A baby is dropped off with Aapau in Fei Chui, a village of Glassmiths. Aapau names her Zhi Ging, and raises her until she is sent away for her Final Year on a roaming pagoda. Sadly, this happens on the same day that Zhi Ging is supposed to take her test for being chosen as a Silhouette. She would be able to train in Hok Woh, learning the skills to become an immortal Cyo B'Ahon. Instead, the lead Glassmith's daughter, Iridill, is chosen. Zhi Ging begs Reishi to take her instead, hoping that by finding his missing stone, he will agree. If she doesn't go to the school, she could end up scrubbing the post pipes that carry messages back and forth, a job which has a high mortality rate. When strange things happen to Zhi Ging, who previously didn't have magic, Reishi has to change his mind, especially when she seems to manifest air rails that he has been researching for a long time. The people of Fei Chui think that Zhi Ging has summoned the evil spirit, the Fui Gwai, and the Thralls who work for the spirit, and issue a warrant for her arrest. Luckily, she is safe at the school, where she learns about the twelve challenges that students have to pass in order to remain enrolled. She makes some good friends who help her ward off Iridill, and she has some good success in the challenges, but when the Fui Gwai kidnaps that Silhouettes, Zhi Ging is the only one left to find her classmates and release them. In doing so, she finds hidden powers and learns secrets about her past. This puts her in danger, and the ending of the book leaves room for a sequel.
Strengths: There's a lot of good world building, with underwater message systems, trained jelly fish, and a school for Chosen Ones filled with magical classes, good food, and dark secrets. Zhi Ging has a lot of motivation to get into the school and stay there, and a lot of family drama in her background that slowly comes to light. Iridill is a nasty nemesis who makes Zhi Ging's life miserable and gives her even more motivation to succeed. Reishi is a good mentor, and helps her out a lot. There are plenty of good magical details and objects to keep the reader amused.
Weaknesses: The names did not seem to always go together, and I wasn't quite sure what cultural background Zhi Ging is supposed to have. The author was raised in Hong Kong, and there's a definite Pan Asian feel, but then there is a Jack and a Gertie, which was confusing. I also didn't care for the scrying tool named DandelEyeOn. Reminded me of the computer software to see what students were doing on their computers called SychronEyes.
What I really think: This is a good choice for readers who need more magical academy books like Clare and Black's The Iron Trial, Thomas' Nic Blake and the Remarkables, or Sanders's Keynan Masters and the Peerless Magic Crew .

This was a great opener to the paper dragons series, it had everything that I was looking for in this type of book. The world was magical and I had no complaint about the story. The characters were what I was hoping for and enjoyed about the genre. I can’t wait to see what comes next for this series and from Siobhan McDermott.