The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
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.
Holmberg’s historical fantasy is set in a very different Victorian era, where people are able to ‘bond’ to a man-made material and perform magic with it. Ceony is an exemplary student of the Tagis Praff, and was excited to become a Smelter someday, but she is assigned to become a Folder, that is, a magician who binds to paper and performs magic with it. She thinks it is a mostly useless skill, more aesthetic than amazing. Now, having seen R.O.D., I was naturally excited, because do you know what you can do with paper magic??
(Btw, if you loved this book, go see that anime – weird boob physics aside, it is AWESOME!) Granted this is more origami and enchant paper than the flamboyant manipulation of paper, but it is different for a regular YA fantasy. The world is the best part of the book, because imagine a world where people are able to manipulate materials at will! (A nanotechnologist’s paradise, that’s what it is!)
The first third of the book is her settling in and slowly appreciating the power of paper magic, under the tutelage of her teacher, Emery Thane – (who is totes going to be the love interest in future books) a seemingly eccentric but genius Folder. After an Excisioner attacks him and steals his heart, she sets out to retrieve it before the enchanted paper heart she makes for him in its place falters and he dies. Keep in mind, she is an apprentice, and should be no match for an experienced flesh magician, but girl has spunk and courage and she WILL complete her apprenticeship under Thane, dammit! Most of the book then is her journey through his heart (like, she is literally inside his heart!) and learning about him as a person, while also honing her paper skills to duel against the Excisioner.
The novelty of the concept and the world-building are the high points of this book. Ceony comes across as a little bratty at first, but it develops into a determined personality. The story, while simplistic in being a quest-like plot, is engaging and keeps you on your toes. The writing is good, and one can picture the plot, much like the visualization Ceony performs with the stories. That little twist in the ending has me interested in the nature of magic in the world, and how rigid the rules are. Overall, this has been a good start to a uniquely shaped series.
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