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!