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  • The Paper Magician

  • The Paper Magician, Book 1
  • By: Charlie N. Holmberg
  • Narrated by: Amy McFadden
  • Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
  • 3.8 out of 5 stars (78 ratings)

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The Paper Magician cover art

The Paper Magician

By: Charlie N. Holmberg
Narrated by: Amy McFadden
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Publisher's Summary

“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.

What listeners say about The Paper Magician

Average Customer Ratings
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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

story ok, narrator poorly cast

Would you be willing to try another book from Charlie N. Holmberg? Why or why not?

Yes, will read the other two, interesting premise. Once I swapped for the audio to the kindle version was much happier.

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

Whoever thought casting a fast talking American to narrate a turn of the century english fantasy book was greatly mistaken. I checked several times to see if i had accidently upped the speed of the narration.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

bad narration :(

the Narrator butchered the story, her voice and stylw was far too 'teenagey', otherwise an enjoyable story

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Worth Trying Some Good Ideas But Not My Thing

This had potential but unfortunately I feel it was a little to female focussed. Having read a few fantasy/real world crossovers from Wheatley, Lumley,King, Gaiman and Aaronovitch i’m always on the lookout for another series. Unfortunately, the sentiments of this book indicates a more romance style reader. The narrator is also fitting with this.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Imaginative Tale

a lot of reviews have commented on the narrator being a mismatch for the story but I found her Valley girl lilt and narration style complimentary to the fast pace of this imaginative urban fantasy. Personally would have liked a little more world building, but still a fun tale.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Stilted narration

Frustratingly narrated. I really wanted to enjoy this book, but I couldn't get past the odd inflections given to certain words which didn't require them.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

The narration style wasnt for me

The narrator's style was too forceful, and harsh sounding. It took effort to persevere through.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Great Premise, poor execution

The magical premise is great, would love to see it executed well. I did not enjoy the narration, not sure if they had read the book in advance and missed storytelling inflections etc. Read a little like a fan fic story with no real character development and a (SPOILER) seriously gross implied relationship between characters.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

interesting magic system

The concept of the book was good, I just didn't appreciate the way the main character fell in love so easily and quickly. If this concept was slowly built up and a bit more world building / drama was introduced, it may have been more enjoyable for me.
Also, while the narrator did a good job, she was not the ideal choice for playing an English character.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Excellent performance

A very original and neatly folded story, with some beautiful writing. Amy McFadden's performance was flawless.

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