Friday, September 4, 2015

The Master Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

Two years after the events of The Glass Magician, Ceony Twill is ready to take her magician's exam. Things are going well for her: she can switch materials at will, Folding's a cinch, and you get the impression early on that Emery Thane is going to marry her. Enter conflict: the Excisioner, Saraj Prendi, escapes from prison! Then, because of her relationship with Thane, she is reassigned to another Folder for her exam (Pritwin Bailey, who appeared briefly in The Paper Magician as a memory in Thane's heart).

This book was a good conclusion to the trilogy but as a standalone novel, it lacked depth. I find most of the characters one dimensional. In this novel, we meet Pritwin Bailey and his apprentice, Bennet Cooper. Pritwin is a grumpy perfectionist who is not satisfied with Ceony because she does not give him her undivided attention (which, as an actual Folder, shouldn't she?) but we never get into why or anything else about him. And where Prit is unfriendly, Bennet is so friendly that Ceony assumes he's in love with her (and I'm not sure he is) and he does not develop further.

I still really like the world and the mechanics that Ms. Holmberg has created but I think her characters are a bit underdeveloped. Sometimes they seem more like props than actual people. In the previous novels, where you can be distracted by the mechanics of Paper or Glass magic, this one focuses on Ceony's ability to change mediums which, I'm sorry to say, isn't that interesting. And then after everything's all nice and tidy, she ends on a (albeit weak) cliffhanger! It was disappointing. I hope she writes more novels in this world.

Visit Charlie N. Holmberg's site for more information about the author and how to purchase her book(s).

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