Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic…forever.
Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Thane turn out to be more marvelous than she could have ever imagined—animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.
An Excisioner—a practitioner of dark, flesh magic—invades the cottage and rips Thane’s heart from his chest. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane’s still-beating heart—and reveal the very soul of the man.
From the imaginative mind of debut author Charlie N. Holmberg, The Paper Magician is an extraordinary adventure both dark and whimsical that will delight readers of all ages.
I really, really, really, REALLY enjoyed this book! I was also very surprised that I enjoyed this book because I'm usually not into books like this. Charlie N. Holmberg masterfully crafted an amazing story full of magic and excitement. The idea of creating magic through materials really intrigued me. I wish that the reading part of the paper magic was real. I'd love to be able to read a story and have it come to life in front of me! I'm with Ceony on the paper skeleton, though. I'm not sure how excited I would be about a paper skeleton following me around my house.
My favorite part of the whole book was when Ceony ends up inside Magician Thane's heart. While it was sort of creepy, I thought it was an interesting way to tell Magician Thane's back story and show how the Excisioner tied into the story. Reading about Ceony traveling through the different chambers of his heart and learning about his life before her while she travels was exciting. I couldn't put the book down for that part!
I also loved Fennel, the little paper puppy dog, and Ceony's love for cooking. She was probably my favorite character in the whole story because she had such a strong personality but was able to open up her mind to Magician Thane in order to eventually change her mind about him and paper magic. If you're interested in magical tales, I would definitely recommend checking out The Paper Magician. (I hope this gets turned into a movie one day! I'd love to watch it!)
I really, really, really, REALLY enjoyed this book! I was also very surprised that I enjoyed this book because I'm usually not into books like this. Charlie N. Holmberg masterfully crafted an amazing story full of magic and excitement. The idea of creating magic through materials really intrigued me. I wish that the reading part of the paper magic was real. I'd love to be able to read a story and have it come to life in front of me! I'm with Ceony on the paper skeleton, though. I'm not sure how excited I would be about a paper skeleton following me around my house.
My favorite part of the whole book was when Ceony ends up inside Magician Thane's heart. While it was sort of creepy, I thought it was an interesting way to tell Magician Thane's back story and show how the Excisioner tied into the story. Reading about Ceony traveling through the different chambers of his heart and learning about his life before her while she travels was exciting. I couldn't put the book down for that part!
I also loved Fennel, the little paper puppy dog, and Ceony's love for cooking. She was probably my favorite character in the whole story because she had such a strong personality but was able to open up her mind to Magician Thane in order to eventually change her mind about him and paper magic. If you're interested in magical tales, I would definitely recommend checking out The Paper Magician. (I hope this gets turned into a movie one day! I'd love to watch it!)
