Charlie N. Holmberg | 2014 & 2015 | 222 & 226 Pages
I’m grotesquely behind on my book reviews, so to get back in the groove of things I’m going to take the easy way out and just double review the last two books in the Paper Magician Trilogy. We’re feather themed here, right? Two birds and all that.The Glass Magician follows up the promising but ultimately flat Paper Magician. I hoped going in that the author’s second endeavor would improve upon the first. I was wrong. Not only is the villain less compelling, the romance less interesting, the dialog more cringe-worthy, and the setting even more confounding, but the main character becomes a parody of her already poorly-fleshed out self.
The Paper Magician had an interesting concept. Victorian magic apprenticeships based on control of a single element. The book had many faults, but it was never a struggle to get through. The short length made it a fast a mildly entertaining read.
The Glass Magician is neither fast nor entertaining. The Master Magician is ever worse. Or maybe it gets better at the end? I wouldn’t know because it was the first book I officially DNF’d and tossed in about 5 years. I’m a stubborn reader. I generally enter into something and commit, or, as with a few cases of classics, I put it aside until I have more time to focus on it (I’m looking at you Master and Margarita).
The Master Magician is a book I will never finish, and I have no qualms quitting on it. Paper ends in a somewhat logical way and could’ve closed out the story. Its conclusion is the only reason I chose to continue and finish out the trilogy. What a waste. Master has basically no conflict until you’re several chapters through, forcing you to slog through some of the most cringe-worthy romance scenes I’ve ever read. Ceony gets even more unbearable, Emory becomes, even more, 2-Dimensional as “best boyfriend ever” and the rules of magic, sense of setting, and anachronisms are just all over the place.
If you are stuck on a desert island and the only books you have access to are these- fine. Read them. I guess. But if you are choosing between this series and just about anything else, your better bet would likely be on the latter.
Also, these have apparently been optioned for movies? Of all books out there to adapt… why?
Why?
Final Verdict – 1 Feather averaged out between a 2 and a 0. Sorry not sorry.
The Laurenest 