From Goodreads.com: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 discover 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 received The Paper Magician as a Kindle First book. It's a pretty quick read, in fact I read it so fast that I had to read it again before I began the second book a few months later. I remembered the basic plot and how it ended but I was worried I forgot a small detail that might be important in the second and third books.
It takes place in the 19th century but the language used isn't old (as long as that won't drive you crazy, keep reading.) Despite this fact, I thought the book was well written without words so modern it would be illogical. (I've gotten hung up on that in a different book.)
Ceony is a strong female character, who doesn't really follow the rules, this of course leads to trouble and the whole story. This is a captivating book that includes heartbreak, wonder, love, adventure, a battle between dark and light, and magic.
I don't want to liken this to Harry Potter but I will, if you are an adult who likes Harry Potter give this book a shot. All you really have to like, to love this book and it's sequels, is a touch of the magical.
