The Glass Magician by Charlie Holmberg Book Review

Title: The Glass Magician
Author: Charlie N. Holmberg
Genre: Fantasy
Source: Library paperback
Rating: 2 out of 5 paws


Ceony has just turned 20, and it has been a few weeks or months since she saved Mg Thane from the blood magician who stole his heart, literally.  She had hoped things would go back to normal.  But then an explosion at a paper mill sparks a series of events that place Ceony in the center.  Other blood mages are looking for her to find answers to the power she holds.  A power she doesn't fully understand herself.  A particularly evil magician believes Ceony holds secrets about bonding to different elements and vows to extract that information no matter the costs.  Ceony has to test her limits in order to save herself and those she loves while keeping her secrets from falling into the wrong hands.

For those of you who have read my review of The Paper Magician know that I did not particularly care for the book, but found the concept interesting.  Despite not enjoying the first book as much as I had hoped I would, I decided to give the second book a try and see if I would like it any better.  But I am sad to say that while I enjoyed it slightly more, I still felt disappointed and let down with this novel.  This is an idea, a concept that has much potential and promise, but it was not executed in the way it should have.  There are different directions I had hoped this story would go, while it went one way I was surprised with and enjoyed, it still felt predictable.  There are so many things that did not sit well with me while reading that I do not know where to start. The sentences are simplistic and many are repeated throughout the novel.  Sometimes the same thing is repeated but with different wording.  There were a few times I thought to myself "but you already stated this."


Lets begin with the antagonists.  There was no depth to them, we don't get the feel of urgency with them.  It was interesting enough the Grath wanted to unbind from glass then bind to blood, there not motivation or explanation as to why.  The story makes it seem like the only element powerful enough to be consider deadly is blood, but as we see later in the novel some of the other elements are just as powerful.  I wish Holmberg showed more of how powerful paper can be, to show that people are wrong for thinking it is a lesser element.  I felt no reason to fear him as you should a villain.  Saraj felt like he didn't need to be in the story at all his part was so anti-climactic that it could have been another character to have done the things he did.


The romance aspect was something else I had issue with.  This story could have done without the romance; maybe show an unrequited interest as Ceony is still young, a crush not full on falling in love wishing he would kiss her or touch her shoulder.  We already know Mg Thane is at least 10 years her senior and her teacher which makes his interest in her even more inappropriate (not that he's older but that he's her teacher).  But despite the student teacher aspect there is no depth to the supposed romance, nothing that indicates these two are kindred spirits beyond Ceony consistently reflecting on a fortune she seen towards the end of the last book.  Why should readers care whether or not these two end up together?  Why shouldn't Ceony be transferred to another magician?  These are things readers need to feel, answer, but the book does not do that.


One thing that didn't fit with the rest of the story was Ceony having a gun.  When I read that I wondered "where the hell did that come from?"  It doesn't fit with the world Holmberg is attempting to create.  And the ending GAH it felt so elementary that it didn't make sense that these experienced magicians never thought to try it before.  It throws everything we have learned about this world out the window, nothing matters anymore.  Everything we learned about bonding to magic doesn't matter anymore because to reverse it is completely easy. 


There are things I enjoyed such as the different magic and I would love to have seen more.  I would have loved to have seen Ceony use more paper folding beyond what we already seen her use in the first book aside from the paper doll which I think could have been used in a bigger way.  But the good does not outweigh the bad.  If you like young adult that is very simplistic and your fantasy filled with romance attempt this series.  I don't think I will continue with it.


For some other reviews, check out these blogs:


Kaona's Corner
The Fictional Reader

Paper Magician

Title: Paper Magician

Author: Charlie Holmberg

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Historical Fiction

Rating:  2 out of 5 stars

Ceony is a young magician in training. She has been bonded to paper simply because there are not enough paper magicians. This is a decision she is not happy with but goes to meet with her new mentor Magician Thane. While living with him she learns the magic of paper magic and how useful it can be. One night while having dinner a blood magician enters the home and steals Thane's heart. In a desperate attempt to save him, Ceony grabs some paper, her paper dog and goes in search of Lira to defeat her and get the heart back.  But to do so she must go inside his heart and free him from himself before she can defeat the evil on the outside.  Will she succeed in time to save him?

The concept of the story is interesting enough. I even liked the idea of Ceony going INTO Thane's heart to help defeat Lira by learning about the connection between the two. What I didn't like was how the story dragged on, nor did I like how she defeated Lira. It felt anticlimactic. There is a slight romantic aspect to it with Ceony loving Thane and Thane's involvement with Lira, which part of me wonders if the story would have been more powerful if it wasn't about a lovers on opposite sides of magic (Light and dark). There is no sexual content, but the amount of graphic violence was alarming. Blood everywhere, which I guess makes sense with a blood mage.

The whole second half dragged on and I kept wishing it would get better, to pick up.  Ceony goes into the heart and walks through Thane's memories, interesting enough, but it felt more like Thane and Lira were the main characters not Ceony.  Ceony spends time in visions of Thane, but cannot interact with him or vise versa. It almost made no sense what was the point other than to show how there came to be animosity between the two characters. I didn't find myself caring about the characters because there wasn't enough development to make me care about them. The only part that made me go "Awe" was when Thane makes Ceony a paper dog to replace hers.  A dog she brings with her into battle which seemed a little odd.  I found Emery more interesting than Ceony and actually wanted more from his character than what we actually see.

There is a lot of potential with the book, a lot that could be really good with the story, but it just....it just fell flat. I almost gave up a little less than half way through but wanted to at least finish it, hoping it would get better. It did not.  I wish there was more paper magic, more paper folding.  More explanation on the power that paper folding could have had, or more of a demonstration other than within the last few chapters.


Some of the marketing I have seen for this book have compared the novel to the likes of Harry Potter.  This is FAR from what we see in the Potter universe.  It doesn't delve into mythos or legends, nor does it have a in-depth, complex character or world.  I don't even really see a strong theme of loyalty, friendship and trust.  You do find a cute young woman growing to love her magic, learning something new and stepping outside of her comfort zone. 

I have debated on whether or not I would recommend this novel to others, but just because I didn't like a story doesn't mean someone else wouldn't.  Check out the book if you like magic, young adult, a little romance.  Maybe try it from the library before buying it though.  I haven't decided if I want to venture into the second novel in the series, maybe from the library rather than buying it myself.  The rating is again a 2 out of 5 stars because it just fell flat and the strong desire to just give up on the book.


Check out some of these reviews about Paper Magician from other bloggers:


Media Medusa
Mystical Authoress
YA On My Mind