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A review by marindamisra
The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
4.0
Wow! I had a bunch of people telling me that I should read this book because they thought I would like it. I finally got it from the library like, two years later, then it just sort of sat next my bed for three weeks. Then two days ago I though i would give it a try, and I actually really liked it! And it wasn’t just for the cute crushy romance.
The things they talked about, the four things that make up your heart and what would be in them made me stop and think. What WOULD be in each chamber in mine? Sounds like good material for a book club discussion... and now I have my three books for book club next year!
I wasn’t thrilled when I started reading this. I saw a lot of little things that they always say not to do and that I superly try to watch out for. It gave an amateur feeling in my head - because I’m apparently super judgmental now and have refined tastes?!? Or maybe I’ve just been reading too many things by super established authors (apparently “super” is my word of choice today.
Anyway, I kept going because I was intrigued by the idea and the writing wasn’t actually bad and maybe this was just a writing style that I wasn’t used to. But if I was honest, I kept reading because everyone said I would like it, and I was interested to find out why.
Things got a lot better when he got his heart ripped out. The other stuff was really important explanation of how the magic system worked (I don’t know why I complained, she did a really good job getting all that out without it feeling like a random info dump) and I smiled at her budding crush on him and his quirky ways.
But then I felt like everything kicked into gear, like I said, when crazy lady showed up and ripped his heart out and Ceony spazed and ran off to save him.
Then it got REALLY interesting very quickly, and if there was any other “ amateurish” writing quirks I didn’t notice them, I was caught up in the story that well.
I felt sick through most of the first chamber - no one wants to see their boyfriend’s ex’s, and this was that on steroids (FYI I figured out how to fix all my spelling problems- just uses the voice option for the key board!). It was awesome, though, when we got to watched when he first saw her.
Then the second chamber was warm and fuzzy as well - then things got dark real fast. It was bad, but then when he attacked her it caught me off guard, and I saw no way out and got that horrible helpless feeling. But then she did, and she saved him.
I loved how she defeated Liza. It’s my favorite when they uses something that has been a part of the whole novel but used it in a way I wasn’t expecting that then saved the day! It feels clever and real.
Then the ending - and I couldn’t stop reading, not then, not when he was about to wake up and we were going to see how he felt about her now! Ok, so I knew it was going to end well, but I didn’t know how! What would he say?!?
And I was happy.
The thing that was the funniest part of reading this was when - I think it was the third chamber - that I was suddenly hit that the title wasn’t talking about Ceony, but about Emery, and that it wasn’t so much about magic origami as it was about HIM. Not magic, but what made up this man, the man called The Paper Magician. That was the moment that took this from a romance set in a fun magic system world and turned it into something real that suddenly existed in mine, like characters crawling out of a TV set.
Now I need to get the next one, but this one was clearly a stand alone novel so I have no idea what the next one is going to be, but the author has won my trust enough that I’ll keep going.
Update:
Just had a thought. I mentioned above that this was clearly a stand alone book so I Dan t know what the next one will be about. But then those very important words came back to me from the Elentris preface or whatever it was - to imperial it. Having buddy dude in trouble and his life on the line, is nice, but it isn’t the end of the world. Then I remembered how they said that why Lira targeted him was to stop him hunting them, that they are destroying society. I mean, we know he has some pretty mad paper skillz so I’m fully expecting to see them at some point now. And let’s not forget that at the end she kind of did paper AND blood magic and Emery even said he had no idea what she did, so that means we gotta find out! So yeah, obviously there is going to be more!
The things they talked about, the four things that make up your heart and what would be in them made me stop and think. What WOULD be in each chamber in mine? Sounds like good material for a book club discussion... and now I have my three books for book club next year!
I wasn’t thrilled when I started reading this. I saw a lot of little things that they always say not to do and that I superly try to watch out for. It gave an amateur feeling in my head - because I’m apparently super judgmental now and have refined tastes?!? Or maybe I’ve just been reading too many things by super established authors (apparently “super” is my word of choice today.
Anyway, I kept going because I was intrigued by the idea and the writing wasn’t actually bad and maybe this was just a writing style that I wasn’t used to. But if I was honest, I kept reading because everyone said I would like it, and I was interested to find out why.
Things got a lot better when he got his heart ripped out. The other stuff was really important explanation of how the magic system worked (I don’t know why I complained, she did a really good job getting all that out without it feeling like a random info dump) and I smiled at her budding crush on him and his quirky ways.
But then I felt like everything kicked into gear, like I said, when crazy lady showed up and ripped his heart out and Ceony spazed and ran off to save him.
Then it got REALLY interesting very quickly, and if there was any other “ amateurish” writing quirks I didn’t notice them, I was caught up in the story that well.
I felt sick through most of the first chamber - no one wants to see their boyfriend’s ex’s, and this was that on steroids (FYI I figured out how to fix all my spelling problems- just uses the voice option for the key board!). It was awesome, though, when we got to watched when he first saw her.
Then the second chamber was warm and fuzzy as well - then things got dark real fast. It was bad, but then when he attacked her it caught me off guard, and I saw no way out and got that horrible helpless feeling. But then she did, and she saved him.
I loved how she defeated Liza. It’s my favorite when they uses something that has been a part of the whole novel but used it in a way I wasn’t expecting that then saved the day! It feels clever and real.
Then the ending - and I couldn’t stop reading, not then, not when he was about to wake up and we were going to see how he felt about her now! Ok, so I knew it was going to end well, but I didn’t know how! What would he say?!?
And I was happy.
The thing that was the funniest part of reading this was when - I think it was the third chamber - that I was suddenly hit that the title wasn’t talking about Ceony, but about Emery, and that it wasn’t so much about magic origami as it was about HIM. Not magic, but what made up this man, the man called The Paper Magician. That was the moment that took this from a romance set in a fun magic system world and turned it into something real that suddenly existed in mine, like characters crawling out of a TV set.
Now I need to get the next one, but this one was clearly a stand alone novel so I have no idea what the next one is going to be, but the author has won my trust enough that I’ll keep going.
Update:
Just had a thought. I mentioned above that this was clearly a stand alone book so I Dan t know what the next one will be about. But then those very important words came back to me from the Elentris preface or whatever it was - to imperial it. Having buddy dude in trouble and his life on the line, is nice, but it isn’t the end of the world. Then I remembered how they said that why Lira targeted him was to stop him hunting them, that they are destroying society. I mean, we know he has some pretty mad paper skillz so I’m fully expecting to see them at some point now. And let’s not forget that at the end she kind of did paper AND blood magic and Emery even said he had no idea what she did, so that means we gotta find out! So yeah, obviously there is going to be more!