Author: Natasha Ngan
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson Books
Genre: YA fantasy
Pages: 336
Rating: 5/5 stars
Synopsis:
“In this lush fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most oppressed class in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards still haunts her. Now, the guards are back, and this time it’s Lei they’re after–the girl whose golden eyes have piqued the king’s interest.
Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king’s consort. But Lei isn’t content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable–she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she’s willing to go for justice and revenge.”
I am so blown away by this book. I wasn’t exactly sure what I was expecting going into it since fantasy can be pretty hit or miss for me… BUT this story is fantastic. It’s full of well written diverse characters, has a world that’s incredibly interesting AND covers tough topics in a great way.
The world building in this book was masterfully crafted. The tiers and magic systems were well established and just so INTERESTING and unique. It was full of odd demons and all sorts of magic that were well woven into the universe. The magical feel I got from this book was something I’ve never gotten before in a book, it was amazing and I’m really hoping to get to see more of that in the next book following these characters.
SPEAKING OF CHARACTERS, the characters in this book were very unique. Lei, the protagonist, is one of the strongest characters I have ever read. She’s rebellious and stands up for what she believes in despite the consequences during the book. I had a great time reading from her point of view and seeing her character growth that was beyond empowering. I’m not going to go into detail about what I mean here because DUH, spoilers, but it was amazing how brave Lei grew to be over the course of this book. She was a completely different person in the final pages compared the first few.
The other main character in the story is the girl that Lei has a romantic relationship with. It’s not clear at first who Lei begins to fall in love with (and I wouldn’t dare spoil it) but I’m glad it was not playing into the trope of falling in love with an abuser. Lei detests the king during the entire book and finds her forbidden romance somewhere else. The slow burn romance was very emotional and well developed. Together these characters work very well and comfort each other, and they DON’T fall into the trope of “healing” one another, thankfully.
Girls of Paper and Fire is an amazing diverse fantasy read full of well written characters in a world I’m itching to explore more of it. I read through it really quickly and I can’t believe I have to wait so long for the next book… which doesn’t even have a title yet (insert my sobbing here).
BUT this book covers some very heavy topics that I feel need to have set trigger warnings for. It’s pretty much a given that this book needs a trigger warning for sexual abuse considering the synopsis. The particular scene featuring the most sexual abuse was not extremely graphic but was very uncomfortable, upsetting and hard to read. I had a difficult time reading that chapter knowing what was going to happened and I’m glad it wasn’t painfully graphic because I cannot handle reading stuff like that in books. If rape, sexual abuse, etc. are triggering to you this book isn’t going to be your cup of tea.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me and ARC of this book to read and review. Opinions are all my own.
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