Sunday, November 16, 2014

Melanie's Week in Review - November 16, 2014




My reading this week was a bit like the weather - bright and sunny one minute and grey and drizzly the next. So what did I read?

Instead of trying to clear another book from my TBR I had a little look on NetGalley and found the Paper Magician trilogy by Charlie N. Holmberg. I really liked the  covers so made the decision that the story was going to be as good. I was only partly right. I really liked the premise with teenage Ceony starting her apprenticeship with the paper magician Emery Thane. In Holmberg's world humans are bonded to the different elements or man made materials. Ceony had hoped to be able to be a Smelter bonded to metals bit instead she has chosen to control paper under the tutelage of the magician Emery Thane. Ceony isn't happy to be bonded to paper but soon changes her mind when Thane gets his heart ripped out in front of her eyes and in a nearly ridiculous chain of events Ceony ends up inside Thane's heart. Now Ceony just has to find a way out, defeat the evil magician who almost killed Thane, return his heart and finish her studies.

I started out quite liking this book. I liked the snippy Ceony and her journey to discovering how cool paper magic really is. At first I thought this was aimed at a younger reader but by the end and after some really grisly events I realised it was how Ceony was written. She was making quite immature decisions and always doing the opposite of what anyone else said to do. She also instantly falls in love with her tutor and guardian which was a tad unbelievable.

Despite this I went back to NetGalley and requested book 2 The Glass Magician. In this instalment Ceony spends quite a bit of time swooning over Emery, blushing and when she has time learning a few new magic spells. Her life is in peril when not 1 but 2 baddies are after her following the events of book 1. A lot happens in this book and yet again Ceony defies her more magically experienced colleagues to try to save her friends, family and of course, Emery. I thought this book was just ok. I really wanted to give Ceony a few good slaps as she got on my nerves with her whining about being in danger and then running headlong into the next deadly situation quite unprepared. I think Holmberg needs to make a decision on Ceony as she can't be both shy and demure and a bold, firecracker who eats danger for breakfast.

You might remember that I was reading City of Stairs by Robert J Bennett which I finished. I loved this book. It had such great characters and an excellent plot set in a world that was rich in detail. This is a must read and one of the best books I have read this year.

That is it for me folks. I hope you have a good week. I am on annual leave so I may not have very much to tell you about next week. Until then Happy Reading.

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