134) The Glass Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Blurb :

Three months after returning Magician Emery Thane’s heart to his body, Ceony Twill is well on her way to becoming a Folder. Unfortunately, not all of Ceony’s thoughts have been focused on paper magic. Though she was promised romance by a fortuity box, Ceony still hasn’t broken the teacher-student barrier with Emery, despite their growing closeness.

When a magician with a penchant for revenge believes that Ceony possesses a secret, he vows to discover it…even if it tears apart the very fabric of their magical world. After a series of attacks target Ceony and catch those she holds most dear in the crossfire, Ceony knows she must find the true limits of her powers…and keep her knowledge from falling into wayward hands.

My Thoughts :

The Glass Magician is hard to categorize.  It feels Young Adult and it is definitely Paranormal and a little fantasy.  However it is also slightly steampunk and historical.  A mix of many great genres rolled up together with a very original and unusual concept.  The first book was ok.  It didn't blow me away but it did have something about it that made me want to continue with the series.  However it also had a few things about it that bugged me.

I have to admit that some of the things that bugged me in the first book also got to me in this sequel.  The Glass Magician starts out with Ceony celebrating her nineteenth birthday but yet again I felt she acted much younger.  I really am not feeling the relationship between her and Emery which is basically saying it is ok to go after older men and it is alright to have a relationship with your teacher.
The plot is thrilling enough but I found I didn't care much for what happened next.  I had a sneaking suspicion that things would all end well and so I didn't worry about what happened in between.  Some of the violence and death involved did surprise me because in the first book I was under the impression that the author was scared to go that route and was playing safe.  This time around she really went for it and I felt sorry for a certain character who ended up being killed off.

As far as the concept goes, this trilogy is unforgettable.  I love the idea of all the magic that is portrayed in this trilogy so far and that's what kept me reading.   How the magic appeared, the history of it and how it fits into this world isn't really examined but maybe the third and final book will shed more light on that.  I think that a big hole in the telling of this original story.

When I read and reviewed the Paper Magician I saw that the Glass Magician was also available and decided to take on both.  I had already put the Paper Magician on my wish list after seeing a blurb about it somewhere and I have to say the cover also got my attention.   The Glass Magician is the second book in what is apparently a trilogy so now I am way over the halfway mark for this series and feel obliged to read the last installment.  In some aspects I am excited to see what happens in book three but on the other hand I wonder why I should bother when I have so many problems with the story so far.

Time will tell if I complete the series or not.  It certainly is different and well worth trying.  Don't let my moans and groans put you off because as a whole this series really does stands out and it would be a shame not to try it if the blurb interests you.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

119) The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

The Blurb :

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.

My Thoughts :

I was intrigued by the cover and blurb for The Paper Magician and I took a chance and decided to give it a try.  With the sequel, The Glass Magician, releasing this week (also on my Kindle) I put this one to the top of my to be read pile even though I only got hold of the copy a week or so ago.

My first impressions was very young adult.  Unsure of how old Ceony was I imagined she was roughly sixteen.  As I read on I started to wonder if she was indeed younger.  She sometimes came across as very naive and young.  Later however I was surprised to find out she is supposed to be nineteen.  Not an age I was expecting and leaving this book to be bordering on the Young Adult genre but also very suitable for adult readers.

Age aside this debut was extremely unusual and strange, in a good way.  A very original concept with some very imaginative magic.  Set in the early 1900's it was easy to forget that the story was based in the present time.  Maybe this is supposed to have a mild Steampunk feel to it and the author didn't build up on it this time around.   While on that track of thought there was quite a few things that needed more building up on.   It felt like there was a lot of very important information missing regarding the workings of this world and I hope that it will be addressed in the next two books of the trilogy.

While the story was very cute and exciting the change in the relationship between Ceony and the magician was an unwanted turn in the story (from my perspective).  Although it was made pretty clear how young the Magician was I still wasn't expecting or wanting a romantic element in the story. Although I may be getting ahead of myself in this respect because the romance hasn't really bloomed completely but it was hinted and somehow assumed towards the end.

Despite the little moans and groans this was a great debut that shows a lot of promise.  I have the second book ready to read and although The Paper Magician hasn't left me rushing to read the sequel, I will get to The Glass Magician sometime soon.

↑ Grab this Headline Animator