The Paper Magician

Valley girl reads book on faux British accent

I have seldom encountered a more annoying interpretation. Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately the story is too compelling to quit.

It's maddening.

41 of 46 people found this review helpful

The narrator needs to relax

What didn’t you like about Amy McFadden’s performance?

As soon as she started speaking I flinched. She sounds manic, as if she drank several cups of coffee before narrating. Her voice was so shaky and shrill I couldn't listen to the story

68 of 77 people found this review helpful

Excessive Discription Can't Hold Up A Poor Story

What disappointed you about The Paper Magician?

Someone needs to account for this terrible book being published. I have thus far never listen to a book, good or bad, that made me want to vent like this book has. It is probably the worst book I've read in a long time.
I was sucked in by others' reviews of this book, and the idea of materials magicians. I was quickly disappointed to learn that barely any of the book deals with magic. The main character Ceony has time to learn only paper animals, three paper animals, before going up against the antagonist.
The characters are so poorly written! The antagonist is obviously a bad horrible woman by her description of having long fingers red lips and a bigger breast size than Ceony. Granted she does dabble in blood magic but you hardly learn any thing about her besides that. Ceony herself is a 19 year old recent magic school graduate with a terrible knowitall superiority that makes no sense since she spends most of the book crying out for help after shooting her pistol that contained one bullet, and then getting trapped. She whines about everything, but thankfully she's a good cook.
The author describes everything painfully in as many color words as possible, even once describing how lonely and forlorn half a cow carcass looked. Ceony never shuts up about her mentor's eyes taking time out of being chased to ponder his emerald orbs, and if they will ever shine with light again. The author also seems confused about the time period the story is set in. Even in an alternate reality the anachronisms are jarring and insulting to anyone who knows anything about the early 1900's.
This is a terrible try at a romance with a completely unearned relationship. A love which Ceony admits to having formed less than a month into her apprenticeship Her mentor doesn't even seem aware of the fact that Ceony is in love with him, probably because he's a sane person.
I was so frustrated with this book, and I rolled my eyes hard most of my way through it. It could have been interesting, but it reads like the fanfiction I used to read when I was 14. Even then I could tell embarrassingly bad writing, but at least I hadn't paid for it.

What aspect of Amy McFadden’s performance would you have changed?

I give the reader props, she had horrible material to work with but she was into it. Please don't make her do any more accents though.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

Anger, frustration, disgust deep disappointment

48 of 55 people found this review helpful

Great potential for a story but...

Audiobook Performance was grating. Too many tired details in story. I picked up this book hoping it would be similar to The Night Circus. However, the story was a more childish interpretation. The characters were strangely two dimensional, but the potential was there. It was almost as though i was reading parts of the main story while reading every insignificant footnote that accompanied each snippet.

16 of 18 people found this review helpful

A Delightful Story Whose Magic Draws Us In

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

27 of 31 people found this review helpful

The narrator.. oh my god.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, it's a good enough story.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

A different narrator would have made this a MUCH better book.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Her fake accent was AWFUL. Not only that, her regular voice was so over done and harsh. She sounded a lot like the actress from bewitched but not in a good way. She needed to calm down. She punctuates every.single.word. and it gets very old. It doesn't sound natural at all.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I would probably go see a movie and enjoy it a lot more than I did the audio book. The story isn't awful but I wish I had read it rather than listen to it.

21 of 24 people found this review helpful

Not worth the read

I would not recommend this book. While the ideas in the story have a lot of potential, the main character is entirely unlikeable - stuffy, pretentious, and often just obnoxious. I almost quit this book several times but hoped the ending would redeem...it did not.

The trope of independent strong female character who becomes mushy and lovesick over someone she barely knows is tired and boring.

This story is adolescent and shallow. Don't bother!

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Fun historical fantasy

Any additional comments?

Ceony Twil’s life changed forever when an anonymous donor paid for her tuition to Tagis Praff, an elite magician training school. She’s disappointed, however, when her dream job of becoming a Smelter comes to naught. Short on paper magician and a natural at most magics, Ceony is pushed into apprenticing with Emery Thane. Things get cut short, however, when a person from Thane’s past, his ex-wife Lira, excises his heart. Running against time, it’s up to Ceony to retrieve his heart and defeat the excisioner before Thane dies. With little practical knowledge of paper folding and combat, can Ceony defeat one of the most feared people?

Narrator, Amy McFadden does a great job of bringing to life Ceony's and the other character's voices with her unique, versatile narrative style. The plot is well developed, engaging, and keeps a fairly fast pace despite its historical setting. The characters are likable and humorous. The dynamics between them are enjoyable and McFadden easily navigates their dialogue. Readers who like to get to know the characters well will appreciate the mix of action adventure with the more serious matters of the heart. Although some of the battles with Lira drag on a bit, the humor and action mixed in make up for it. Recommended for those readers who like an action-packed, historical fantasy adventure.

6 of 7 people found this review helpful

Fantastic!

I loved every moment! The story was one heck of a ride and I can't wait to buy the other audio books to this series.

I read other reviewers were displeased with the narrator, but I REALLY liked her. She might've slowed her pacing - I had to back up the book several times to catch what was going on, but she was well spoken and fun to listen to. Unlike some other narrators, she adds an inflection to the voice which suits that character's personality. Percise, young, slightly judgmental and snarky with a side of sweetness that makes its way out as the main character grows. Plus, it's set in 1800s Britain... I'm American, so the accent sounds good enough for me. :)

Bonus, the sappy romance was kept down to a dull roar. What very little love interest there is, is well done and warms the heart. <3

Worth a buy and a listen/read!

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

YOUR TOO NICE TO DIE

SHE RATHER BE A FOLDER, THAN A FAILURE
So much just went wrong with this book. Starting with a SNARKY girl who used to be poor. She was raised poor, yet she is scared to death of physical labor, acts privileged and the narrator gives her an aristocratic upper lip. I understood going in that it was a YA book, and took that into consideration. When she goes into her teachers heart, his actual heart, I just lost total interest. She was not interested in being a paper magician and she eventually convinced me that I did not care for paper magicians.

36 of 48 people found this review helpful