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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
The end of the trilogy! Overall, I liked this series a lot, especially the first book. The writing is excellent, the storytelling is incredibly unique and the action takes your breath away. ⚔️
I was eager to finish this series because I missed my girls! I love Wren and getting many chapters with her POV was a treat. The book had it’s slow moments, but it really picked up in the middle all the way to the end. I will say the book is extremely violent. There is a lot of violence toward women, especially teenage girls. A lot of it bothered me; I actually had to skim through the paragraphs of violence. The ending had a lot of it and a lot happened, so I did enjoy that but the violence just made it a bit difficult. So, yeah! Not the most enjoyable for me but the characters in this book are true warriors and I love Lei & Wren. ❤️
I was eager to finish this series because I missed my girls! I love Wren and getting many chapters with her POV was a treat. The book had it’s slow moments, but it really picked up in the middle all the way to the end. I will say the book is extremely violent. There is a lot of violence toward women, especially teenage girls. A lot of it bothered me; I actually had to skim through the paragraphs of violence. The ending had a lot of it and a lot happened, so I did enjoy that but the violence just made it a bit difficult. So, yeah! Not the most enjoyable for me but the characters in this book are true warriors and I love Lei & Wren. ❤️
I almost didn't buy this because the 2nd book felt weak to me and based on a snippet the author left I thought I had the plot figured out.
I'm so glad I went ahead and bought it!
I really wondered how they were going to conclude things in this book. I like that even after they win, there are still racial problems and an acknowledgement that it may always be a present problem. As sad as that was I liked that sense of realism. As a kid I thought that once the racist leaders were out of office, prejudice would no longer exist. As an adult I know better.(I am an South East Woman for context)
Something I wish there was less of: kissing and confessing love on the battlefield.
Things I really liked was the disabled representation in characters and that some things the characters said helped me contextualize and helped me heal from my own trauma.
This series is a bit on the idealistic side but still enjoyable.
I'm so glad I went ahead and bought it!
I really wondered how they were going to conclude things in this book. I like that even after they win, there are still racial problems and an acknowledgement that it may always be a present problem. As sad as that was I liked that sense of realism. As a kid I thought that once the racist leaders were out of office, prejudice would no longer exist. As an adult I know better.(I am an South East Woman for context)
Something I wish there was less of: kissing and confessing love on the battlefield.
Things I really liked was the disabled representation in characters and that some things the characters said helped me contextualize and helped me heal from my own trauma.
This series is a bit on the idealistic side but still enjoyable.
dark
emotional
inspiring
medium-paced
This book saved the series for me. Things happen! There are fun twists! People die but like not as many people as you think are going to, so that’s fun. The last few chapters of the book are INDULGENT, but it’s earned. I would read a lil novella that expands on all of it.
Full series retrospective, I think this series is structured in a way that it could be well adapted into either a tv series OR a film trilogy, and I would almost prefer the latter. This series is very internal, and that was a little vexing at times. (Picture me screaming “why are you being so STUPID?” at my car radio on my way home from work.) So maybe externalizing would be good.
Anyway, idk if I would recommend it necessarily, but I don’t regret reading it. And the third book does kinda pay it all off.
Full series retrospective, I think this series is structured in a way that it could be well adapted into either a tv series OR a film trilogy, and I would almost prefer the latter. This series is very internal, and that was a little vexing at times. (Picture me screaming “why are you being so STUPID?” at my car radio on my way home from work.) So maybe externalizing would be good.
Anyway, idk if I would recommend it necessarily, but I don’t regret reading it. And the third book does kinda pay it all off.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
challenging
dark
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
“When the world denies you choices, you make your own.”
There are not enough words to express how much I absolutely loved this series. From adding “Girls of Paper and Fire” to my TBR in September of 2023, to finding it happenstance (in hardcover!) on a book mobile shop two months later and then reading it last year and dying to read the next two books!!! Then lo and behold, my best friend found books two and three (in hardcover!!) November of 2024 (a year after I bought book one) and I immediately sent her money to grab them for me!!! I made plans to read them first thing in 2025, and I am so happy I did!
“Even demons are no match for Paper Girls with fire in their hearts.”
There are so many emotions that this series had me go through. I connected with the main characters in a lot of ways, including the traumatic ones. This whole series did a really great job of capturing how society portrays and treats women. It also shows how that treatment becomes even worse when society deems some women “less than“.
“That’s what tears are for, I suppose. Washing things clean. Helping us shed the burdens we carry.”
All three books are beautifully written and Natasha Ngan does an incredible job at building the world of Ikahara. I loved the elements of magic and fantasy, and the amazing sapphic and LGBTQIA+ representation throughout the series. These books are the kind of books that, when you finish them, you sit back and go “whoa!” and really reflect on what you read and how it connects to your own world.
“A place is just building parts brought together. Its true heart—a home—is the people who inhabit it.”
“The Girls of Fate and Fury” was an absolutely heart wrenching, emotional, inspirational, and overall fantastic ending to this series. Again, I really have no words to describe how amazing it was. You really just need to read it for yourself. I promise you won’t regret it.
I will end this review with one last quote from “Girls of Fate and Fury”, and possibly my favorite:
“It is never too late for new dreams.”
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Murder, War
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Grief, Pregnancy, Injury/Injury detail
