounter with Saraj, and she notices him immediately because he's dark-skinned. Her powers of self-reflection are strong enough for her to recognize that it's racist for her to pick him out as suspicious simply because of the way he looks, but the book then gives her a pass by making him evil. Worse yet, he's evil just because the narrative needs him to be evil. Rather than fleshing him out and maybe providing some insight into why he acts the way he does, he's simply painted in broad strokes. This left me very, very uncomfortable. Perhaps a more skilled author could have painted a more nuanced portrait, but that's neither here nor there with regard to this book. It is what it is, and what it is is pretty disturbing.
Both in this book and the previous book, Aviosky outright states that she doesn't like mixed gender apprenticeships because of the potential for inappropriate relationships. Um, yeah. Apparently, every single magician in this world is a heterosexual, otherwise how can you not laugh at the thought that all Aviosky needs to do to prevent an inappropriate teacher/student relationship is assign male apprentices to male teachers and vice versa? The erasure of LGBTQ people in literature is annoying to me, and it's on par with portraying characters of color in simplistic, racist ways. Even if the author chose not to portray any LGBTQ characters, the fact that she basically erases their existence is plain awful.
There are bits and pieces of these books that I like, such as seeing different spells and how they work, but then major plot elements will interfere and I'll find myself feeling turned off by the books. And the more I think about some of the insidious messages playing out throughout the series, the more uncomfortable I feel. I was planning on reading the third book, but I think this may be where this author and I need to part ways.
While I do like Ceony, she annoys me to no end because she's just plain dumb a lot of the time. She runs into situations without preparing herself and without considering the consequences of her actions, and as a result, she often makes things worse. The books want you to empathize with her and believe her well-meaning, but that's hard for me to do when I'm angry with her for being so recklessly impulsive.
Because of this, it annoys me that Emery is so tolerant of Ceony. I can tell from the setup of these books that it's inevitable that they'll get together, but it's so hard for me to watch him be so blind to such a major character defect on Ceony's part--not that he's perfect, mind. There was a scene in the previous novel that felt uncomfortably abusive to me, and that I felt should have been a deal-breaker when it came to Ceony's feelings for him, but I digress. Emery does get angry at her and shout at her in this book, but Ceony completely misses the forest for the trees, and I wanted to throw my hands up at the whole argument. Neither of them makes a coherent point, and neither of them grows in their understanding of the other, which leaves a serious ding in the romance for me. Blindness to a partner's flaws does not a good, grounded romance make.
These books do fall into one mega-trope, which is that of the super special bumbler who somehow manages to save themselves at every turn. Ceony is still an apprentice, which means she should be no match at all for the skilled bad guys she attacks. It takes an entire crew with a variety of skills to go after Saraj, but Ceony has somehow managed to go up against not only Lira, but also Grath. I find that irritating. Sure, dumb luck works sometimes, but I find it harder to suspend my disbelief when characters can do flagrantly idiotic things and still manage to come out on top. Wouldn't it be nice if things worked that way in the real world?
Some major peeves here of mine: the casual sexism embedded in these books, the racist portrayal of Saraj, and their excruciatingly hetero-centric view of the world.
The casual sexism comes through in a variety of ways. Ceony does all the cooking, laundry, and dish-washing. Well, okay, maybe she likes cooking. I could be okay with that; plenty of people like to cook. But, in this book, she cooks for another male character and promptly thinks he needs to get married so that he'll eat properly. Because apparently he can't learn how to cook himself? I mean, I know this is meant to be a period piece and all, but since pretty much nothing else about these books feels period-appropriate, it's a little hard to buy into that. I won't even get into Ceony's modesty philosophy, which is all kinds of messed up.
Early in the book, Ceony has an encounter with Saraj, and she notices him immediately because he's dark-skinned. Her powers of self-reflection are strong enough for her to recognize that it's racist for her to pick him out as suspicious simply because of the way he looks, but the book then gives her a pass by making him evil. Worse yet, he's evil just because the narrative needs him to be evil. Rather than fleshing him out and maybe providing some insight into why he acts the way he does, he's simply painted in broad strokes. This left me very, very uncomfortable. Perhaps a more skilled author could have painted a more nuanced portrait, but that's neither here nor there with regard to this book. It is what it is, and what it is is pretty disturbing.
Both in this book and the previous book, Aviosky outright states that she doesn't like mixed gender apprenticeships because of the potential for inappropriate relationships. Um, yeah. Apparently, every single magician in this world is a heterosexual, otherwise how can you not laugh at the thought that all Aviosky needs to do to prevent an inappropriate teacher/student relationship is assign male apprentices to male teachers and vice versa? The erasure of LGBTQ people in literature is annoying to me, and it's on par with portraying characters of color in simplistic, racist ways. Even if the author chose not to portray any LGBTQ characters, the fact that she basically erases their existence is plain awful.
There are bits and pieces of these books that I like, such as seeing different spells and how they work, but then major plot elements will interfere and I'll find myself feeling turned off by the books. And the more I think about some of the insidious messages playing out throughout the series, the more uncomfortable I feel. I was planning on reading the third book, but I think this may be where this author and I need to part ways.