Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

41 reviews

madimomreads's review

challenging dark hopeful sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Misogyny, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Blood, Body shaming, and Confinement

galexy_brain's review

adventurous challenging hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The plot was alright but gahdamn can Ngan write a romance

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Rape, Sexual assault, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Child abuse, Blood, Classism, Medical trauma, Animal death, Physical abuse, and Toxic relationship

Minor: Infertility, Lesbophobia, Misogyny, Sexism, Confinement, Death, Death of parent, Homophobia, Adult/minor relationship, Alcohol, Kidnapping, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Murder, Slavery, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, War, Bullying, Gore, Outing, Sexual content, and Trafficking

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Slavery, Child abuse, Sexual harassment, Emotional abuse, Rape, Kidnapping, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Animal death, Classism, Injury/Injury detail, Grief, and Sexual violence

Moderate: Rape, Sexism, Alcohol, Blood, War, Murder, Trafficking, and Confinement

Minor: Drug use and Death of parent

poppywarphan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.0

Characters: 5/10
Enjoyment: 6.5/10
Plot: 6/10
Worldbuilding: 5/10
Writing: 8/10

This might as well have been a standalone. But it's not because of that extra page at the end. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm invested enough to read any further installments.

The idea was good, the execution not so much. The worldbuilding wasn't really explored. The plot and writing were simplistic. That's not a bad thing, but on one hand it read as a book for younger teens, on the other hand though it discussed mature themes. There's rape. It's not graphic, but there nonetheless. If there's anything that triggers me in books, its sexual assault.  The girls are taken as mistresses and must have sex with the king against their will. Yes, they don't object, but it's either that or be killed.

The characters were underdeveloped. The king as a villain was just stupid. He's evil. OK, and? That's it? The paper girls were pretty indistinguishable. Aside from Aoki and Blue whose personality was being a bitch. The relationship between Lei and Wren didn't really have any foundation. It was pretty much just lusting and attraction.

Now, what I did like was what was done with Aoki's character. Not that I like what happened to her, but the book highlights how easy it is to fall victim to an abusive man. Aoki is the youngest out of the paper girls and naive. The king makes her feel special, so she starts having feelings for him. I like how it pointed out (although in a pretty juvenile way) that such a relationship is, in fact, not good (side-eyeing all the romance books that romanticize toxic relationships). Aoki is probably the most nuanced compared to the other two-dimensional characters.

Overall Girls of paper and fire wasn't a terrible book, just underwhelming. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Blood, Violence, Child abuse, Rape, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Sexual assault, Confinement, Sexual violence, and Body horror

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Grief, Misogyny, Trafficking, Injury/Injury detail, Lesbophobia, Racism, Kidnapping, Gaslighting, Racial slurs, Child abuse, Classism, Bullying, Death, and Genocide

brigid_reads_romance's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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

4.5

I think it’s going to take me a while to sort out how I feel about this book 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

Moderate: Genocide, Classism, and Colonisation

Minor: Death of parent

andromeda_1998's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

The girls of paper and fire is one of those books who have been hiding at the back of my bookcase for years…. And after reading it I have to apologize towards them. They didn’t deserve my silent treatment. The first book is in my opinion a good read. The book has a heavy theme but that’s to be expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Misogyny, Rape, Murder, Sexual harassment, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Sexual assault, Domestic abuse, Gaslighting, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual violence, Classism, Death of parent, and Kidnapping

lajoy's review

dark hopeful sad 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? It's complicated

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Rape, Body horror, Classism, Misogyny, Sexual assault, and Violence

Minor: Death of parent

mandathebiblio's review

dark emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Violence, Classism, and Rape

bookcaptivated's review

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Kidnapping, Sexual violence, Blood, Xenophobia, Animal death, Violence, Rape, and Slavery

Moderate: War, Confinement, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, and Outing

Minor: Bullying, Classism, and Infidelity

emlela's review

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual harassment, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Emotional abuse, and Sexual content

Moderate: Violence and Physical abuse

Minor: Cursing, Grief, Animal death, Classism, Lesbophobia, and Sexism

The girls are forced to become concubines to the king, so there are scenes in which the characters are forced into sexual situations.