Fabulous! Mixture of Camelot, Excalibur, Princess Bride and Blood Red Road elements woven together with great storytelling and well-strung plot advances, while feeling new and exciting. So very disappointed this is Book One and that I did not immediately have Book Two at hand. The fact that dragons are included within the many mystical and real life elements pushed it over the edge to "great" for me. Kudos to a fellow Canadian (and Torontonian!) who is much more talented than I. ( )

Fabulous! Mixture of Camelot, Excalibur, Princess Bride and Blood Red Road elements woven together with great storytelling and well-strung plot advances, while feeling new and exciting. So very disappointed this is Book One and that I did not immediately have Book Two at hand. The fact that dragons are included within the many mystical and real life elements pushed it over the edge to "great" for me. Kudos to a fellow Canadian (and Torontonian!) who is much more talented than I. ( )

I would like to thank NetGalley and Dundurn for the opportunity to read this e-ARC. Although I received the e-book for free, that in no way impacts my review. I would have given this book 4 stars but for the abrupt ending, so instead I have to give it 3 stars.

Goodreads Blurb:

On the spell-crossed Phaer Isle, teenage Xemion dreams of being a great swordsman. When he finds a blade-shaped stick, he fashions it to look like a real sword. Knowing that the laws of their cruel Pathan conquerors would require a death sentence for possession of such an object, his friend Saheli demands he destroy it. He agrees, but insists on performing just one sword ceremony. When his mastery of the weapon, a skill long forgotten, is witnessed by a mysterious man named Vallaine, the two friends are invited to join a planned rebellion. At first they refuse, but when a sadistic official discovers their transgressions, they are forced to embark on a dangerous journey to the ruins of the ancient city of Ulde, where rebel forces are gathering.

Armed with only their wits and the painted sword, they face Thralls, Triplicants, dragons, rage-wraiths, and a host of other spell-crossed beings. As they approach the Great Kone, source of all spell-craft, Saheli's fear of magic and Xemion's attraction to it bind them in a crossed spell of their own — one that threatens to separate the two forever.

This book is the start of a new fantasy series targeting middle grade, teens, and YA readers. Following in the tradition of the epic fantasy our hero appears to be no one special, yet he has dreams of grandeur. His innermost secret is to become a legendary swordsman like those from the days of old, before their island nation was conquered by their cruel overlords, the Pathans. All his life Xemion's assumed his dream was just that, a dream. Once the Pathan's took control of Phaer and it's people they banned the use of weapons - especially swords. Yet once his paper sword is dry Xemion demonstrates flawless knowledge all of the proper sword-wielding stances for Saheli. Stances he shouldn't have any knowledge of, for the manuals and those people with the knowledge were destroyed before he was even born.

Saheli is Xemion's best friend and the unwitting love of his young life. Though she's only been in Xemion's life for about four months, in that time she has captured his heart, and that of the old woman raising him in their home hidden deep in the forest. Yet in all that time she has remained a mystery to Xemion and herself. Already the makings of several mysteries are laid out for the reader; mysteries for the reader to unravel right along with the characters.

Once their friends are added to the mix things get even more entertaining. Torgee and Tharfen are brother and sister, and each harbors their own romantic feelings for Saheli and Xemion respectively. This tangled mess of desire amongst friends is exceptionally well done, particularly Tharfen's tumultuous feelings for Xemion.

Overall the characterization of these four young friends is spot on as they vacillate between adult levels of maturity and that of young children. The complexity of their emotions and responses is absolutely appropriate for their represented age range. It's not at all uncommon for teenagers to behave maturely and then suddenly backslide into childish behavior as they grow and develop their own personalities. Being the youngest Tharfen seems to experience these emotional swings the hardest, which could easily cause problems down the road. For in a land of magic words spoken in anger, or out of pain, can quickly take on a life of their own.

Xemion is the most developed character in this installment of the series, even though it appears that Saheli will play almost as important, if not as important, a role. Even Torgee and Tharfen are poised to have crucial roles, yet they also need a great deal more character development. On the other hand Priest has done a stellar job in his world building, giving us a rich, vibrant world complete with multiple humanoid species, magic remnants from humans, cross-spelled creatures of all types, and even the prerequisite epic fantasy dragons. Given that this was the first book, I'm holding out hope that the following books will delve deeper into the main characters, giving them the same vibrancy that Xemion has begun to take on.

Overall I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the sequel. My only real suggestion has to do with the closing of the book. Cliffhanger endings are to be expected in epic fantasies, but I think it is beneficial to keep the target audience in mind. As this is an epic fantasy geared toward younger readers I think the book, and probably the series overall, would have benefitted from resolving at least a few questions posed in some of the myriad plot lines. ( )

Robert Priest’s The Paper Sword creates a thoroughly fantastical world on Phaer Isle, home of Xemion and Saheli. Xemion sets a series of events in motion when he pretends that a stick-shaped sword is real and executes a long-forgotten, and outlawed, sword ceremony, which his friend Saheli (a girl), witnesses. When the wrong person also witnesses this ceremony, Xemion and Saheli, along with a few others, flee to the city of Ulde, where rebel forces are conveniently also gathering.

Convenient plot mechanics aside, readers may find that the pacing of The Paper Sword is uneven – at times furious and at times languorous for the lavish world-building and character flashbacks. Only Xemion becomes well-developed in this first book of a series; Saheli, while a main character, remains essentially a mystery. Where Priest excels is in his stellar construction of this visionary world and his enviable, sophisticated writing style. One almost forgets the confusing plotlines, especially towards the end of the book – almost. ( )

The Paper Sword is the first book in an epic fantasy series for middle graders and it starts out quite well. The main characters are likeable and, for the most part, well drawn, the world building is interesting, and there’s lots of adventure and twisty trails to follow. However, it becomes clear fairly fast that there is too much going on to be contained in one book. That’s by itself not a bad thing, that’s kind of what makes epic fantasy epic. But when there is so much happening, there should still be closure on some story lines in any book in a series especially when it’s aimed at children. In the case of The Paper Sword, things just keep getting progressively more complex as it heads to its conclusion. Unfortunately, the story becomes somewhat disjointed near the end, almost as if there’s a section missing (which, I suppose might be in a future book but it was a little disconcerting to say the least), the story takes a completely unexpected turn, and, then, it ends. Nothing is resolved, more questions are raised but none are answered, and everything just seems to stop midstream. Okay, that not exactly true; one story line ends, and rather abruptly, but, given that this occurs around the middle of the tale, it doesn’t change my overall evaluation. One expects a certain amount of cliff hanging in the early books of an epic fantasy, but, in the very best of children’s fantasy, each book is readable as a standalone even while leaving openings for future volumes. This just isn’t the case here and that’s a shame because the best I can give this is 3 stars and that’s only because, despite the way it ends, I think The Paper Sword is the beginning of what has the potential to be a really good series. ( )