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The Paper Magician by Charlie Holmberg

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Book name and author
The Paper Magician by Charlie Holmberg

 Brief synopsis (no spoilers)
Ceony Twill just finished magic school and has been given an apprenticeship with a paper magician, even though she was hoping to work with metal. She's quite bright, has a keen memory, and picks up what she's taught very quickly. Her teacher, Magician Thane, is a good instructor, but very obviously distracted by the illegal actions of those that practice forbidden magic.

 Why I chose this book
I have Amazon Prime and this book became available through Amazon First. It sounded like the best one in the lineup.

 My personal opinion (the review)
I'm a sucker for magic and series, so this drew me in right away. Ceony- I have no idea how to pronounce her name- is a great character, with tons of depth. She "bonds" to paper- committing herself to being a paper magician, even though her hope was to become a metal magician. So there's conflict right away. But she's also brilliant and picks up paper magic very quickly. She has an adventure, of course. The story gets a bit weird when she ends up inside (yes, actually inside) a living, beating heart, and travels through the four chambers. But setting aside that weird portion, the rest of the story is engaging and imagination-inducing. Excellent book!

 Warnings 
Language: mild at worst
Adult situations: totally innocent and "romantic"
Death: a scene of absolute carnage (many dead, mutilated bodies) is described very vaguely (about as graphic as this description)

 Movie rating equivalent
PG

 Protagonist description
Ceony is bright and principled, but physically weak and small. She's been through some decent challenges, but nothing like what she faces in the book, so she grows significantly.

 Point of view of story
Third person

 Book length
Fairly long- almost a week

 Story flow
Excellent, no parts dragged

 Grammar and spelling issues
None

 Character connection (no spoilers)
Pretty much all strings were tied up nicely, so I wasn't left feeling the author should have developed any characters more.

 For series:
Independent or integral (stand-alone or back story dependent)
Don't know yet, next book will be released in Nov 2014

 Series review as a whole
I have high hopes!

 If you only have time for one, read: (which one)
Don't know yet, haven't read them all

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