When Thane returns with a bandaged arm, he avoids questions about where he has been. When Thane suddenly leaves for a six-day period, Ceony feels empty and alone without him. Thane also has Ceony read books on subjects as diverse as anatomy and astrology but for what purposes, Ceony does not know.Ĭeony warms up to Thane, cooking for him and tending to household chores. Ceony is delighted, and names the dog Fennel. Thane even goes so far as to create a dog companion for Ceony, since her own real dog is at home. He also teaches her to generate imagery based on the things she reads from paper. Thane teaches her to breathe paper animals into life, and cast spells using paper chains and other assemblages. As she comes to learn over the next few weeks, that is not the case. Within a day, Ceony realizes that Thane has impressive powers and much to teach, but she still considers Folding to be a form of magic intended for mere entertainment. She is then assigned to apprentice to thirty year-old Emery Thane. Ceony, hoping to be bonded to metals, is instead bonded to paper because there so few paper magicians, or Folders. Magicians primarily work with whatever material they are assigned and bonded to, such as metal or paper.

When the novel begins, Ceony has just graduated from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined in London. Holmberg which recounts the efforts of nineteen year-old paper magician Ceony Twill to save the life of her teacher and love interest, Emery Thane.

(Sept.“The Paper Magician” is a new adult historical fantasy novel by Charlie N.

Short (almost too short) and to the point, this promising debut recalls the early work of Patricia Wrede. Ceony displays commendable pluck facing a more experienced mage trained in the dark arts, and Holmberg gives her a complete story while leaving ample room for sequels. Thane’s only hope is Ceony, but the young magician’s determination and a handful of spells may not be enough to save him. Before Ceony’s horrified eyes, Thane’s past comes back to haunt him when his former wife, Lira, ambushes him and leaves him for dead. Thane is not the eccentric he pretends to be he has played a crucial role in the ongoing purges of practitioners of the forbidden arts of blood magic. Apprenticed to the amiable Emery Thane, the hardworking Ceony resigns herself to her fate and soon discovers that there is more to paper magic than she thought. Instead, an unknown benefactor pays for her tuition, and she’s consigned to life as a “Folder,” a practitioner of paper magic. Ceony Twill is denied the chance to choose the school of magic to which she will be permanently bound.

The paper magician series