Point of View

Charlie N. Holmberg tells her novel “The Paper Magician” in the third-person limited-omniscient perspective. The third-person narrative mode allows the author to describe contextual events of the novel in detail where needed (such as at the beginning of the novel, where recent background information on Ceony’s apprenticing is given in conjunction with her arriving at her apprenticeship for the first time). It is also reflective of the third-person perspective that Ceony maintains while traveling through the memories of Thane’s heart. Like the narrator and reader of the novel, Ceony is a passive observer, watching past memories unfold. The limited-omniscient aspect of the narration adds both a sense of realism (as readers do not know everything going on in their lives or in the world around them at all times) and a sense of suspense. Mysteries and dramatic turns of events, such as the...