The Paper Magician cover art

The Paper Magician

The Paper Magician, Book 1

 Preview
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free
Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.
Prime members: New to Audible? Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Just £0.99/mo for your first 3 months of Audible.
1 bestseller or new release per month—yours to keep.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, podcasts, and Originals.
Auto-renews at £8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly.
Pick 1 audiobook a month from our unmatched collection - including bestsellers and new releases.
Listen all you want to thousands of included audiobooks, Originals, celeb exclusives, and podcasts.
Access exclusive sales and deals.
£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

The Paper Magician

By: Charlie N. Holmberg
Narrated by: Amy McFadden
Get this deal Try Premium Plus free

£8.99/mo after 3 months. Cancel monthly. Offer ends December 16, 2025 11:59pm GMT.

£8.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

Buy Now for £18.99

Buy Now for £18.99

Only £0.99 a month for the first 3 months. Pay £0.99 for the first 3 months, and £8.99/month thereafter. Renews automatically. Terms apply. Start my membership

About this listen

“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. Fantasy Fiction Romance Science Fiction Steampunk Magic Paranormal Magic Users Heartfelt Adventure

Listeners also enjoyed...

 Keeper of Enchanted Rooms cover art
Spellbreaker cover art
The Fifth Doll cover art
The Librarian of Crooked Lane cover art
This Thing Called Love cover art
The Immortal Circus cover art
Smoke and Summons cover art
The Will and the Wilds cover art
The Midwest Witch: The Revelations of Oriceran cover art
Beggar Magic cover art
Threadneedle cover art
Forsworn: A Powder Mage Novella cover art
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes cover art
Glass and Steele Boxed Set: Books 1-3 cover art
The Invisible Library cover art
Demon in the Wood cover art
All stars
Most relevant
I really enjoyed this book, I can't wait to read the other books in the series! I would recommend this to anyone who would like to take a step out of their comfort zone as this is not my usual genre but absolutely loved it. 😉😉😉😉

Great

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It's one thing to have an American narrator for a book set in Britain, I don't have a problem with that, but when that narrator chooses to use unconvincing plummy British accents then I start to get annoyed. The story itself is quite charming, but the listening to the book felt more like a chore than a pleasure.

Fake British Accents Are Distracting

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A fairly enjoyable listen with an interesting concept. However the narrator did a really bad imitation of the accents she choose and the accents were all over the place - jumping from American English to bad British English throughout the story. Also there were a few unexpected extremely disturbing scenes in the book, so overall a bit of a confusing story to rate.

Interesting concept

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

No. It's just not good enough.

What did you like best about this story?

It's a good concept.

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Amy McFadden?

someone english. Her english accent as the girl wasn't good. Her accent as Emory was fine. But her females were a little grating.

Could you see The Paper Magician being made into a movie or a TV series? Who would the stars be?

Yes, I could.

fine

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

Would you try another book written by Charlie N. Holmberg or narrated by Amy McFadden?

I might try the next story in the series but I didn't find it terribly compelling. I wouldn't listen to another book narrated by Amy McFadden if it was supposed to be set in England!

Would you recommend The Paper Magician to your friends? Why or why not?

No, I don't think it's a very interesting story.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

The narrator had an American accent and the appalling British accents detracted hugely from my enjoyment.

Was The Paper Magician worth the listening time?

Just about, but I've listened to many far better fantasy titles.

Really struggled with the narrator

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews