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A review by megsbookishtwins
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
5.0
Disclaimer: I received this free from the publishers in exchange for an honest review.
Every year, eight beautiful girls are chosen to be Paper Girls to serve the king. It is supposedly the highest honour a girl from the Paper Caste could hope for. Lei is a member of the Paper Caste, the lowest class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, and she is still dealing from the trauma of losing her mother 10 years ago when she was taken away by the royal guards. One day, the royal guards show up again, only this time, it is Lei they have come for, as she is the girl with the golden eyes. She has been chosen as a Paper Girl.
“I don’t realize it until I speak it. And it’s different from the times I’ve said it before, or the way I’ve hoped it, as if dreaming something enough could birth it into being. I know it now with a certainty that has fitted into the lost core at the heart of me, as hard and angular as my hope was soft and shimmering. The King will not have me.”
There has been so much buzz around Girls of Paper and Fire for months. I initially requested a physical copy months ago and heard nothing. I kept seeing reviews and got a teeny tiny bit jealous. Then, it came up on NetGalley, YAY! So, I read this on holiday while I was chilling around the pool and read it in A SINGLE DAY.
Natasha Ngan is a skilful and imaginative writer. The world she creates is unique and immersive and dark and is full of demons and magic. She creates a really intricate system and I also enjoyed the look into the delicate politics of the world. Girls of Paper and Fire follows Lei as she is taken from her home to become a Paper Girl, a sex slave for the demon king.
Lei was a formidable protagonist, and one of the best things about this book is that, initially, Lei didn’t really have a goal and she wasn’t really fighting for anything but her self and her own survival. Which then leads to some incredible character development throughout the second half of the novel.
So, while Lei is trying to survive and she meets Wren, a fellow Paper Girl, and they fall in love. It is a forbidden romance as those who serve the King as Paper Girls are forbidden to have other partners. Together, they fight for their freedom, for themselves, each other, and for everyone else. It was a really great slow-burn romance and a really great story.
Overall, Girls of Paper and Fire is a tense, fierce, and imaginative read about fighting for what you believe in. It is about survival, love, and hope. A book that I would highly recommend, especially for fans of fantasy. I do, however, want to give a trigger warning for sexual assault and rape.
Every year, eight beautiful girls are chosen to be Paper Girls to serve the king. It is supposedly the highest honour a girl from the Paper Caste could hope for. Lei is a member of the Paper Caste, the lowest class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, and she is still dealing from the trauma of losing her mother 10 years ago when she was taken away by the royal guards. One day, the royal guards show up again, only this time, it is Lei they have come for, as she is the girl with the golden eyes. She has been chosen as a Paper Girl.
“I don’t realize it until I speak it. And it’s different from the times I’ve said it before, or the way I’ve hoped it, as if dreaming something enough could birth it into being. I know it now with a certainty that has fitted into the lost core at the heart of me, as hard and angular as my hope was soft and shimmering. The King will not have me.”
There has been so much buzz around Girls of Paper and Fire for months. I initially requested a physical copy months ago and heard nothing. I kept seeing reviews and got a teeny tiny bit jealous. Then, it came up on NetGalley, YAY! So, I read this on holiday while I was chilling around the pool and read it in A SINGLE DAY.
Natasha Ngan is a skilful and imaginative writer. The world she creates is unique and immersive and dark and is full of demons and magic. She creates a really intricate system and I also enjoyed the look into the delicate politics of the world. Girls of Paper and Fire follows Lei as she is taken from her home to become a Paper Girl, a sex slave for the demon king.
Lei was a formidable protagonist, and one of the best things about this book is that, initially, Lei didn’t really have a goal and she wasn’t really fighting for anything but her self and her own survival. Which then leads to some incredible character development throughout the second half of the novel.
So, while Lei is trying to survive and she meets Wren, a fellow Paper Girl, and they fall in love. It is a forbidden romance as those who serve the King as Paper Girls are forbidden to have other partners. Together, they fight for their freedom, for themselves, each other, and for everyone else. It was a really great slow-burn romance and a really great story.
Overall, Girls of Paper and Fire is a tense, fierce, and imaginative read about fighting for what you believe in. It is about survival, love, and hope. A book that I would highly recommend, especially for fans of fantasy. I do, however, want to give a trigger warning for sexual assault and rape.