The Paper Magician Book Review

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I don't typically read (or listen in this case) to YA books so that should be taken into account when looking at my rating and what follows.



The author has a keen eye for detail and pace. Immersion is not a problem and the magic system is unique and interesting. However, I feel the book settled for a semi-romance plot when it could have gone in a more original direction. I say semi-romance because rather than a true romance the main character, impetuous, plucky, stubborn and a naturally talented magician, develops a crush for her mentor in the course of a week or so and it is not clear (thankfully) whether he reciprocates these feelings. What he does do is smile in his eyes. Occasionally he grins in his eyes. His eyes are so expressive that the rest of his face must be a mask, or completely covered in wolfboy, Chewbacca, werewolf, sasquatch hair.



The heroine, Ceony, develops her magical abilities rather too quickly, even with her mentor Emery's help guiding "her folds" (um phrasing!). She builds a fully functioning heart from paper after mere days of apprenticeship and reading an anatomy book or two, which are clearly placed there to justify this ability and nothing more.



The story takes a bit of dive when Ceony wanders through Emery's actual heart. In a seemingly endless series of flashback-esque sequences we are bludgeoned with (unintentional?) allegory.
There are some unexpectedly dark scenes with riven bodies of men, women and children, and of course blood magic. I have no problems with the dark and gritty. Evil characters using blood magic is par for the course in fantasy, but it seems out of place in a world of magical paper dogs. One minute we're following the character as she learns to make magical snow flakes from paper, and the next a bloody heart is being ripped out of someone's chest. Whimsy to dire bloody magic, I think, needs a bit more preparation than 'we covered that for a paragraph back in magician's school'. Maybe the shocking transition was intentional, I don't know.



The spell that ended the confrontation with the big bad guy (girl in this case) was so powerful that I am curious to see how this plays out in the 2nd book. The potential ramifications of such a spell are immense.






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