It's a universal experience of all readers that sometimes, you have to cover the page with your hand to keep from reading ahead, right? I've never had to do that more than with Girls of Paper and Fire. I was so curious, impatient, and excited that I could barely stop myself from skipping entire pages to find out what would happen next. If that's not the mark of a good book, I don't know what is.
Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan paints a beautiful world full of demons, magic, and love. Lei, a human girl of the lowest Paper caste, hopes for a quiet life avoiding the attention of demons, especially after her mother was taken in a raid. But when rumors of her golden eyes attract the Demon King's attention, she is whisked away from her home and brought to the palace to become a Paper Girl—a concubine to the king. With no escape in sight, Lei dreams of freedom from her gilded prison and instead finds something greater: love. But will love be enough as rebellion grows in Ikhara and threatens to uproot their entire way of life?
As mentioned, I had to cover the page many times to avoid reading ahead. This book is so vivid and rich that I was instantly sucked into the story. Lei's situation seemed so hopeless that I was desperate to learn how she would navigate it. I felt her outrage and fear every moment as if it were my own. Each character was so compelling and fully developed that even when I hated their decisions, I couldn't blame them for making them. They made the only choices they could in a rigged game—which made it much more satisfying when Lei began to fight back.
With LGBTQ+ representation, an unflinching gaze into the real-world horrors and trauma of sexual assault, and unwavering hope, Girls of Paper and Fire is a book that needs to be read. If you are triggered by sexual assault, know it isn't explicit, but I would still approach it cautiously.
I rate Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan 5/5 stars. Fans of The Poppy War by R. F. Kuang will enjoy the rich world Ngan has created. Excuse me while I devour the sequels.
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