The Paper Magician

The Paper Magician by Charlie Holmberg, 214 pages

Ceony Twill is a brand new magician's apprentice, training to become a Folder, a magician who uses origami (though that word is never used in the book) to channel her magic. She has just started her apprenticeship with Magician Emery Thane when Thane is attacked, his still-beating heart stolen from his body by a dark magic practitioner, leaving Ceony to use her wits, and what little Folding she has learned, to try to save her mentor.

The premise of this book is promising, and it seems that there could be a lot to this world Holmberg has created, in which different magicians use different materials (glass, rubber, plastic, metal, etc.) to create magic. However, The Paper Magician is as flimsy as its namesake material. The world, so rich with potential, is never really developed by Holmberg, nor are the characters, which are littered with glimpses of rich back-stories that are never fully fleshed out. There are also a lot of technical issues that are never really sorted out (much like it's no use taking a knife to a gunfight, taking paper to a fight against someone using liquid and cutting implements seems foolhardy at best), which make suspending disbelief somewhat problematic.

Despite that, the world is ripe for development, and I'm tempted to pick up the sequel to this, just to see if a second volume allows Holmberg to sort out some of the issues presented here. Those who enjoy origami and magic might give it a shot, if they're so inclined.