The Paper Magician Audiobook By Charlie N. Holmberg cover art

The Paper Magician

The Paper Magician, Book 1

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The Paper Magician

By: Charlie N. Holmberg
Narrated by: Amy McFadden
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“Charlie is a vibrant writer with an excellent voice and great world building. I thoroughly enjoyed the Paper Magician.” —Brandon Sanderson, author of Mistborn and The Way of Kings

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.

Short-Listed for the 2015 ALA Fantasy Reading List

©2014 Charlie N. Holmberg (P)2014 Brilliance Audio, all rights reserved. Magic Users Fantasy Steampunk Fiction Magic Heartfelt Paranormal & Urban Romance Paranormal Haunted Gaslamp Science Fiction Ghost
Unique Magic System • Creative Premise • Emotional Delivery • Engaging Characters • Charming Adventure • Clear Diction

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Charlie Holmber's The Paper Magician presents an astonishing level of polish, comedic timing and ability to generate poignant moments in a first novel. Early on in the book, I found myself alternately smiling and chuckling at the protagonist, Ceony Twill, and her interaction with Magician Emery Thane, the magician to whom she's apprenticed. Set in turn of the 20th century London, Ceony has just graduated from well-regarded school for magicians and now must take up her apprenticeship. In Ms. Holmberg's well-constructed world, magicians must bind themselves to a material such as glass, metal or paper and may practice magic only with it. Mg. Thane is a Folder (bound to Paper) and that's considered about as sexy as it sounds. Ceony did well at school and would normally have a choice of materials among which she may bind herself. There are, however, a dearth of Folders, primarily due to the aforementioned lack of sexiness, and so the school assigned her to Paper. She is less than thrilled.

Ceony can come across a bit haughty and more than a little forthright in her dealings with those in authority. She certainly doesn't back down. Mg. Thane keeps his cards close to the vest, betraying little except through his expressive eyes. Through her ties to Emery, Ceony becomes embroiled in an adventure, risking life and limb, against the nefarious Excisioners.

As is my typical practice, I went between the Kindle and Audible versions of the book. Amy McFadden did yeoman's work through her narration. I particularly like her Emery with a mostly calm voice often infused with a hint of amusement. Her Lira's syrupy condescension and self-satisfied humor as she is about to harm or kill is also brilliant. My only nit is that the tone of Ceony's voice seems to waiver from posh Etonian English to a much more common flavor from time to time, again without circumstance seeming to warrant a change. I don't believe Ms. McFadden is a native of the UK, so maintaining the dialect throughout was quite a feat. Anyway, the flips are rare and didn't distract from a good narration of the book. I'm delighted she is also the narrator for The Glass Magician and anticipate her narrating any other additions to the series.

To sum up, the comedic touch is perfect, the action and danger well executed, the relationships are believable, nicely developed and drove the narrative, and the actual writing is spot on. Simply put, it was a fun read that was over all too quickly (even though this did save me from multiple sleep deprived nights). I'm seriously looking forward to The Glass Magician which is out November 2nd and which I've pre-ordered. I highly commend The Paper Magician for your reading pleasure.

For full review: wp.me/p2XCwQ-X4

A Delightful Story Whose Magic Draws Us In

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The writer is amazing at setting the scene, but the plot and dialogue is very shallow. I found myself wanting more interaction between the characters, but instead got more interaction with the scenery.
Interesting take on magic. The performer is animated and bubbly. She may annoy others, but she didn't bother me. I will listen to the others since they are extremely short and free with kindle unlimited.

Descriptive but shallow

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The story is good. Hidden within an excellent story are a lot of life issues, love, hate, loss, decision making, living with the outcome of those decisions. I listened to it twice in one sitting. The first time was due to wanting to find out what was going to happen next. The second time was to listen to details missed and appreciate it better. Amy McFadden does an excellent job reading this story. I am placing her on my list of readers to listen to.

Excellent

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1st: While the narrator does come across as a bit manic at the start - I believe she fits the character well. She did a good job with the voices and her reading of everything else.

2nd: A fun book! It does slow down a bit in the middle third, but it's good.

3rd: I like the way it doesn't follow all formula - it has its own twists.

A cool new universe and methods of magic.

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If you could sum up The Paper Magician in three words, what would they be?

Unpredictable, entertaining, unusual

What other book might you compare The Paper Magician to and why?

I honestly can't quite compare it to any other book. Very different view of a magical world and not quite like any other.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I definitely had a very shocked moment when things changed very suddenly.

Any additional comments?

I thought it was a pretty good book but I wasn't a huge fan of it. It was only the last chapter or two that was incredibly engaging to me personally. I think it was more my own preference than anything negative about the book. Paper Magician is very unique and I think it's great how different it is from other fantasy novels I've read. I haven't decided if I'll continue the series or not but I will admit that because of the last few chapters, I am intrigued to know what happens in the next book and if they're directly connected.

Very different than I would've guessed

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