–Synopsis–

Throughout her studies, Ceony Twill has harbored a secret, one she’s kept from even her mentor, Emery Thane. She’s discovered how to practice forms of magic other than her own—an ability long thought impossible.

While all seems set for Ceony to complete her apprenticeship and pass her upcoming final magician’s exam, life quickly becomes complicated. To avoid favoritism, Emery sends her to another paper magician for testing, a Folder who despises Emery and cares even less for his apprentice. To make matters worse, a murderous criminal from Ceony’s past escapes imprisonment. Now she must track the power-hungry convict across England before he can take his revenge. With her life and loved ones hanging in the balance, Ceony must face a criminal who wields the one magic that she does not, and it may prove more powerful than all her skills combined.

–Review–

Being the third and final installment of the Paper Magician series, I thought the story rounded out and came to a close quite nicely. I prefer the Glass Magician a bit more, but this did have a satisfying, albeit rushed ending.

The magic I thought was mixed I will say. The fact Ceony figured out how to swap materials was very cool. She mainly uses paper (per her still being classified as a paper Magician), glass (almost solely to spy and fast travel, nothing different from the second book), fire (mainly used as a light source and projectile weapon), plastic (she uses it to upgrade Fennel’s structure as well as another form of fast travel) and metal (I believe she used this to make ammo for her gun, she also used a magnetic effect for the final boss battle). The way she was able to swap quickly back and forth between the materials was very smart in my opinion. Ceony had a necklace of the basic elements of each material in different charms, so she just had to touch whichever one she wanted to swap to. It was pretty ingenious. There was one paper spell Emery uses in the fight which was unknown to Ceony. It showcases how truly dangerous paper magic could be, which was one issue Ceony had with being paired with paper in the first book.

The big boss fight of this book felt a tad lackluster. Being against the big and bad excisioner that stoked fear into those who were unfortunate to bear witness to his atrocities, I was expecting a bit more action and bloodshed. The fight involved both Ceony and Emery, so I was on the edge of my seat trying to figure out who was going to get hurt or worse, so it had the tension to be enjoyable for sure, I just could not help but be disappointed by the quick outcome.

Ceony’s final test in order to become a licensed paper magician was a tad anti-climactic as well. The fact she has been preparing for this event the entirety of the series, it felt like it only lasted a short chapter. The idea was cool, the fact she had fifty-something prompts she had to create spells for was enjoyable to read. For example, she had to create something that could open a door. She took inspiration from Emery’s skeleton butler and created a paper skeleton hand that had posable fingers and the musculature that could grasp a door handle and open it.

Ceony was her usual brave/irrational self when it came to taking the law into her whole hands and trying to hunt down the excisioner all on her own. She even promised Emery to not do that again, but she was able to convince herself it was for the good of everyone, but she ends up making the situation worse for her meddling. One event that did not sit right with me was when she snuck out of Magician Bailey’s house to go on the hunt for the excisioner, and she makes the comment that she was willing to flirt with Bailey’s apprentice in order for him to do what she needed him to do, which was drive her to the train station. While Bennet, the apprentice, clearly has a bit of a crush on Ceony so she was willing to be emotionally manipulative as well as going behind Emery’s back. Granted Ceony’s relationship with Emery was not official by any means, however they were clearly aware of their feelings for each other.

One aspect of Ceony I enjoyed in this book was how protective she was over her sister Zina. I was not a fan of Zina herself, however. Her attitude was nasty and the comments she made in reference to Ceony and Emery were quite petty and seething in jealousy. Regardless of that, Ceony still makes an attempt, and is successful in getting Zina to rethink her questionable behaviors and getting set up on the right path in life. Even after that, Zina still has a grumbly attitude while writing it of as sarcasm. I did not like her lol

Emery took a more background character role in the mid-section of this book. After Ceony is transferred to Bailey’s house, Emery and Ceony’s interactions are solely through paper communication through their windows. They end up meeting up at the climax of the story accidentally, which I could not help but eyeroll this series of events. Basically, they end up showing up at the same place at the same time, regardless of not having communication with each other in a while and both lying to the other person about their involvement in finding the excisioner…Anyways, Emery becomes more honest and open with his feelings about Ceony and literally wastes NO TIME in furthering their relationship after Ceony becomes an official magician.

Speaking of the romance, I felt once again that the romance was rushed in this final book. It was super slow-paced in the first books due to Ceony being Emery’s apprentice, which I enjoyed. In this one, once Ceony was no longer the apprentice, it felt like steps were skipped completely in their relationship. While I did like the end since it tied up events in the first book, I left feeling slightly disappointed. It ends very innocently so that was a plus for me.

I know I said this was the final book in the Paper Magician series and technically that is not true. There is one more called The Plastic Magician, however that follows a whole new character (more like a spin-off) so I do not consider it a part of the series as we know it.

All in all, if you enjoyed the first two books, I highly recommend finishing out the series. Just be prepared to feel like you went warp speed through the plot, particularly when compared to the slow nature of the previous books.

-About the Author-

Charlie N. Holmberg is a Wall Street Journal and Amazon Charts bestselling author of fantasy and romance fiction, including the Paper Magician series, the Spellbreaker series, and the Whimbrel House series, and writes contemporary romance under C. N. Holmberg. She is published in over twenty languages and is a Goodreads Choice Award, ALA, and RITA finalist. Born in Salt Lake City, Charlie was raised a Trekkie alongside three sisters who also have boy names. A BYU alumna, she discovered in her thirties that she’s actually a cat person. She lives with her family in Utah.