Girls of Paper and Fire

Read from October 22 to October 28, 2018

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

 

Summary:
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.

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 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, 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.

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I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review

As a fan of The Selection series, I was pretty excited to pick this book up. The blurb intrigued me and I dove into this with my fingers crossed, praying that it doesn’t disappoint…

…And disappoint it didn’t. Yay!

Girls of Paper and Fire was everything I hoped it would be. It gave me such Mulan / Memoirs of a Geisha vibes. (Yes, I know what you’re thinking. How does Mulan fit here? I guess it’s because it was Asian-inspired and one of the main characters was a badass warrior).

I’m going to try to keep this review spoiler-free because the book hasn’t been released yet.

The Issues:
1. It would have been nice to have more details about Lei’s past. Why does she have those golden eyes? Hopefully, this will be addressed in the next book. I found it a little difficult to connect with her in the beginning but she grew on me as I kept reading.

2. The caste system has been done before but this seemed different in that not all of them were human.
3. The ending of the book was kinda predictable but I’m pretty excited to see what happens next.

The Good Stuff:
1. The book was so beautifully written and unique. I liked that the author did an Asian-inspired story. It was refreshing.
2. The characters were great and so real! Zelle was one of my favorites.
3. I loved that it empowers women.
4. The caste system does not have only humans. Instead, there are humans, demons and a mix of the two. I liked that the demons were still somewhat humanoid in their features instead of being totally animal-like (didn’t stop them from behaving like animals though).

Random Thoughts:
1. I want to see more of Aoki. I feel like she has a bigger role to play.

2. The Demon King is as vile as they come.

3. I want to know exactly what happened to Lei’s mother. I felt like we weren’t given the whole story.

4. Madam Himura reminded me of her (haha):

Favorite Quote:
‘I don’t want an easy life. I want a meaningful one.’

Overall Impression:

This was a great book! — easily one of the best YA novels of 2018. I’m so happy to have not read a single disappointing book this year (so far). You guys need to read this! It’s going to be a very interesting trilogy. Can’t wait for the next book!

Girls of Paper and Fire is set to release on November 6th, 2018