Girls of Paper and Fire

I got this book because I was craving some diversity in my fiction catalogue, both in ethnicity and sexual orientation. So off of online recommendations, I decided to give Girls of Paper and Fire a chance, and I was not disappointed! I love the way the author narrates the journey of the main character as she goes from a timid, fearful girl to a young woman hell bent on rebelling against a society that has taken so much from her, and yet still tells her that her life and her body are not her own. The setting really puts me in the mind of “Memoirs of a Geisha” another of my favorite books, but with a strong dose of fantasy. I also enjoyed the romance element as it was not overly sappy like most romantic YA novels tend to be. This is not just a story about falling in love. It’s a story of hope and finding strength to fight against those who oppress you. I saw that this book was considered pretty offensive by a lot of people which comes as no surprise. I mean demons, lesbians, and sex? OH MY! I’ve read much more graphic scenes of violence and sexuality in plenty of other YA novels. Heck, “Lord of the Flies” and “Touching Spirit Bear” were MUCH more violent and I read those in middle school! In fact the author doesn’t really go into extreme detail during the brutalization of certain characters, preferring to skip ahead to directly after these things take place similar to other YA novels. And being that I know plenty of young teens have experience abuse in various forms; I believe this book could be more empowering than triggering given the fire and hope that the main character carries within herself and never truly loses hold of. If you’re sick of reading the same old boy meets girl books that are usually about as racially diverse as a country music concert then I suggest you give this book a try. Be open minded and allow yourself to be carried away into Natasha Ngan’s story of the girl who will light the world on fire.

I admit it, when I saw the cover for Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan I wanted to read it…I almost didn’t care what the story was going to be about. Well…that’s not true but that cover is sooo pretty. With that said, this story was everything I hoped it would be! Lei lives in Ikhara, a world where class rules everything. As a member of the Paper caste, she and her family are oppressed and have lived with the trauma of seeing her mother ripped away from them by the royal guards. Now, having heard a rumor about a paper girl with golden eyes, the royal guards are back, and they aren’t leaving without Lei. The world Ngan has created is not a pretty one. There are three castes and they are what dictate how everyone engages with one another. The Paper caste is the lowest - They are fully human and do not have any demon abilities. Just above Paper is the Steel caste. This group is made up of humans with partial animal-demon qualities…both physical and ability. The highest caste, Moon caste, is fully demon and has whole animal-demon features. All castes are ruled by the Demon King. Every year, 8 beautiful girls are chosen to be Paper Girls who come to the palace to serve the King. It is supposed to be an honor and some of the girls absolutely believe this to be true but for Lei, it is her worst nightmare. She never had any intention of being in this role and when she is forced to join the girls who were chosen his year, she dreams of the day she can escape. As she trains to serve, she finds out quickly which of the girls she can trust and which she can’t. I thought the friendships Lei built with Aoki and Wren were believable. Of course, there is always a girl who just has to antagonize everyone else and you will very quickly learn who she is and while I get her dissatisfaction with the hand she has been dealt, she is definitely not justified in taking her anger and frustration out on Lei. Lei’s relationships are what help balance this story out. By getting to spend time with Lei and the girls, they become more than the Paper Girls forced to serve the king. With that said, there is still a whole host of things that are wrong with what these girls are forced to do. The king may be handsome and powerful, but he is for sure not a good guy and no one learns that more than Lei. First, Madam Himura was a piece of work. Other than having control of the girls, I couldn’t understand her motivation behind treating the girls the way she did…of course, she is from the highest caste so that had a lot to do with it but from the second she was introduced, she was mean and abrasive. Second, when I say serve the king, I mean in every way. These girls have no choice and over time, it is apparent even Aoki has constructed a world in her head that allows her to feel ok with what is happening. I won’t say too much about this, but the way Ngan reflects the evolution of Aoki’s feelings seemed realistic and made me want to dive into the pages just to shake her. As the story progresses and each girl gets called, Lei struggles with her fate and doesn’t know how she will be able to just go along with everything when it’s her name on the piece of paper. While she is waiting, she trains and goes along as normal, but she also does the unthinkable – she falls in love. Because this is forbidden, it puts her in a dangerous situation, but it also motivates her to find a way to get out of her current situation. When she is called, Lei can’t just go along with what the king wants and when she fights, the punishment is severe. It is safe for me to say that Lei and the king have a contentious relationship. She makes him doubt himself and his power and that isn’t something that sits well with him. When she doesn’t just let him control her, he takes his frustration out on her and she definitely suffers for it. There isn’t too much more I can tell you without ruining the story, so I am going to stop here. Overall, I thought this was a fantastic read. It has interesting characters, an engaging story, and danger around every corner. Definitely check this one out and I will be waiting over here for the next book Ngan writes.

This book is about a young girl Name Lei who is a paper caste aka human. She lives in a world where humans have mix with animals and create weird creatures such as the Bull king. The Bull King is Moon Caste which is full demon. The Bull king guard kidnaps Lei and brings her as a present to the kingdom , to become the king's mistress. After arriving to the Kingdom, Lei discovers that she must create a back bone to survive the king and his world. But Lei back bone gives her far more than she ever knew she needed. It gives her love and determination to fight for everything she has feared she loss. But in order to know the rest how about you go find a copy of this beautiful book and read it for yourself. As for my rating of this book I give it a five out of five stars. I love how Natasha was able to depicted this stunning world, mix with Malaysian and Chinese culture. Lei was an incredibly strong female who did not know she had any strength until she fell in love with the right person. Natasha gave Lei an amazing build up as a character in this unique world filled with demons. The way Lei discover her love for her partner or discovers the strength to fight back against everyone who told her to obey. She became a fierce female as the story continue. I also love the way Natasha discusses discrimination in Lei World and explain how love is simply love. Natasha was able to take such a hardcore topic as discrimination and make it so simply to explain to this world. I love that part of the story so much. I love how Lei discovers that she is able to fight when she considers herself unable to do anything. I love the flirting between the love match in this book it was so incredibly beautiful. I love all of the detail Natasha added into this story, how that detail was able to turn a simple story into magic. Natasha writing reminds me of Leigh Bardugo, it is filled with a magic about it. It is something you will continue to think about again and again. I seriously cant wait for the next book in this story. This story is filled to the brim with female empowerment and also with love for your fellow person regardless of race or gender. This story will become a classic for the ages because of the message Natasha talks about in this book. I really did love the beauty of the world in this book and I will recommend it to everyone. I hope you will you will check out this inspiring world that Natasha has provide for all of us.

Girls of Paper and Fire is about a girl who is chosen to be one of the concubines for the demon king. However, she falls in love with another concubine. This Asian-inspired fantasy has excellent world-building and different kinds of Asian cultures represented in the world of Ikhara. The prose are gorgeous, lush, almost melodic in a sense. Girls reminds me of how music builds in a piece, like Tchaikovsky’s Waltz of the Flowers. Yes, the music starts out nice and soft, but it completely envelops you by the final section. By the end of the book, I wished there was more to read because I wanted nothing more than to live in this world for even three more pages. (Luckily, it’s a trilogy!) Despite the dark undertones and the political overtones of how men abuse their power, I found Girls to be an extremely hopeful book. In the face of adversity, the main character is able to find healing through love and friendships. If you’re like me (read: in love with food), then you’ll swoon for the descriptions of all the food. I also greatly appreciated it because food is so huge in Asian culture. (Of course I’m generalizing, as there are many different Asian cultures, but I’ve found that most Asian cultures revere food.) Don’t read this book on an empty stomach, or at least have a myriad of Asian food are your disposal; you will want to eat ALL THE FOOD. Girls of Paper and Fire is an extremely important book, like how Natasha tackles dark issues with care. It highlights the importance of inner strength, and the ability to find hope in the worst circumstances. Yes, it’s an important book; it’s also a damn good book. From the writing to the characters, the plot and the setting, Girls of Paper and Fire is the whole package.

It was an interesting and engaging read but I don’t know if it was specifically for me. I’ve read lots (okay a few) of great YA books this year and this isn’t one that blew me away. One thing that bothered me is that I couldn’t tell whether the humans (Paper Caste) were supposed to be like regular human beings or if in the fantasy world they were a little harder to kill. I say this because at times, the Papers seemed fragile as you or I and other times they could really take a smashing of a beating and I wish the author had picked either or. The premise of this is that Lei, a Paper caste girl (it’s the lowest caste in the system), is living a quiet life in a distant Paper village when she’s chosen against her will to be a concubine to the King of Ikhara (a Moon caste, the highest caste). She gets to the palace and finds herself privileged beyond her imagining in the face of the brutal discrimination and bigotry enacted upon her people. She knows she must do something but will love give her the power to do what she mists This is a great novel for older young adults- certainly ages 13-14 and up. There are themes of discrimination, femininity, girl power, equality, fairness, loss, bravery, sexual violence- but it also explores LGBTQ experiences a bit. I liked this enough that I would consider checking out the next book. I didn’t necessarily appreciate the blatant hook that this book ended on to try to get me to buy the next book. I recommend if you like YA Fantasy anyway.

I've been in love with this book since Middle School (although not all middle schoolers have the mental maturity/capacity to handle the sexual themes and content in the book), and it was one of my favorites for the mix of angst, LGBTQ representation, and fantasy settings. I'm glad I got this again and get to reread it whenever I like

I read the book in a day. The main character is strong-willed and refreshingly modern. At first, I felt strong Memoir of a Geisha vibes. I enjoyed the love story. For once, a young woman isn’t falling over herself for the king or prince. The character descriptions felt basic. For ex., the character from the south has “dark skin and thick eye lashes” (which was repeated more than once) while other characters are “fair” or have skin like a pearl or the moon. Also, one of the characters “Blue” eludes to the people of the south as jungle or savage like. Run of the mill colorism/racism. I found it absurd that the rebels, who spent decades training to overthrow the king, let their plan hang on a teenager with no fighting abilities or super powers. Especially considering the king is already paranoid and surrounded by guards. Also, what’s up with the queen. She’s barren so she’s hidden in the kingdom somewhere until she pops out a baby? Felt a little lazy in the writing. Also, I thought it unsustainable and economically unsound that every year the king imprisons a fresh batch of teenager concubines, who after the year, go on to take some other role in the kingdom. I could see every five or 10 years but every year? All of that training for 1 year?!

Girls of Paper and Fire is one of my favorite YA fantasy reads! It has become my go-to recommendation over on Bookstagram for my romance and fantasy reading friends. I originally read it a few years ago, but wanted to reread it before starting the rest of the series... and I'm so glad I did. It was just as good the second time around! Each year, eight girls are chosen from around the kingdom to serve as "Paper Girls", concubines for the Demon King. For Lei, this high honor is not the life she wanted, but as a member of the Paper caste (the lowest ranking caste in society) she has no choice but to comply. Until she falls in love. Forbidden romance combined with a plot to overthrow the king and break free from oppression—Girls of Paper and Fire sets the tone for an explosive, action-packed series that explores class dynamics and race from a unique perspective. I'm eager to see what happens in books 2 and 3, and excited to hear what my friends and fellow bookstagrammers think of this one, too!

Tiene buena trama

I now have to buy the rest of the series because I'm fumyingnto know more. Highly recommended

I loved these books and I was sorry to finish them so quickly! I love the world created and the characters and the writing style is very easy to read and very hard to put down. Looking forward to reading more of her work!

alles in orde

This book is masterpiece, I couldn't stop reading it. The world, characters, main couple, villains, basically everything in this book was perfect. It reminded me of the book selection but the Girls of Paper and Fire is more brutal, the world is more terrifying and complicated, also the main couple are two girls and their relationship is breathtaking.