The Paper Magician: Extended Review

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR PLOT SPOILERS

Author: Charlie N. Holmberg
Published: 2014
Target Audience: Adults (Appropriate ages 15+)

For the past five years, Ceony had wanted to be a Smelter.

Ceony Twill's dream has been shattered. Despite graduating at the top of her year class from Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, and earning the right to choose her specialty, Ceony's dreams of bespelling metal are dashed when she is instead assigned a paper magic apprenticeship. She is to become a Folder, bound to a material she never wanted, and to study the neglected art of paper magic under her new teacher, the reclusive and enigmatic Magician Emery Thane. Ceony begins her apprenticeship broken-hearted and despondent, yet the spells she learns turn out to be more wondrous than she could have ever imagined. Between bringing paper animals to life, enchanting storybooks, and warm conversations over meals, Ceony soon settles into her new life as a budding paper magician under the tutelage of the strange yet kind Mg. Thane. However, Ceony's newfound tranquility is broken when Lira - a dark magician and practitioner of forbidden flesh magic - attacks and rips Mg. Thane's heart from his chest, trapping Ceony within the chambers of the still-beating heart. With time running out and Thane on the verge of death, Ceony must find a way through the maze of Thane's stolen heart if she ever wants to escape - a journey which will take her into the very soul of the man she is trying to save.

'The Paper Magician' is a 2014 fantasy debut novel by American author Charlie N. Holmberg, and is the first book in her The Paper Magician series. Set in an alternate version of London in 1902 where magicians use man-made materials such as glass, paper, metal, and rubber to perform feats of magic, this novel promises a spellbinding tale of adventure, romance, and self-forgiveness. However, despite these literary ambitions, Holmberg fails to effectively develop the main characters and major plot elements of 'The Paper Magician', resulting in a novel that is rendered lackluster and wanting due to an unlikeable protagonist, poor narrative structure, and an undeveloped romance.

Characterisation

From the very first chapter, 'The Paper Magician' is marred by ineffective characterisation. Despite her initial despair, Ceony does not have any distinct personal motivations or overarching goal to pursue, and only decides to proceed with her unwanted magic apprenticeship as she would "rather be a Folder than a failure." This lack of a driving want or need weakens an audience's incentive to become invested in Ceony's journey, and fails to set up a cohesive character arc for readers to follow over the course of the book. This is exacerbated by Holmberg's inconsistent characterisation, where in the first few pages alone Ceony rapidly swings from despondency at being shunted into paper magic and wishing her heart "had stopped beating altogether," to shouting demands for Thane to come greet her, to admiring his eyes, to shrinking in apprehension, to making rude quips, to mentally planning strategies for how she will "survive" her apprenticeship, and finally to resigning herself to her future as a Folder. By introducing Ceony's personality in this volatile, unpredictable fashion, Holmberg risks alienating readers by making it difficult to ascertain Ceony's typical temperament outside of these abrupt emotional shifts, and adversely damages the story's ability to engender sympathetic attachment towards its protagonist.

Issues in fostering character likability continue throughout the novel, as Ceony is repeatedly shown to be judgmental and impertinent in her opinion of others, unless their skills are demonstrated to be potentially beneficial to her. Examples of this can be found in the early chapters of the book, where before Ceony had ever met him or begun her apprenticeship, she presumes that Folding is a boring, useless art and that Emery Thane is an evil, untrustworthy man beset by madness. She only begins to change her mind when Thane creates magical paper creations specifically to delight her, and discovers that he had been her anonymous financial sponsor throughout her schooling. Later, while trapped by Lira inside Thane's heart, Ceony sees a vision of one of Thane's previous apprentices - a tall, broad-shoulder man named Langston - and decides, based on his physic, that his "monstrous hands could never form the minute and intricate Folds required by intermediate and advanced Folding", and asserts that the termination of Langston's apprenticeship would therefore be completely understandable. When her assumption is proven wrong, Ceony is astonished, then comments that she "wouldn't mind having a fellow his size with me right now" to assist in her dangerous predicament, thus reinforcing the notion that Ceony only assigns value to those who would be of use to her. Even her motivation for chasing after Lira to retrieve Thane's heart could be argued to be largely self-centered. In the immediate aftermath of Lira's attack, Ceony draws on her budding Folding abilities and photographic memory to construct a replacement paper heart to keep Thane alive. This solution is only temporary, however, and Thane concludes that he likely has only two days left before he dies. This scene is effective in showcasing Ceony as an active, quick-thinking protagonist, and also establishes stakes and time limits for Ceony's decisions moving forward, compellingly ramping up the much-needed narrative tension. However, her likability is diminished by her reaction to Thane's announcement, to which she declares "But you can't die!...You have too much to teach me!" Although Ceony resolves to save Thane due to a belief that no one else will, her parting words to her unconscious teacher are to beg him to live so he can teach her to be a paper magician, otherwise she will "be ornery for the rest of my life and no good to anyone," implying that her reasons for helping Thane are self-serving and not an extension of their developing companionship.

Finally, despite being an active protagonist who responds to narrative conflict with decisive choices that drive the plot, Ceony's scholastic and magical achievements are repeatedly undermined by Holmberg's aesthetic-focused magic system and contrived character traits. In the world of 'The Paper Magician', magicians use man-made materials such as glass, paper, plastic, metal, and rubber to perform spells, infusing the story with a unique magical setting enlivened by Holmberg's vividly descriptive prose. The novel is littered with fascinating hints of the wider world of 'The Paper Magician', delighting readers with glimpses of a society shaped by everyday enchantments on items such as jewellery, lightbulbs, bullets, fountains, doctor's gloves, self-opening envelopes, and even a giant paper plane capable of carrying a person through the sky, coalescing in a novel distinguished by its enthralling world-building. However, despite the innovative aesthetic of this story, students in 'The Paper Magician' are not capable of performing magic until they complete a simple ritual that binds them to their nominated material for the rest of their lives. This ritual grants them the ability to immediately use these magics, so barely a day after being bound to paper, Ceony is able to animate origami animals, conjure illusions of scenes from books, and see visions of people's futures in an instinctive, "almost thoughtless" manner. Although readers are told that Ceony is a good student, and we do see her studying folding techniques, paper quality and types, and completing textbook assignments under Mg. Thane, the instant nature of this magic system may result in Ceony's newfound abilities being viewed as unearned. Furthermore, Ceony herself admits that her scholastic achievements are largely a result of possessing a eidetic memory, which enables her to recall images with great clarity after only seeing them briefly. The results of this ability is demonstrated numerous times throughout the novel, where Ceony achieves high academic results by envisioning her school notes, summons precise memories of her anatomy textbook and Thane's Folding movements to create a functional paper heart on the fly, and quickly learns new spells such as the three-fold shield chain which are strong enough to repel Lira - an opposing magician with years of magical and murderous experience - by Ceony simply reading over the spell instructions once. The ease of proficiency granted by this character trait may result in Ceony's accomplishments being viewed as contrived and undeserving; a sentiment that is further compounded by Ceony spontaneously developing a new magical ability in her final confrontation against Lira that enables her to emerge victorious. When combining the consequences of Ceony's eidetic memory, the instant magic system, and her inconsistent characterisation, these factors all serve to undermine Ceony's likability, and may culminate in an unsatisfactory reading experience.

Excerpt:

She ran back into the dining room and slipped on spilled blood. She stumbled onto her knees and winced, but began Folding right there, against the wooden floorboards. She didn't know the Folds - she couldn't - but she had to try.

Visions of Mg. Thane's handiwork zoomed through her mind. His Folding of the bird, the fish, the fortuity box. The paper trinkets, sculptures, and chains lying around the house. The few lessons on paper magic she had taken notes on in school. The half-point Fold, the full-point Fold. Folds she didn't know the names of. Anything. Just line the edges up.

She Folded the paper in half, then in half again, working it until she had the square that had started Mg. Thane's long-necked bird. From there she made up the rest, her brain summoning images from Anatomy of the Human Body. Her hands stilled. It looked something like a heart. Something like it...

She crawled to Mg. Thane, to the still closing pit in his chest, and commanded the heart, "Breath!"

It pumped weakly in her hands.

Narrative Structure

In an extension of Holmberg's ineffective charactersation, the narrative structure of 'The Paper Magician' suffers from ill-defined stakes, poorly-paced plot progression, an undeveloped romance, and a shoehorned attempt at integrating a theme. By not introducing a personal want or need for Ceony to pursue, the book flounders from the get-go as readers are not given a reason to become invested in her, rendering the story aesthetically interesting but narratively bland due to a lack of an engaging character arc or implied consequences of failure. This adverse effect upon pacing and tension is apparent throughout the first third of the novel, which merely consists of Ceony studying, cooking, or riffling through Thane's possessions in his absence, until Lira finally shows up as a form of external narrative conflict and kickstarts the plot. The appearance of an antagonist enables the story to shift into a far more active phase, one which provides opportunities for Ceony to exercise agency and make choices that directly advance the plot, and establishes a sense of urgency and stakes. While Ceony's actions here may be considered more reactive than proactive, it nevertheless still makes for an engrossing read. Unfortunately, the momentum built up over this section quickly stagnates once Lira traps Ceony inside Thane's heart, as Ceony spends the next 90 pages stumbling through Thane's memories and visions, occasionally fending off Lira's pursuit or conversing with fragments of Thane's subconscious, but predominately as an impotent observer. Despite comprising nearly half the book, this section does not actually advance the plot. Here, the narrative calls for a scenario that marries the setting, Ceony's personal journey, and an escape storyline together to foster audience engagement and instill a sense of character achievement - such as Ceony searching for clues in Thane's past in order to progress through the four chambers of the heart, or her devising a strategy to forcefully break out of Lira's trap. Instead, Ceony's escape from the heart simply requires her to persevere in moving forward while evading Lira. This has the same outcome as if Ceony had just walked down a long corridor while reading a summary of Thane's biography, eventually reaching an exit door. Despite the exciting potential of a story set in someone's memories, hopes, dreams and fears, Holmberg's inability to successfully manage narrative pacing, tension, and plot progression turns much of 'The Paper Magician' into a directionless slog that may leave readers frustrated and unsatisfied.

In addition to barely advancing the plot, Ceony's journey through the stolen heart does little to contribute to any interpersonal development between Ceony and Thane. For large portions of 'The Paper Magician', the trajectory of Ceony and Thane's relationship beyond teacher and student is unclear, and attempting to determine if Thane will be a surrogate father-figure or romantic love interest can make for uncomfortable reading, especially in the context of a relationship between a nineteen year old girl and a near thirty-one year old man. The interminability of Thane's role in the story is a consequence of Holmberg's failure to fully develop Thane as a complete character. In the first third of 'The Paper Magician', Thane's main role is firstly as a plot device to teach Ceony Folding, secondly as a vehicle for expository dialogue about Ceony's family and personal traits, and finally to be an absent presence to enable Ceony's snooping through his belongings. While these moments adequately develop Ceony's magical abilities and set up future plot points, these scenes do not flesh out Thane as an actual character that exists separate to Ceony's needs, and may significantly hamper the story's ability to generate audience attachment towards Thane. This lack of effective characterisation not only undermines Holmberg's attempts to cultivate an air of intrigue and hidden secrets around Thane, but also impacts readers' engagement in the latter part of the book when Ceony travels through Thane's heart, as audiences may find it hard to be invested in the personal backstory being revealed if they are not interested in the character of Thane himself.

This issue is further compounded when not only are audiences already aware of the outcomes of the past memories being shown, but the flashbacks also do not contribute to Ceony's character development, nor deepen the superficial relationship between Ceony and Thane. Aside from one early scene where Thane gifts Ceony a magically-animated paper dog, there is little interaction between Ceony and Thane beyond lessons and expository dialogue that would denote a connection greater than a teacher and student who are just starting to get to know each other. Despite witnessing key moments from Thane's childhood and adult life, being privy to his innermost hopes and fears, and her occasional conversations with aspects of Thane's subconscious, Ceony does not actually directly interact with Thane for nearly two thirds of the book. This reduces opportunities for the characters to learn about each other though reciprocal interactions, bond through shared experiences, or come to genuinely care for one another. Instead, Ceony's journey through Thane's heart predominately positions her as an incidental viewer of his life, as if there were a biopic or slide show about a man she barely knows playing in the background while she attempts to escape Lira's trap. Thus, when Ceony goes on to exhibit jealousy and possessiveness over Lira and Thane's past marriage, promises herself that she will take care of him and ensure his future happiness, and cries when Lira declares that Thane does not love Ceony, readers may feel that her emotions are unearned or lack believability. The absence of sufficient platonic or romantic development between these two characters ultimately makes Ceony's eventual declaration of love for Thane appear more akin to a parasocial relationship than a romantic relationship. By neglecting to clarify Thane's role as a love interest until nearly halfway through the book, sacrificing his character development in favour of exposition and mystery, and substituting opportunities for conversation and mutual interaction for one-sided passively-viewed flashbacks, the romantic elements of 'The Paper Magician' may be described as promising in concept, but undeveloped and lacking narrative credibility in execution.

Theme

A third key weakness of 'The Paper Magician's narrative composition is its inability to introduce, sustain, and satisfactorily resolve thematic and intrigue elements. Story-beats with the potential to develop into interesting plot threads - such as the identity of the anonymous donor behind Ceony's scholarship - are introduced only to be answered less than a page later. While Holmberg may have utilised this storytelling style to raise further mysteries - such as Thane's motivations for secretly sponsoring Ceony throughout her schooling - the eventual pay-offs rarely have any meaningful contribution to plot, character development, or romantic connection between the two leads, and risk instead being interpreted as narrative clutter or unfinished plot threads. This pattern includes not only individual plot points that are shoehorned in to be hastily resolved, but also encompasses Holmberg's failure to comprehensively integrate a theme throughout the novel. In an interview with the Association of Mormon Letters, Holmberg discusses the theme of self-forgiveness in 'The Paper Magician', stating that she wanted "to show that people are flawed, but that’s okay" and that "the world would be a lot better place if we were all more forgiving of both others and ourselves." Holmberg's intention to depict a theme of self-forgiveness through Ceony and Thane's character arcs does have a solid grounding in their backstories. This is hinted at through Ceony's intermittent thoughts of her friend Anise Hatter, as well as explicitly set up in Thane's memories of his past relationship with Lira, his role in helping her evade capture out of his lingering love for her, and then Thane's persistent guilt after discovering Lira's subsequent atrocities. These revelations culminate in a conversation between Ceony and a shadowy aspect of Emery Thane's consciousness arguing over fault, responsibility, and who has the authority to bestow forgiveness. This scene has the potential to be a powerful commentary on the paralysing experience of blaming oneself for the actions of others, the pernicious feeling of being unworthy of forgiveness, and the importance of letting go in order to move forward and heal.

However, the effectiveness of this scene is undercut by a lack of established relevant character arcs necessitating the achievement of self-forgiveness for either Thane or Ceony. Nor is there any prior establishment in the narrative that Thane's attainment of forgiveness is central to Ceony's escape from Lira's trap, and thus her overarching goal of retrieving Thane's heart. Instead, the emotional climax of the story - and the penultimate confrontation of the book - features an unexpected introduction of numerous emotional revelations and character backstories in a rush of dialogue that tries to be simultaneously expository and personally affecting, with the overall result ultimately feeling disjointed from the rest of the narrative. The combination of all these story beats should lend themselves to an engrossing character-driven tale of healing as the two main characters open up to each other, share emotional burdens, and finally learn how to forgive themselves and love again. However, apart from a few hints and memory scenes dotted earlier in the book, these revelatory elements are essentially introduced and finalised within a single eight-page chapter. By failing to cohesively intertwine the concept of self forgiveness with the narrative stakes or alongside Ceony or Thane's character arcs across the duration of the novel, Holmberg's efforts to implement a theme of forgiveness in 'The Paper Magician' feels underdeveloped and slapdash, and may adversely impact a reader's experience of the book.

The problems arising from an ineffective thematic integration with Ceony's personal journey are also mirrored in the character of Lira. The main reason behind Lira's actions is that she believes Thane's heart is rightfully hers - either to take as a souvenir of their past love, or as a powerful tool for Lira to use in her forbidden magic - and that she views Ceony as a romantic rival to be killed. While these motivations do sufficiently serve to kickstart the story's conflict, Lira's choice to ensnare Ceony within Thane's heart may be argued to be narratively unsound. Why trap Ceony in a situation where she can fight back against her jailer, and in a prison that can be escaped with simple perseverance? Especially knowing that Ceony is able to interact with aspects of Thane's soul, which enables her to learn new spells to combat Lira? Why chase Ceony all through the heart, attempt to kill her multiple times, finally have Ceony cornered, only to immediately depart after a few mocking words? In addition to these questionable decisions, Lira is also repeatedly portrayed as an incompetent foe as, with barely a month of magical training, Ceony manages to avoid, outmaneuver, or rebuff Lira at each turn. Furthermore, even when actively hunting Ceony down, Lira is absent for large portions of the novel. This creates the impression that rather than being a competently fleshed-out character with nuanced motivations, credible skills in opposing the protagonist, and an active role in the dissemination of the novel's theme, Lira is instead an ad hoc plot device that appears only to inject momentum to a plot already floundering from a lack of an engaging character arc or driving narrative direction. Thus, instead of serving as a physical and psychological adversary to the protagonist in order to elicit Ceony's growth and internalisation of self-forgiveness, Lira's efficacy as an antagonist is undermined by the absence of a distinct personal journey for Ceony, poorly-paced story progression, and a hastily implemented theme, ultimately reducing Lira to a one-dimensional, cartoonish villain with simplistic motivations and incomprehensible plans.

Excerpt:

"Didn't you know, little girl?" Lira's distant voice echoed through the dark office, as if her larynx had been embedded into the very walls. "The rules of Excision are very clear cut, especially for the heart."

"I d-don't understand," Ceony said with a dry tongue, her eyes locked on Shadow-Emery's, her fingers clutching his to keep him from pulling her hair from her scalp.

Lira laughed again, the sound somewhat fainter. "No man can harm his true love within his own heart. Don't you see what that means?

He doesn't love you, you beef-witted girl."

She laughed again, thinking the situation truly wholesome and fun, then the noise faded. Where she went, Ceony didn't know - the laughter died out like a fire caught in the rain. With Ceony so thoroughly trapped, Lira must have abandoned the heart to finish whatever it was that she had planned. Another gruesome spell. Escape across the ocean, with Emery's heart in tow.

Emery would die if she did.

More tears trickled down Ceony's face, and she squeezed Shadow-Emery's wrist. "I know," she whispered. I know you don't love me.

Not yet.

And it was that last thought that drove her.

Conclusion

Charlie N. Holmberg's 'The Paper Magician' is book poised to tell an enthralling tale of magic, romance, intrigue, and the healing power of self-forgiveness, but does not reach its potential. From a storytelling standpoint, the novel would greatly benefit from the inclusion of a dynamic character arc for its protagonist, more nuanced characterisation for its major characters, a cohesively integrated theme, and improvements to pacing and narrative clarity to improve audience engagement and enjoyment. However, 'The Paper Magician' is still an imaginative story filled with mystery and vividly descriptive prose, all set against a backdrop of a captivating fantastical setting and a race against time that will delight and appeal to many readers.