[CHQ]⋙ Download The Paper Magician Charlie N Holmberg 9781477823835 Books

The Paper Magician Charlie N Holmberg 9781477823835 Books

Download As PDF : The Paper Magician Charlie N Holmberg 9781477823835 Books

The Paper Magician Charlie N Holmberg 9781477823835 Books

Not every recommendation is a smash hit.

I don't feel bad about reading "The Paper Magician." It's not a bad book. It's not a great book. Mostly what I really feel after finishing "The Paper Magician" is disappointment. Not a lot mind you, but enough that I wish Holmberg had done a slightly better job.

Holmberg does have a good introduction. It did not take more than a couple words for me to be whisked away into this new world seeking out adventure and excitement. The first several chapters kept my anticipation levels high as everything started clicking together and I could start to see the outline of something great. Next thing I know, it happened - the great catalyst that sends a story screeching out to the wild blue where heroes are made, and villains are ended. "This is it!" I thought as Ceony is thrust into the start of her adventure - and then the rest of the book is spent with the heroine literally flailing around in her mentors memories and emotions.

The previous reading experience that keeps floating through my head as I try to wrap my thoughts around what kept this book from being "great" is camping. Camping is a lot of fun (or can be), but when read in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" it dragged the story to a slow crawl. The same holds true when Ceony goes "camping" (figuratively, not literally) in her adventure. Instead of growing and making her own story, we spend endless chapters learning about Thane's past. Without looking it up, my recollection is that more than half the book is spent flailing (literally, not figuratively) around in events that have little to no impact to the actual outcome of the story, or growth of the main character other than falling in love with the first person who has been "nice" to her.

Again, this is not a bad book. Three stars is not horrible, but there is definatly much room for improvement in my opinion. I was interested in reading the second book in the series to see if things improve any for Ceony's story, but the reviews already written for that book lead me to believe that is not the case. I will be spending my money elsewhere for now, but I'll keep Holmberg in mind next time I don't have anything already high up on my reading wishlist.


Tags : The Paper Magician [Charlie N. Holmberg] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>“Charlie is a vibrant writer with an excellent voice and great world building. I thoroughly enjoyed the Paper Magician</i>.” —Brandon Sanderson,Charlie N. Holmberg,The Paper Magician,47North,1477823832,Science Fiction And Fantasy,Fantasy,Fantasy - Dark Fantasy,Fantasy - Historical,Fiction,Fiction - Romance,Romance - Fantasy,FICTION Romance Fantasy,FICTION Fantasy Historical,FICTION Fantasy Gaslamp,FICTION Fantasy General

The Paper Magician Charlie N Holmberg 9781477823835 Books Reviews

The beginning of this story of a young woman newly apprenticed to a paper magician got off to a slow start for me. Unfortunately, the pace did not pick up much, although there was more action, and I found myself speed-reading just to finish the book. Or course, there was magic involved. But the trip through a human heart interspersed with various landscapes just got rather ho-hum.

There was a villain, and lots of blood, which wasn't especially scary. There was one scene in which dead bodies, children, adults, animals, were described, and I didn't like that at all. Not especially scary, just too grisly.

I did enjoy the paper creations that came to life, especially Fennel. While I did finish this book, I have no inclination to read the later ones in this series.
An odd combination of coming of age story, fantasy, and thriller, but it all works!

A young girl graduates from what seems to be the magician's version of high school, and begins her apprenticeship. Each graduate must chose a specific man ace material with which to bond--as magic only works on man man made materials, and each magician only gets to bond with one material. However, this student does not get to chose, but is stuck with paper magic.

Her master, Magician Thane, is a weird dude, very cold and distant, but clearly extremely talented. However, it quickly becomes apparent hat there is much more to Thane than appears at first blush.

Evil quickly appears in the form of Lira...a magician gone bad. At some point someone figured out that humans were man made, and they could be the subject of magic. While strictly prohibited a renegade band nonetheless took advantage of this power, and became some combination of criminals and social outcasts. Lira arrives and takes Thanes heart. This sets the stage for the main action in the book, our heroine's quest to save Magician Thane...a quest which takes her into his past, and into his heart.

Very well done. Looking forward to the second volume in the series, the Glass Magician.
This was my book group's selection for June and I was quite happy to read it since the premise appealed to me very much. The opening of the story lived up to my expectations. The groundwork was laid for us to meet the primary characters and to begin to grasp the magic that could be accomplished with paper and its folding. Initially, I found the magical portions to be very intriguing and creative and settled in for an entertaining read.

As the story moved along, I found myself becoming disappointed as I felt the book didn't live up to its potential. The character development fell rather flat and I found myself annoyed by the immature behavior of the protagonist - I often had to remind myself she is 19 years old in the book since she came across as someone much, much younger. I especially needed to remind myself of this as the romance factor was introduced. Even with her being 19, there was a definite "ick" factor and since her behaviour was so juvenile, I had a double "ick" factor.

The premise of the magic is what saved the book for me but even that wasn't developed to its full potential. The folding was such an intricate part to the success of the plot that I wish the author had taken more time to expand on it. Great start but suffered due to the romance taking over.

Bottom line While some of the whimsical aspects reminded me a lot of the early Harry Potter books, the comparison to those was its downfall. While J.K. Rowling maintained the creativity throughout seven books, this author wasn't able to capitalize on a brilliant idea. While I think this book might very well be appreciated by the YA reader (much better than "Twilight" or other novels geared toward this age group), I didn't find it to be a particularly engaging read for the adult reader who appreciates YA and is looking for more than a romance story with some magic thrown in.
Not every recommendation is a smash hit.

I don't feel bad about reading "The Paper Magician." It's not a bad book. It's not a great book. Mostly what I really feel after finishing "The Paper Magician" is disappointment. Not a lot mind you, but enough that I wish Holmberg had done a slightly better job.

Holmberg does have a good introduction. It did not take more than a couple words for me to be whisked away into this new world seeking out adventure and excitement. The first several chapters kept my anticipation levels high as everything started clicking together and I could start to see the outline of something great. Next thing I know, it happened - the great catalyst that sends a story screeching out to the wild blue where heroes are made, and villains are ended. "This is it!" I thought as Ceony is thrust into the start of her adventure - and then the rest of the book is spent with the heroine literally flailing around in her mentors memories and emotions.

The previous reading experience that keeps floating through my head as I try to wrap my thoughts around what kept this book from being "great" is camping. Camping is a lot of fun (or can be), but when read in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" it dragged the story to a slow crawl. The same holds true when Ceony goes "camping" (figuratively, not literally) in her adventure. Instead of growing and making her own story, we spend endless chapters learning about Thane's past. Without looking it up, my recollection is that more than half the book is spent flailing (literally, not figuratively) around in events that have little to no impact to the actual outcome of the story, or growth of the main character other than falling in love with the first person who has been "nice" to her.

Again, this is not a bad book. Three stars is not horrible, but there is definatly much room for improvement in my opinion. I was interested in reading the second book in the series to see if things improve any for Ceony's story, but the reviews already written for that book lead me to believe that is not the case. I will be spending my money elsewhere for now, but I'll keep Holmberg in mind next time I don't have anything already high up on my reading wishlist.