BOOK REVIEW: The Glass Magician by Charlie N Holmberg

47North
November 2014
Paperback, $14.95
Reviewed by Aly Locatelli6/10

Review of Book 1: The Paper Magician

The second book in a trilogy is always hit or miss. They can be either really good, or quite bad and often toe the line between “interesting” and “boring”. More often than not, the second book in a trilogy is used to get all the history and information out of the way, thus taking away most of the excitement from the book.

The Glass Magician was not boring whatsoever, but rather very interesting.
After the events that took place in The Paper Magician, Ceony is back to square one: studying and being nothing more than Magician Thane’s clever apprentice, but she has realised she wants more. That “more” just happens to be her teacher, someone she cannot have a relationship with.

Where there was only a hint of romance in the first book, there is a lot of it in the second. It’s all Ceony thinks about – Thane’s hair, Thane’s laugh, the way he looks, the way he acts, how good they’d be together.

Usually, these sort of rambling thoughts can be annoying, mostly because they take away from the story and the plot itself, but in The Glass Magician, even though Ceony is head over heels in love, the story moves along smoothly.Three months after the rightful returning of Thane’s heart, Ceony is hell-bent on making her vision from the fortuity box come to fruition (that true love is just round the corner)… but is, instead, hunted by a magician who wants to know her secret: how did she freeze the evil Lira? And why was she able to do so?

The magician is willing to do anything to get his answers, even if it means killing all the people Ceony loves.

Suddenly, Thane and Ceony are on the run, protected by the council, and trying to find all the answers to the many questions that keep popping up. There are obstacles, tests and, ultimately, a price to pay. What are the limits to Ceony’s powers?

As a sequel, I was delighted with how the story evolved and how everything unfolded. We’re shown more magic and given more information as to how different powers work, and The Glass Magician focuses a lot on… glass. I loved reading about the magic of glass just as much as the magic of paper in the first book.

The issues I had with pacing in the first one were resolved in its sequel, and The Glass Magician moved along quickly and smoothly, never boring me at all. Charlie N Holmberg presented an outstanding second installment, and I look forward to reading the third and final book in this wonderful trilogy.