The Paper Magician by Charlie N Holmberg

**I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review**

4/5 Stars

Synopsis per Goodreads:

Ceony Twill arrives at the cottage of Magician Emery Thane with a broken heart. Having graduated at the top of her class from the Tagis Praff School for the Magically Inclined, Ceony is assigned an apprenticeship in paper magic despite her dreams of bespelling metal. And once she’s bonded to paper, that will be her only magic…forever.

Yet the spells Ceony learns under the strange yet kind Thane turn out to be more marvelous than she could have ever imagined—animating paper creatures, bringing stories to life via ghostly images, even reading fortunes. But as she discovers these wonders, Ceony also learns of the extraordinary dangers of forbidden magic.

An Excisioner—a practitioner of dark, flesh magic—invades the cottage and rips Thane’s heart from his chest. To save her teacher’s life, Ceony must face the evil magician and embark on an unbelievable adventure that will take her into the chambers of Thane’s still-beating heart—and reveal the very soul of the man.

I absolutely adored this book, I did.  It's a cute little whimsical tale.  I liked the characters, I'm in love with Thane, I think the concept is unique and awesome.

There were a lot of questions that I wish I had answered.  Lira, and her history, and why? Does everyone know about magic or is it a secret world?  If it's known, are magicians accepted, respected or are they feared and disliked? Do people come to them for magical help?  Things like that.  With most magical books, like Harry Potter for instance, you knew right away that muggles were humans with no magic, and then you have the secret world behind all of it.

I definitely can't wait to get my hands on book 2.