Content levels
Trigger warnings
Hero archetypes
Heroine archetypes
Protagonist archetypes
Tropes
Themes
Synopsis
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 listeners of all ages.
Tags
Is The Paper Magician appropriate for my child?
Suitable for most readers 13 and up.
A YA fantasy romance with moderate magical violence including a graphic heart removal scene (magical, not gory). Romance is clean with slow-burn tension and no explicit content.
What to know going in
This book has moderate violence, no sexual content, and clean language. Content notes include graphic violence, body horror, and blood (see the full list above).
Who'll love this
Teens will enjoy the imaginative magic system, adventure through a beating heart, and the slow-burn romance between apprentice and mentor.