This book is a kind of sequel to The Paper Magician series, taking place after the events of The Master Magician. My mom really enjoyed this series (and I did too, overall), and the book, so I bought it on Audible and listened to it.
Alvie Brechenmacher travels from the United States to London to study polymaking - the art of using plastic in spells, under the legendary Marion Praff. Unnaturally gifted, Alvie progresses quickly. Praff requires her to volunteer, and she spends those hours in a hospital. There, Alvie meets Ethel Cooper, a young woman who lost part of her arm in a horrible accident. Alvie befriends Ethel and is determined to help her out. She and Praff come up with the idea to create a prosthetic arm using their powers. Can they finish the prototype before the grand Convention? And can they protect their research from someone determined to steal it?
Overall, I did love this series. I found it rather cozy, and I loved the way it was written. This book, however, felt very different from the rest of the books. I will admit that I listened to this one on Audible, and I did not like the narrator for some reason. I'm not sure if that's because it was different than the other narrators from the other books, or what. I'm thinking some of that colored my overall impression of the book. I tried to put it aside, but for some reason, I had a hard time ignoring it.
Let's start with some positives. I did like that Holmberg continued her exploration of her magic system. The polymaking system was not one that was discussed at much length in the first three books, so it was fun to see the more "modern" magic introduced and explored in this novel.
I loved that Holmberg brought back some of the characters that I fell in love with in the first three books. Ethel Cooper happens to be the sister of Bennett Cooper - the folder apprentice that Ceony Twill gets to know in The Master Magician. It was good to see Bennett come back and have a love interest. I thought he deserved it after Ceony. I also liked that you run into Ceony very briefly, and that she's expecting a baby when Alvie meets her. I really loved Ceony's character, so I found myself wishing she played a larger part in the novel.
The overall story was thoughtfully laid out, but this is where my problems with it begin. I didn't find the plot overly engaging. I hate to admit that, but it took a long time for Holmberg to get to the point. With Ceony's story, it didn't take long before Lira showed up and really jumpstarted the action of the plot. With this book, I felt that the most fascinating part was in the last hour of the book. There was too much buildup and not enough (for lack of a better word) action. I was really bored with Alvie's training, and the mystery of the targeted burglaries was just not engaging enough for me.
I didn't like Alvie's character as much. She did have some good depth, and I liked the nerdy side of her. However, she felt too much like the stereotypical whiny teen novel protagonist, and I was disappointed with it. Again, I'm comparing to the first three books in the series, since this book is considered a fourth. Ceony's character, while having self-doubts and inexperience, was still really dynamic and interesting. She faced her problems head on and plunged into things without really thinking. I did like that about her character - it made her moments of introspection feel less whiney and more interesting. Alvie had none of that. She agonized over the same issues over and over and over again, and she seemed frightened of everything. I had a harder time overlooking those moments, and she just felt whiny.
I also don't like when authors spend the entire book telling us that the most logical solution to the problem is not the actual solution to the problem, and then reveals that it was the actual solution. This bugged me really badly in the fourth Eragon book, and Holmberg does some of that too. From the get-go, we run into the villain of the story: Magician Ezzell. Alvie then suspects him the entire rest of the story for everything that goes wrong. Everyone else tells her she's wrong, and then of course she isn't. This kind of thing bothers me. Why not find a more clever way to show us he's the villain than spending the entire book telling us he's not?
Overall, I did enjoy the book. I rate it PG for some minor violence. This novel doesn't have any of the blood magic from The Paper Magician.
I gave the book ⭐⭐⭐
Comments
Post a Comment