Image from Charlie N. Holmberg
It’s probably about time that I confessed something to y’all: my bat mitzvah party was Harry Potter themed. Yeah, I was pretty much the coolest twelve-year-old ever. And no, I don’t have any regrets… obviously.
With that piece of my adolescent history divulged, it should come as no surprise when I say that I love magic. Love. Magic.
The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg has magic. It has magic, is set in historical England, and features a very non-traditional – and kind of messed up – love story. So obviously I loved it.
The story opens with Ceony Twill emotionally devastated. She graduated at the top of her class and in record time… and was placed in the least glamorous apprenticeship. Instead of becoming a Smelter – a metal magician – as she had dreamed, she got stuck as a Folder – a magician who is bonded to paper. Yes, paper. Yes, she was equally as excited by that prospect as you likely are.
However, within a few hours of starting her apprenticeship with her mentor, Emery Thane, Ceony begins to see the marvel of folding and all it can do.
Oh, and she begins to fall in love with him.
And then his evil ex-wife pulls Emery’s heart out (literally) and Ceony finds herself stuck in his heart (also literally) in her attempt to save his life. I told you it was a non-traditional love story.
The first in a series, The Paper Magician is a great, easy read. perfect for a beach, plane, or rainy day. I would absolutely recommend it to anybody any everybody. I thoroughly enjoyed the novel and immediately went out and bought the sequel, The Glass Magician. If that’s not a vote of confidence in a novel, I don’t know what is.