Name: Bria's review of Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan
Item: Girls of Paper and Fire
Rating: 4
Author: Bria

Natasha Ngan

The mesmerising New York Times bestseller! Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honour they could hope for...and the most demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire. 'A timely reminder that, in the right hands, the fantasy genre has things to say about injustice and abuse of power in the real world' GUARDIAN Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. Ten years ago, her mother was snatched by the royal guards, and her fate remains unknown. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after - the girl with the golden eyes, whose rumoured beauty has piqued the king's interest. Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, Lei does the unthinkable - she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

Girls of Paper and Fire

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honor they could hope for...and the most demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.


Mey-Thip Mortensen

“Yes," she answers. "But I don't want an easy life. I want a meaingful one."

The mesmerising New York Times bestseller! Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honour they could hope for . . . and the most demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire. 'A timely reminder that, in the right hands, the fantasy genre has things to say about injustice and abuse of power in the real world' Guardian Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. Ten years ago, her mother was snatched by the royal guards, and her fate remains unknown. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after - the girl with the golden eyes, whose rumoured beauty has piqued the king's interest. Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, Lei does the unthinkable - she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

Simone Endres

Talisa

Giulia 

Abigail Huggan

Bria

kelsey

we might be paper girls, easily torn and written upon. the very title we’re given suggests that we are blank, waiting to be filled. but what the demon king and his court do not understand is that paper is flammable. and there is a fire catching among us.

i can't believe how long this took me to finish.

it was so, so unbelievablely good. 

and wren and lei were so cute. 

also wren? being a certified badass? sign me the fuck up.

AND WILL THERE BE A SEQUEL 

tw: animal death, sexual abuse

Julie Rubens

I liked this book a lot and Im definitely looking forward to reading the next one!

James Patterson

Uncover a riveting story of palace intrigue set in a sumptuous Asian-inspired fantasy world in the breakout YA novel that Publisher's Weekly calls "elegant and adrenaline-soaked." In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after -- the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest. Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable: she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

chloe rae

I really enjoyed this book! I found the world interesting, I loved the characters. I loved the romance! More f/f romance, please! It was so refreshing!
I loved the female representation in this book. All of the women were strong, and they showed that strength in different ways. I almost wanted MORE. There are so many female characters, all the Paper Girls, and I feel like they could've played an even bigger role in the story. I don't feel like we got to know some of them as well as we could have. 
And while I enjoyed the romance, I almost thought it went a little too fast. I wanted more build-up, more tension! But even so, it was so nice reading about two women in love, and seeing that handled with the normalcy and beauty that it deserves.
Sexual assault and rape play a big part in this book and, though incredibly hard to read at times, it's imperative that it's talked about. These things happen, every day, to people all over the planet and it is completely unacceptable. So yeah, of course I was uncomfortable at times, but that's the point. This book is important, both in its subject matter and in its representation, and these kinds of stories demand to be told.
I just read this is going to be a trilogy so I'm definitely excited to continue on. The only reason it's not rated higher is the writing style. I liked it, but it just felt a little lacking to me or a little...underwhelming. But I'm excited to see what happens next!

Amelia Lang 

a book inspired by the author’s queer mixed malaysian identity?? this was made for me how could i not like this?? star off bc plot elements could be heavy-handed and contrived making it pretty predictable, and i don’t think it’s geared for a much younger audience than i am due to its heavy content. but like i binged it in one sitting soo

Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honour they could hope for...and the cruellest. But this year, there's a ninth girl. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.

carys jenkins

im so mad i don’t have the sequel
nvm ordered it immediately

Quite disappointing. The idea of the different caste and the paper girls is cool and interesting, but it feels flat and like there's not really a plot and it is repetitive.

sharkie

Nessa Luna

alexandra

2.5/5 – wow uh, this was REAL CLOSE to being two stars and i’m half tempted to change it later but... who knows. 

ALRIGHTY SO. i clearly didn’t enjoy it as much as most people even though i really!! really!! wanted to. was it because i didn’t like the audiobook narrator? unsure. i just had some issues. some things:

(1) i couldn’t stand the MC!! she felt very flat and, ironically, hard to read. it felt like she would SAY certain things or be described a certain way, but also act completely differently. it got a little better towards the end but she felt very YA Rural Girl But Is Special Snowflake type. i kept getting the selection, tog, and thg vibes and i was not here for it. since i’m a very character driven reader, not liking the MC was an Issue. but she does go through a lot of good character development, so that’s good. 

(2) the entire story and setting felt... flat. it’s funny because it surrounds paper girls and everything felt paper thin. like i mentioned earlier about Lei, the way things were described vs shown felt weirdly different? also things felt very info-dumpy and unnatural at first. but i like the concept and the magic !!

(3) the romance?? okay, this was the first f/f story that REALLY made me want to read f/f stories for like, the end of time. so THATS GREAT. but i also didn’t understand their relationship. it went from attraction to WE ARE IN LOVE. then there were Trust Issues and i was just SO FRUSTRATED at Lei. (i clearly was not a fan of her.)

(4) the pacing!! i had issues!!!! i was THIS close to putting it down and DNF-ing around 80% through because i could not stand the middle. nothing was going on and i just finished the book but i have NO IDEA what happened. i just remembered feeling very Over It and wanting to move on. HOWEVER. the ending picks up and it’s GREAT. the gruesome parts? MY FAVE. the plot twists? kinda predictable but still nice. 

(5) the writing style is wonderful!! i wish i had more to comment on this, but since i audiobooked it, i feel like there’s nothing else to say. 

(6) i wish i liked this book more for what it is – a great YA fantasy with #ownvoices asian and lgbtqia+ rep. i love that it has all those things but does that mean i shouldn’t be critical in my reading? this is my conflict and my reason for upping the star rating rather than lowering it (might change but.. yeah). at this point, i feel like i’m growing out of YA and fantasy because a lot of it felt so juvenile and childish. like, why are you feeling/acting this way @characters??? i’m unsure.

chloe ✩‧₊˚✧｡*ﾟ

3.5 stars ??

It took me nearly 6 months to finish this book . that's insane. why did it take me so long you ask? well...

this was too slow-paced for my liking and even though I loved the main characters (Wren and Lei and all the other paper girls) I was really unmotivated to continue reading. I found myself bored and not concerned what happened within the courts. It wasn't until the end It started to become intense and intriguing. 

while reading this book I did learn alot of asian culture superstitious, fashion, festivals/celebrations and I loved that element ! (I'm super jealous of their gorgeous festivals and celebrations they hold).

also something else I noticed while reading was that Natasha Ngan mentioned the lighting alot (eg like the sunlight, dusk light, darkness etc) I have no idea how to word it but I thought that was strange cause I've never noticed it in any other books I've read.

so many people loved this book and I'm shocked I didn't aswell

Anyaconda

I absolutely loved it!!! I can't say that the ending took me by surprise, but I'm still really looking forward to the next installment. I really wish I had one of the hardback special editions with pink sprayed pages for my own library.

*3.5

could have been a 4 but the ending felt so messy to me... despite that, it was still a good book & interesting read, so i think i'll check out the sequel!

angie

Jamieson

We might be Paper Girls, easily torn and written upon. The very title we're given suggests that we are blank, waiting to be filled. But what the Demon King and his court do not understand is that paper is flammable.
And there is a fire catching among us.


when someone says there's a fantasy ya book coming out with a slowburn f/f romance following a girls struggle to defy the demon king and the misogynistic societal structures he embodies by undermining his system of choosing girls to be his concubines I listen.

Girls of Paper and Fire it set in a Malaysian inspired world where society is separated into three castes: Moon the upper class comprised of demons with animal characteristics. Steel Middle class, of human demon hybrids and Paper lowest class comprised of full humans. 

The world Ngan sets up here was one I really enjoyed. While many elements of the story feel familiar (I got vibes Red Queen, The Hunger Games, Throne of Glass and even Daughter of Smoke and Bone vibes) a lot of it also felt unique. Ngan masterfully weaves political intrigue into the story, examining political instability and social shifts due to the Demon Kings war a hundred years ago. The political elements became the highlight for me, and I anticipate them becoming even more important as this series progresses. Court fantasies can frustrate me when the politics becomes too insular, but Ngan balanced the court politics and the wider state politics well here, and didn't get too bogged down in court drama as some court fantasies tend to. (Red Queen/ToG) On top of that, the influence of Malaysian-Chinese culture and history on the world made so many of these tropes and scenarios feel fresh and new. 

However I do think the worldbuilding was not PERFECT. We don't know a whole lot about the world outside the court beside brief glimpses and the war and various factions are quickly explained in most cases. The book does hint that it will expand on these elements in the sequels though, which I'm excited for. 

Pacing wise, this book did keep me intrigued due to the slow rise of tension as more and more political elements unravel. But some parts were definitely not as well paced as others. It took a bit for this book to get moving, and the main character's motivations didn't really crystallise until later in the book. Despite all that, this book did keep me compelled to read due to the emotional gravity of the situation, and the rising tension. 


  “I don't want an easy life. I want a meaningful one.”


As a main character, my feelings on Lei are mixed. The first part of this book is spent in her circling thoughts but she has no real aim. The lack of character motivation was jarring, and I found her actions irritating at times. That being said, I found myself really enjoying her character by the end. I love characters that do not start off as fighters but grow in strength. Characters who's power come from their emotional resilience and fortitude are some of my favourites and we definitely see that with Lei. 

The other characters were also not as developed as I felt they could have been, but enjoyable nonetheless. Although the 'mean girl', Blue's arc was compelling, and Aoki's shift was interesting. I'm hoping to see more and get more development out of the side characters in the sequel. 

The romance was also sweet, and while I'm still waiting for that REAL f/f slowburn this was pretty good. The underpinnings of the relationship - that it is an open defiance of the heteronormative patriarchy the girls are forced into submitting to - was an interesting element that added thematic depth to the ship. 


  “Fire in, fear out” 



The true strength of this book for me was in it's thematic exploration. Girls of Paper and Fire explores rape, rape culture, and narratives around abuse. And I think it was explored with nuance, depth and "love" - that being, I felt it was something you could tell the author was serious and careful about exploring. The focus on defiance and rebellion in the face of enormous oppression, and the exploration of how oppressive social structures affects EVERYONE, and in various ways, was excellent here. There was also a focus on reclaiming your own body and expressing sexuality in a healthy and empowering way which I really loved. 

With that said: a warning this book goes DARK at times. I even said to myself "this is awful" at one point because some of the scenes are graphic and confronting. Strong trigger warnings apply for rape and attempted rape, written on page, as well as sexual violence and assault, murder, slavery and sexual slavery and sex trafficking, grief, a graphic branding scene, torture, graphic death of an animal, forced medical exam/inspection, execution, war themes and probably more I missed. Please be aware of this, this is probably one of the darkest and most grim YA books I've read in a while. 


  “Her kisses heal the parts of me that the King broke. They tell me: You are strong, Lei. You are beautiful. You are mine. And, always, most important: You are yours.”


This was such a strong debut and I fell instantly in love with it. Ngan's writing is gorgeous and teleported me straight into the world of the Paper Girls and Demon Kings. There is oh so much to like here - an empowering central f/f couple, great political intrigue, a pretty much all female cast with strong potential and thematic issues which, while tough to read at times, are dealt with so powerfully and carefully. 

If you're looking for a new fantasy world to fall into, more queer books, books with political intrigue, books with familiar YA tropes that put a new spin on them, or any combination of the above, this is the BOOK FOR YOU. 

And now we begin the long, painful wait for book 2

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.

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.

grace richards

3.5,, this book is an enjoyable read, but from what i’d heard about it i was expecting more. i also don’t think i was in the right mind frame for this book so i’m going to wait before i read the sequels

Rebecca

Lots of mixed feelings on this one! 

First and foremost, it definitely takes on some highly sensitive topics. I think for the most part they’re handled with decent care, though YMMV. I appreciated that everything happened mostly off screen because I was a little worried that this would go to the torture-porn route, but it definitely didn’t. 

In fact overall, I feel like this is one of the better written YA novels I’ve read in a while. For the amount of info dumping, world building, and storytelling that had to be done within these 300 pages, NN wrote things really nicely. Descriptions, memories, etc all really worked well together to tell this story in a way that I thought flowed nicely. 

I really enjoyed the world building aspect of this, but I didn’t totally understand the different castes. In particular, the Moon caste - trying to picture these characters got me to some weird zootopia type impressions of them. Kinda curious to go lookup fanart to see how other people interpreted these guys. 

For the most part I liked our main character, Lei, but I kept waiting for something more to happen with her… it feels like we never resolved why she’s different/special with her golden eyes, and I thought it would end up being something more. If the goal of this story was to be a ‘normal person dropped into extraordinary circumstances’ that’s fine, but she feels like she both does and doesn’t fill the chosen one trope. 

I loved Wren, and hope that the next book(s) involve her more so we can learn more about her. Kind of feel like the books could’ve been written from her perspective so I’m curious to see how both of our main leads evolve in this next one to see if there’s a reason we’re sticking with Lei. 

I really would’ve liked seeing all the Paper Girls standing up to the King, even in minimal ways, like the white ribbon. That could’ve been a lovely moment for them all to come together and have some slight rebellion that was just theirs, even as it was hidden. 

The villain was really underdeveloped in my opinion. I just feel like he has no personality other than standard bad guy doing evil things. Given that the preview of the next book starts with his POV I’m curious if that will change with the next one. 

I feel like that was a lot of nitpicking, but overall I really enjoyed this read! I’m curious to see what the next books have in store.

Izza

4.25 stars | Queer girls in love is my favourite thing. Queer girls in a fantasy setting is just amazing. I really enjoyed the writing and world building. I hate that this is a series because now I have to wait at least a year to know what will happen to them.

rafaela

esqueci de logar na época que li rs. lembro que achei maneirinho, poderia ser melhor mas não é terrível. gosto da wren.

Montgomery Pierce

I've added this to my mental list of books that I wish I had had when I was a teenager and the actual demographic for YA novels, because holy shit.

Where to begin? I think I'll start with the fact that I loved this book as a slow burn (in terms of both plot and in terms of romance, but we'll get to that,) heavily focused on character as opposed to plot. When it comes to the kind of subject matter that Girls of Paper and Fire tackles--a very dominating patriarchy, class imbalances, sexual exploitation, abuse, and rape--I think that it's good that, for a decent chunk of the book, this was less focused on an epic, sweeping fantasy plot, and more on Lei, her experiences with her world, and her discovery of there being more going on in the Hidden Palace than just her duty as a Paper Girl. 

Speaking of Lei.

Media often has this very specific version of a victim and survivor of trauma. We are often, in my experience, depicted as wilting flowers. Helpless. It is palatable because it's what's assumed. Lei--and for that matter, the other Paper Girls that she serves with--are far from being what I expected going in. I liked that. They are complex, and in Lei's case specifically, flawed. Sometimes to hers and others' detriments. Lei is hypocritical. She is often judgemental. But she is also empathetic. She's kind. She's a seventeen-year-old girl who was ripped from her home and forced to do something that no child should have to. Her character in every facet reflects that. She is imperfect, and often I feel like the image of victim, the representation of survivor, implicitly calls for perfection. 

This was, in a word, refreshing. It's comforting in a strange way, to see people like you depicted as people as opposed to digestible figureheads for someone else to weave a narrative through, and if there's a book that handles the diversity and the complexity of what it means to be a young woman (or girl) who has gone through what the Paper Girls have, it is this book. 

I Said I Would Talk About The Romance So Now I'm Going To 

I don't think anyone who's heard of this book has gotten away from the fact that it has a WLW romance. Is it perfect? I don't think so. But for the flaws that it has (a mild case of co-dependence and some hindsight premature I-Love-Yous, in my opinion) it still feels like two 17 and 18-year-old girls finding something good for themselves in an utterly tragic situation. This scenario is not perfect. Their world is not perfect. But like with Lei and her imperfections there's a layer of complexity to their dynamic that, while underdeveloped, was still good. And I appreciate Natasha Ngan for every moment of tenderness Lei was able to experience. 

Final Thoughts? Aside from a few nitpicks regarding world-building (I crave more. Specifically in the beginning, detailing a little more the classes that Paper Girls take, how others interact with or around them when they're not prejudiced demons, the caste system in general,) a desire for more interactions and relationship building with the other Paper Girls, and possibly this having been better off with a dual POV between Lei and Wren to help with some of those issues, this was a wonderful book. If I can't get my hands immediately on Girls of Storm and Shadow on release day I think I'll cry.

Claudia Ganea

THIS BOOK RIGHT HERE. IT'S EVERYTHING. From the world-building to the characters to the ROMANCE to the heavy topics that it touches upon, I loved every minute of it AND I CANNOT WAIT FOR THE SEQUEL?!?!?!? I NEED IT RIGHT NOW IMMEDIATELY THANK YOU.

Leonor Ribeiro 

Catalina

Nicole Dykeman

It took me a while to get into this because the world building was heavy-handed in the beginning. However, I appreciated it nonetheless, because I’ve read Asian-inspired fantasy novels that lacked cultural development, and I loved that Natasha Ngan really set out to represent a culture fully and honestly. The magic/caste system was also incredibly interesting, and it was a nice reversal of a trope I’ve seen a lot recently in fantasy. Rather than people fearing and exorcising people with magic/odd features, the people without the powers are the ones who find themselves persecuted against. 

About 100 pages in, the plot picked up, and it was smooth sailing from that point forward. This book was intense, well-crafted, and had me on the edge of my seat basically the whole time. The romance (which is wlw in case you didn’t know) wasn’t rushed, which is always nice. I also appreciated that it wasn’t just Lei and her love interest that got attention—all of the Paper Girls and the other side characters had distinct enough personalities, and honestly, the interactions between the small group were some of my favorite parts of the book. 

I will say that there’s definitely some troubling content in here, including sexual assault, so be wary of that and know your own limits. The King is unbelievably awful. 

Anyways, I have an ARC of book 2 from BookCon, so I’m excited to crack that open soon :)

Megan Lowe

Wow. This book was full on, and not in a good way, at least for me.
The book is hostile, the hate coming out of the pages. Perhaps that was the desired intent, but for me, it made for uncomfortable reading. At times I found myself fighting against Lei and Wren and leaning towards Aoki and the King. It’s weird and I have no idea why, only that I did.
This book is aggressive, the author’s note at the start setting the tone. Yes, I agree, more diversity is needed but to do so in such an aggressive and unpalatable way? I’m not sure is the way to go.
This book wasn’t for me. It may be for others, but it’s left a bad taste in my mouth.
It should also be noted trigger warnings are needed here for rape and violence against women. Please proceed at your own risk.

Abigail Huggan &
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

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Abigail Huggan &
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