Every year eight girls are chosen to serve the king… this year Lei’s the ninth. She’s from the Paper castle but she’s made of fire making her a target with the guards. I’m this richly woven fantasy, we’re told a spellbinding tale of loss, destiny and forbidden romance.

Girls of Paper Fire is a fast paced Fantasy novel based in a fantasy world that has a lot of Asian elements through the book.

In this world 8 girls are selected and they go to the palace and are train and taught to become the King’s consort. Training goes from physical and learning to fight, to seduction lessons. This year there’s a 9th girl and unlike most of the participants Lei doesn’t want to be there. She has no inclination in being a King’s consort as she is plagued with her Mother being taken from there never to be heard from again.

As she arrives at the Palace she feels very out of place as most of the girls there see this as an amazing opportunity to become something, Lei on the other hand doesn’t want to be there; she loves her simple life, helping her Father makes herbs.

As she is forced to compete in this, she soon realises the cut-throat world and things in this school for proprietary is not what it seems.

This is a fast paced fantasy novel with a dash of romance. It’s about a girl who fights all odds; stuck against it and despite her lack of enthusiasm in being there she tries her hardest to learn as much as she can to prepare herself; not to be the future Queen but to escape this palace; this guilted cage.

It’s an amazing start to a series and can’t wait to read the remaining books. If you like Asian culture, Fantasy and a coming of age story in a different world, give this book a try.

I received a review copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you Jimmy Patterson Presents for the eARC. This is an honest review.

Luce, you'll say, didn't this book come out five years ago? Aren't you a little behind the times?

Yes, and yes.

(In my very dubious defence, I did start reading this in 2018. I just then put it down for a really long time.)

First things first, I want to make clear that while I read the first half of this book using the eARC, I read the second half in the physical hardcover edition (which I've had the whole time thanks to GoPaF being in the subscription box that Shall Not Be Named while I was still a subscriber, way back before they showed their arse and true colours to the entire trans book community. Anyway). I happened to be keeping track of my position in the physical book and began to notice that the eARC really was an uncorrected version and sometimes whole passages were missing from the eARC, or were omitted from the published version. (Which is normal.) I opted to read the published version because it seemed like I'd get a better idea of the story that way.

(Also, just hilariously, the eARC frequently, mysteriously omitted the word "king," meaning that phrases like "the opinion of the kingdom" was rendered as "the opinion of the dom." Which always gave me a good giggle.)

I think that if I read this book in 2018 when it was published, it would have been groundbreaking for me. It probably doesn't seem like it now, but back then, an Asian-inspired YA fantasy book actually written by an Asian author was a rarity, and a queer Asian-inspired YA fantasy actually written by a queer Asian author even less so. The book remains groundbreaking for these reasons.

When I say it isn't groundbreaking for me now, it mostly just means that this didn't speak to me as profoundly as it might have back then. But that's fine! Not every film has to be Oscars bait, and not every book has to be lifechanging. It was a fun time and I enjoyed my time with it very much -- but I can't help but wonder how differently I would have received it five years ago. I'll never know for sure.

This wasn't a book that I couldn't put down, but every time I did have a little leisure time I found myself gravitating towards it, planning to sit and read 50 pages and frequently reading 100 or more. The read dates aren't a lie, I did start this five years ago, but once I committed to getting through it, I really got through it. I was attached to a lot of the characters and felt that they were all pretty realistic in their reactions to their situations. I even started to feel sorry for Blue. I'm very interested to see where and how the other Paper Girls pop up in the next two books.

The world is interesting and pleasingly diverse, with fictional countries adjacent in culture to India, Japan and China represented, probably in addition to others I'm not well-versed enough to recognise by the names of characters, or food, or clothing. And while this book glared at me from my currently-reading shelf for a really long time, I'm glad that I took so long to finish this because since starting I've seen a few C-dramas and could easily imagine the clothes, buildings, courtyards and gardens in a way I wouldn't have been able to five years ago.

I have two quibbles, the first being Lei's insistence that Paper caste people, mostly women, were being treated as "less than human." This only really makes sense in our world, where we consider humans to be the most important beings, the benchmark against which everything else is measured. In the world of the book, humans, Paper caste, are the lowest of the low. They weren't being treated as less than human, they were being treated as human...ie, already less than nothing. A minor complaint, but it happened kind of often and threw me out of the flow every time.

The other quibble, slightly less minor, is that I think the relationship between Wren and Lei would have benefited from more on-page development, or even just more time spent together on-page. They had a decent amount of time together, don't get me wrong, but I feel like one or two of the Lei and Blue altercations could have been cut in favour of Lei and Wren spending time together, maybe having some more conversations about themselves that weren't necessarily plot-relevant.* At one point Wren is assigned to accompany Lei to all their classes but this is mostly glossed over with a time jump? I was reading their relationship through a "they're endgame" lens, but only because I knew they were. I'm not sure if I would have really felt it if I wasn't expecting it. Having said that, I recognise that these girls were in extenuating, stressful circumstances which would make their feelings for each other run higher and faster, and also, there's plenty of room for more development in the next two books.

*I will acknowledge that this book had a lot of plot to get through, which I thought was done very well and at a good clip - not breakneck speed, but not so slow that it ever dragged for me - and it was also fairly long already, and I understand that maybe this didn't happen because there were too many other things to set up in the narrative. But...I don't know. I, personally, would have appreciated some more girlfriend time. But again, there are two more books for that.

My final rating for this book is 3.75, because this is, after all, the first book in a trilogy and can't really be judged on its own. Trilogies are nearly always much, much greater than the sum of their first installment.

I put off reading this book for so long that I've ended up being able to binge-read the rest of the series. I've sold so many copies of this at work and now I can definitely understand why! If you haven't tried the series yet, give it a go!

I liked this book a lot more than I think I should! I can see the flaws (writing is a little...basic and some of the dialogue could rival Pinocchio), but honestly - I'll give that a pass for genuinely original ideas, a lovely diverse cast of characters who never felt like an inclusion list, and being so damn entertaining.

To frame this in terms of "if you liked x then here's y" - there's a tinge of The Selection here, though without being so very white bread; instead of competing for a prince, these young women are selected without any agency, and brought to a demon-prince's palace to learn to serve. Rather than rivalries (though of course there's a bit of that here and there for spice), the focus is firmly on the women who build each other up and it's just SO refreshing to see that in YA literature.

The main character is just enough of a "Mary Sue" to let the reader get right into her shoes, but definitely brings something to the usual YA heroine role that exceeds what we usually see.

A series I look forward to continuing.

Girls of Paper and Fire was one of my most anticipated reads of 2018. A sapphic Asian-inspired fantasy. Yes please!
To start with, I want to say the cover is absolutely gorgeous. The setting and the worldbuilding were fantastic. I really got a sense of where the characters were, and the world they inhabited. I thought the caste system of humans and demons was interesting, and well developed.
Sadly, I stopped reading at 65%. I felt that the extensive descriptions of the minutiae of every day life - the clothing, the buildings, the food etc. impeded the development of the characters, I was past the half way mark and I felt ambivalent at best about all of the characters. I didn't care enough about them to care about how their story would end. There was also very little forward motion in terms of the plot.
I won't go so far as to say this is a terrible book, it just wasn't the book for me.

I have been meaning to read Girls of Paper and Fire for a while and finally got around to it. Overall, I found it an enjoyable read. Yes, it ticks all the YA fantasy trope boxes; however, it does so with a fresh approach. I particularly liked the central LGBT relationship, and the fact said relationship was well handled and not just included as a talk-point. Rather it blended into the story instead of taking over as the principal focus, so bravo to Ngan for that. The plot on the whole was intriguing, the characters memorable, and I closed this first volume thinking I would be keen to find out what happens next. Recommended for YA fantasy fans.


**I was unable to read this book when I received the ARC from NetGalley because the way it was formatted made the text impossibly small and unreadable on both my e-reader and the PC. However, I finally got hold of a copy last week, and now I have read the book at last, I thought I would update my review here, even though it's coming late. The review is now on my blog and Goodreads, and I will be sharing across social media later today.**

Thank you Hachette Children's Books Australia and Netgalley for the review copy.

GIRLS OF PAPER AND FIRE was amazing. Definitely recommending it to as many people as possible.

Spoiler Free Section

I gave this book four stars and really enjoyed it. I had been putting off reading this book for a long time for a few reasons, mainly because it has so much hype surrounding it. This is an epic fantasy set in a really interesting and engrossing world full of demons, magic and a whole lot of politics. The writing style of this novel was a bit dense and the book was quite long and took me a long time to get through which did lower my enjoyment a little. There were some parts where I was kind of losing interest because throughout the middle section not a lot happens but overall I really enjoyed it.

I really loved all of the culture and politics involved in this novel, it was incredibly interesting and I actually would have liked to get to learn more about it. There were definitely some hard to read aspects of the culture and how particular individuals were treated, mainly the women and humans. There are quite a few trigger warnings with this book so if you have any concerns I would look into that before reading it.

I really enjoyed our main characters, mainly Lei and Wren, they were both incredibly strong women who had some very saddening backstories but who had made the best of their situations before being brought to the palace. I will actually say that I liked our side characters more than Lei as I found her to be a little annoying. I would have actually liked to have learned more about the other paper girls since we don’t see very much from them throughout the novel, they all had their own lives that brought them to the palace and since the others had actually entered a contest to become paper girls I would really like to see what drove them there.

Spoiler Section

One of the things that I hope to see more of in the next book is the magic, we get introduced to this world that had demons with these amazing abilities but we never really see any of it, especially the demon kings personal mages who we never really see. I have a feeling that they are going to come more into play with the next book as there is definitely a war coming.

I really enjoyed the relationship that grew between Lei and Wren, in the beginning they were quite uninterested in each other and there were a lot of misconceptions from Lei about why Wren acted the way that she did and secluded herself from everyone, but then they got to know each other and there relationship grew from their through their shared loss and trauma. It was actually really beautiful the way that they grew together and helped each other through their losses.

I don’t know if I am actually that excited about the next book since the demon king is still alive and it is just going to end in a war, which doesn’t interest me too much. I am hoping that maybe we get to see more of the action and politics involved in this world because I would really love that 😀 I am also really hoping that we get to see from Wren’s perspective, she was my favourite character and think that she would be so much more interesting to read from. I will definitely get to this book but it wouldn’t be top of my list.

As a fan of books like The Selection and Wither, the premise of this book made me want to read it especially as I love harem stories too. With eight girls being chosen as part of a selection process - the Paper caste to serve the king for his sexual needs. Seven years ago when Lei was younger, the king's guards raided her hometown and stole her mother away. Since then she has hated the King and what he stands for with a passion. Now seven years later, the King's guards are back in their village, and they want her - the girl with the golden eyes to serve on the King's Harem. Lei is not the type to go down without a fight as we read as she is strong-willed and stubborn at times. Too much though as she ends up on the wrong side of the King. We learn the King has a wife, but no-one has seen her, I was hoping that we could catch a glimpse and it may have been Lei's mother - that's my theory, but we never hear about it in this book - may be the next one. I have to admit the other thing that drove me to read this book was that the cover is adorable. Girls of Paper and Fire did surprise me as I didn't think I would love it so much but with the twists and turns and added surprises throughout the way meant I loved it and am hoping we get the next book. Also for readers who are looking for a bit of diversity, we have represented the Asian Culture and GLBT aspects in Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan.
P.S – This was another James Patterson Presents novel.

This was a really enjoyable YA fantasy story with a lot of great diversity.

I loved the Asian-inspired setting for this world. The story does get off to a slow start but I thought the author did a great job of building the world and explaining all of the different castes and the kind of class structure at play.

My favourite part of the story was definitely the characters. I really loved the setting with all the Paper Girls together and all of the interactions and different types of relationships at play in the story. I really enjoyed the F/F romance in the story as well.

Overall a very enjoyable diverse YA fantasy with beautiful writing - definitely worth checking out.

Firstly, I wanted to say thank you to net galley for providing me an Advanced Readers Copy of GOPAF in exchange for a review. This is no way alters or influences my personal oppinion of the book.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised with how addicted I became when reading this book. I was fascinating by the world Ngan creates so vividly and brutally it was awe worthy. If you enjoyed the The Selection Series, A Game of Thrones and Red Queen I think you will enjoy this book immensely! The story follows the life of seventeen year old Lei, who works with her father and family friend at a herb shop. One day she is taken by royal soldiers to the palace where she will be “enrolled” into the Selection process to become a concubine of the king… yep.

Click the link to view my completed review for Girls of Paper & Fire!

Writing:
The amount of detail in Natasha Ngan’s writing made the world extremely vivid! I could picture every little thing that was described. She also has a very flowy writing style which makes it easy to read and follow. You easily get lost in this world which was exactly what I needed as I was fighting a hell of a reading slump!

While I don’t usually like romance, I honestly didn’t completely hate the romance in this book. To some degree it did feel insta lovey but that had more to do with how the booked skipped weeks & months at a time than the fact that it actually was insta love. Besides that aspect I didn’t mind the romance. It felt natural and that is what made it feel normal and real compared to most YA romances.

Plot:
While I didn’t hate it, the plot was a little slow for me at times. Every piece had a purpose but sometimes I was like ‘hurry up! I want some action’. This is also not a very action packed book, which accounted for why it felt slower. There is a stronger focus on the world & the characters than the plot.

This book ends on a massive cliff hanger with that epilogue! At the end you a left with a few questions that are obviously going to be answered in book 2 but then you read that epilogue and shit hits the fan!

Characters:
I really enjoyed Lei as a main character. She wasn’t the typical badass female that you see in a lot of Fantasy novels. She grew & learned throughout the book and developed into an strong character.

The King was exactly what you would think he is, an arsehole. While I hated him as a person and would rather see him be thrown in a volcano, he was an enjoyable villain. He was very well developed and you could not help hate him completely but also appreciate his role as the villain.

I don’t want to talk about any of the other characters as there are a lot of mystery around most of them and you need to experience them yourself!

Overall:
Overall I really enjoyed this book. It did not get 5 stars because of the slow pacing & also I’m still mad about that cliffhanger honestly! How dare you! There isn’t even a release date for book 2 & you are going to make me wait?!?!

4/5
This was a beautifully woven Malaysian inspired YA fantasy and it was far darker and more impactful than I was expecting. There is no shortage of YA fantasy in the market today, but this one felt truly unique and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Also, with so much insta-love style romances around at the moment, it was refreshing to see a far more subtle and heartfelt f/f romantic storyline. The love between these two characters made sense in the context of the story, and, I would argue, enhanced the themes the story was trying to convey.

I highly recommend this book!

Thank you to Hatchette Children’s Books, Australia and NetGalley for providing me a copy of this title to review!

I really wanted to enjoy this book. It was a book that was hyped up so much and I couldn't get my hands on it, but then proceeded to struggle through every single page. I don't think that there was anything wrong with the book and/or the story line, but I just could not get into the story. Natasha Ngan has excellent writing and I have no doubt that Girls of Paper and Fire will be successful!

Okay, firstly, trigger warnings for anyone intending to read this book.

Secondly, if it’s not going to hit your triggers, it’s a brilliant piece of world building, that reaches in and squeezes your heart.

There is a lot of own voice Asian foundations, but doesn’t fall into the trap of being a specific fantasy Asian country. There are Kimonos AND Saris.

Plus, I will admit that the final page kicked me in the guts.
And drew blood.
And that I NEED more

My instore review will be

4 captured roses with thorns out of 5

Whoa this was perfectly magical and emotional and harrowing...so deserving of the hype! It's such a dark premise, but it's handled so well. And can I just say the amount of Asian #ownvoices fantasies coming out at the moment is incredible (!!) not only that this has an f/f romance, demons, rebellions, secret assassins, empowering female friendships aND A BEAUTIFUL COVER.

bless tbh, we have been blessed

➸ WORLD BUILDING
dude, this was amazing. Complex and developed, with history and lore!! the world seemed really big too, which is something I crave in YA fantasy but often find wanting?? Also the author's note said she drew inspiration from her own Chinese and Malaysian background and I think that's incredibly special too. Also the descriptions of the world, the palaces, the food (!! I'M SO HUNGRY TOO) just made you feel really in the story.

➸ ok the premise IS very dark. We do need to note this.
It's about the demon king taking girls as concubines, so yes there is rape and sexual abuse and violence. (I also think it was very very good that the book had a content warning at the beginning.) It's not graphic, but it is talked about thoroughly. At first I was like "this isn't YA..." but you know, I did change my mind??? Somewhat because of the author's note too where Ngan said: "While I realise these are hard discussions, especially for teens, it is of vital important we have them. Books can be safe places to explore difficult topics. While we cannot shelter young people from being exposed to sexual violence, whether through lived experience or indirectly, we can give them a way to safely engage with and reflect upon these issues. I hope Girls provides such a space."

I couldn't agree more. Especially in this day and age where (I think the stats are?) 1 in 6 women will experience sexual abuse in their life. We NEED to talk about it. And this is harrowing and awful, but the book really handles the topic so well. I still felt gutted reading it though afjskdla I ached for these girls and omfg I hate the Demon king so freaking much.

➸ A MOMENT FOR OUR FAV GIRLS, LEI AND WREN.
I loved Lei so so much! She's the narrator, and omg her little snark quips gave me life. But she's so real. She was emotional and unsure and made messy decisions and had messy feels (a true teen!!). And she WAS brave and fiery, but like not in a totally stoic way?! Nothing against stoic women, I just don't often see girls who are both soft and determined in epic fantasy. She's awkward and a bit dorky and omggg when she realises she has feelings for Wren, SHE IS SO CUTE. I loved their romance so much! It wasn't rushed and it was sweet but also intense. Wren was mysterious and drop-dead gorgeous and badass and had a Secret Thing going on. I think I can count on one hand how many f/f epic fantasies I've read so *smol flail* this is amazing and more please.

➸ Like idk what else do you want from me? MORE FLAILS.
I was really captivated the whole time (beginning took a while to get going but eh) and the pacing was goodness! Ok it didn't give me all-the-feels-of-ever, but I am also a tree stump. I acknowledge that. But I want more from this world, this author, THESE GIRLS, and I'm really excited this was so good and powerful. The cast is like 80% women, strong and soft and making mistakes and plotting and being enemies and being heroes. I LOVED THAT. It's not a light fluffy fantasy. It's heavy and unsettling but written very very well.

I'm definitely pointing to this one ➸ very recommended!

What does a girl who has unusual golden eyes see that everyone doesn’t? While some people may think becoming a rare Paper Girl, or one of the King’s concubines as a privilege, Lei sees it for what it truly is – an abuse of female rights where young girls are forced against their will for the King’s pleasure. Girls of Paper and Fire talks about a subject that is prevalent in Asian history, but one that is rarely spoken about or explored in much detail – becoming the King’s concubine.

While the thought of living in the palace amongst other royals may be enticing, it’s the actual act of having your body taken away from you just to serve your purpose, that is really highlighted. And unlike Lei, most of the other Paper Girls take on their responsibilities, whether reluctantly or slightly willingly. Lei on the other hand, from the start of the book until the end, stands by her strong stance which could be treated as treason and defying the King – but she believes her right to her body is more important than a life of servitude. Much of the book focuses on the training of these Paper Girls and the caste-based system that they come from – some with privileged familial ties, others with blessed features – whereas Lei comes from a small rural town and has never received training to become a Paper Girl.



So you get what you’d expect, when you bring a bunch of teen girls together – bickering, gossip, bullying and general competitiveness, but soon Lei and the girls find their place in the palace. Until they get called by the King, you see. For the whole book, you can sense the relative fear and unease that Lei feels about being a concubine and serving the King, and it’s a rather uncomfortable experience. Although everyone tells her that she’s lucky to be there, you don’t need to be a modern day feminist to see how wrong it is. This fear is written in such a sensory way, and is accompanied by triggers of sexual assault and rape, that you have to see whether Lei will make it out of the palace safely. And that’s what I found gripping about the book, along with the mystery and f/f romance within.

Girls of Paper and Fire also explores the twice-taboo relationship of Lei and Wren, another Paper Girl – not only are females loving other females unheard of and forbidden, but they are also defying the King. The sense of danger is balanced out with the love, curiosity, support and solace that they find in one another, and let me say I loved seeing how their relationship unfolded. Wren herself is shrouded in mystery, disappearing during the night, keeping to herself, being careful not to form bonds with others. I was curious to see what would happen between Lei and Wren, whether they would pursue their relationship, what would happen if they did/didn’t.

Along with this, there is an interesting exploration of different castes based on their makeup – Paper Castes who are fully human without special abilities, steel castes who have partial animal-demon qualities, and moon castes who are fully demon and the most privileged caste of all – such as the Demon King that they all serve. This leant to some fascinating elements of world building within the world – including how, no matter how high born or privileged you are as a paper caste – the steel/moon castes will always be above you.



Girls of Paper and Fire is an Asian fantasy that will light the fire within you when it comes to female rights, and it is a story that will stay with me for a long time. While it explores a somewhat discomforting topic, I loved the element of fire and emotion within Lei as one of the Paper Girls. It’s a visceral #ownvoices Asian fantasy about becoming the King’s concubine, and what happens when you feel like your life is entirely out of your hands. I loved the caste based system and how this book is inspired by the author’s upbringing, and the f/f romance was also beautiful to see. Definitely a fantasy that I recommend!

I was extremely lucky to obtain a free copy by NetGalley for my true and honest review. I can see that this will be a very popular YA fantasy book and already I am seeing it being part of YA reading groups and doing very well on goodreads/booktube/blogs.

Girls of Paper and Fire is a fantasy novel based in a world where there are three castes; Paper, Steel, and Moon. Our heroine is Lei. 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. The reason for this is that 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 cruel.

Often with YA fantasy books I don't tend to like the main character, however, Lei is the exception to the case. Her character was very well written, she was funny, adorable, clumsy but yet strong willed and minded. The book was a bit slow placed and the last 100 hundred pages were page-turners. I loved the asian inspired elements and the diversity within it. It just shows that having diversity in books is not something that is too difficult and is so amazing to see in YA books.

Overall, this would be perfect to YA fantasy lovers.

Let me be clear, while this novel is classified as a 'young adult' novel in the majority of markets, this is not a typical young adult publication.

To start, it deals with some heavy themes, ones designed to make even an adult reader feel ridiculously uncomfortable. It deals with (and this is not a comprehensive list) torture, slavery, rape, inappropriate sexual content, animal abuse, gratuitous violence and prostitution. I would advise anyone who may experience trauma should they read about any of these themes, to serious reconsider whether this is the book for you.

Now that the dark and broody stuff is out of the way, I felt that the world within GoPaF was impeccably created, blending Eastern architecture and customs with a dash of Western civilisation. I could envisage myself amongst the architecture, wandering in the temples gardens or just spending some time within one of the temples.

While Lei is the main character, I found myself more drawn to Wren, a fellow Paper Girl who has her own secrets. I loved her story arc, going from the perfect example of Paper Girl etiquette to a soft and marshmallowy lover who would do anything and go anywhere to protect the woman she loves.

The portrayal of the majority of male characters left a bad taste in y mouth however. While there were one or two men who seemed to have a soul, most were written as seeing women as 'things', desiring them for only one thing. While I understand this is still rife in some cultures, it felt a little overdone.

The love interest between the Lei and her girlfriend was very well written, slowly easing the reader into their feelings. The majority of other relationships were very power centred and abusive, a trait that I feel I would never want portrayed as 'normal' if I had a teenager reading this work.

Overall I enjoyed this novel for what it was although at times, I found this novel overbearing for even myself a 30 something woman with vast life experience. I am intrigued as to Lei's plight and look forward to further instalments.