The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

I listened to the unabridged audio version of The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg and narrated by Amy McFadden. The Paper Magician is the first novel in the The Paper Magician series and falls into the young adult/steampunk/fantasy genres.

Although I loved the premise of The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg, I didn't end up enjoying the storyline all that much. Ceony Twill, the main character, comes off as kind of bratty/ungrateful at the start of this novel. Then Ceony slowly warms up to her apprenticeship in paper magic once she becomes acquainted with her paper magic instructor, Emery Thane, and begins her training. 

Shortly after her training begins, Ceony's world is turned upside down when her instructor, Emery Thane, has his heart ripped out of his chest by an Excisioner, a practitioner of dark, flesh magic, and Ceony is left to rescue him. The storyline and plot go downhill quickly from there. I could have cared less what happened after that as the story and plot became uninteresting to me. Needless to say, I'll skip the rest of the series.

Listening time for The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg is 7 hours, 25 minutes. Amy McFaddon is an okay narrator.

Below is the plot summary for The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg from Audible:

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 fans of all ages.

I'm giving The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg a rating of 2 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

The Tin Rose by Anne Renwick

The Tin Rose by Anne Renwick is a steampunk, romance short story approximately 58 pages in length. 

I was able to download the ebook edition of The Tin Rose by Anne Renwick to my Kindle from Amazon for FREE. 

Below is my honest, unbiased review of The Tin Rose by Anne Renwick.

I like discovering new authors and exploring genres (like steampunk) that I only occasionally read from time to time. Short stories are often one of the best ways for me to discover new to me authors and expand my reading horizons. 

With that said, I wasn't wowed by The Tin Rose by Anne Renwick after I'd finished reading it. The Tin Rose by Anne Renwick was too predictable. The writing was okay. The storyline, characters, plot details, and dialogue all could have been vastly improved to make this short story a more captivating read for me.

The following is a plot summary for The Tin Rose by Anne Renwick from Amazon:

A gypsy's promise. A clockwork poison. A race to save a love balanced on the edge.

On the night they were to elope, a spurned lover returned. A gift, she claimed. But the clockwork contraption unwound a poisonous bloom, sending Lady Emily and Luca, her gypsy love, on a desperate race to reach the cure.

Note: The Tin Rose is a short story of about 9,000 words. The story takes place a few months before The Golden Spider opens.

I am giving The Tin Rose by Anne Renwick a rating of 2 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!

Ticker by Lisa Mantchev

I finished listening to the unabridged audio version of Ticker by Lisa Mantchev and narrated by Fiona Hardingham.

Listening time for Ticker by Lisa Mantchev is 8 hours, 2 minutes.

I was initially attracted to Ticker's cover as I love the colors on the cover and overall design on the cover. I also was intrigued by the steampunk theme of this novel, so I decided to give it a try.

However, I wasn't that enamored by Ticker by Lisa Mantchev. The storyline/premise of this novel was good in theory, but I felt like it was a flat, two dimensional read that needed an fusion of something to give it a pop and make it a better, more engaging/captivating read. Ticker also had a lot of action in it, but sometimes I felt like it had action for the sake of action to kept the story moving. The characters were a cliche, which made them feel just as flat and two dimensional as the plot... Long story short, Ticker by Lisa Mantchev could have been a much better novel in my opinion.

The following is a plot summary for Ticker by Lisa Mantchev from Amazon:

A girl with a clockwork heart makes every second count.

When Penny Farthing nearly died, the brilliant surgeon Calvin Warwick managed to implant a brass "Ticker," transforming her into "the first of the Augmented!" But soon it was discovered that Warwick kidnapped and killed dozens of people striving to perfect another Ticker for Penny.

The last day of Warwick's trial, the Farthing factory is bombed, Warwick disappears, and Penny and her brother, Nic, receive a ransom demand for all of their Augmentation notes if they want to see their parents again. Who is trying to stop their work? Or to control it? Or is the motive more sinister?

Determined to solve the mystery and reunite their family, the Farthings recruit their closest friends: fiery baker Violet Nesselrode and gentleman-about-town Sebastian Stirling. Unexpectedly leading the charge is Marcus Kingsley, the young army general who has his own reasons for wanting to lift the veil between this world and the next. Wagers are placed, friends are lost, romance stages an ambush, and time is running out for the girl with the clockwork heart.

I am giving Ticker by Lisa Mantchev a rating of 2 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!!

Automaton by Amanda Clemmer

Unabridged Steampunk Audiobook

I listened to the unabridged audio version of Automaton by Amanda Clemmer from Audible and narrated by Rebecca Hansen. Listening time for Automaton by Amanda Clemmer is 4 hours, 12 minutes.

Automaton by Amanda Clemmer is a steampunk novella. It was okay overall. This novella contains a little bit of action and also a little bit of mystery... But overall it was boring and slow moving for me. I also didn't like the narrator for this novella.

The following is a summary for Automaton by Amanda Clemmer from Audible:

Last Thursday, I awoke to learn that I died almost a month ago. I was rebuilt from a highly experimental process of clockwork and cloning, and I don't know why. One man knows my secret - my creator, the lead of the Leona Scientific Laboratory. He says knowledge isn't free. I say that unless I know why I'm here, he's the one who's going to pay. 

My friend Jack Beasley has offered his help. He has inside knowledge about the laboratory and the man who runs it. I think he also knows something about me that he isn't sharing. There's no one I can trust now, not even myself.

I am giving Automaton by Amanda Clemmer a rating of 2 stars out of 5 stars.

Until my next post, happy reading!!