Synopsis: In this lush fantasy, 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.
Over weeks of training in the opulent but stifling palace, Lei and eight other girls learn the skills and charm that befit being a king's consort. But Lei isn't content to watch her fate consume her. Instead, she does the unthinkable--she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens the very foundation of Ikhara, and Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide just how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.
Review: Girls of Paper and Fire blew me away. I loved Lei as a character. She was strong, but she also wasn't afraid to show the readers her weaknesses. Her love for her family was refreshing, and she kept that love going with the other paper girls. If I'm going to complain about anything in this book, it's that the story is too short and I didn't think we got to spend enough time with the other girls. Some of them felt interesting and fleshed out (Aoki and Blue) others faded to the background and I wanted to know more about them (Mariko and the twins). On that note, I do wish we got a little more insight to Lei's background. I have some suspicions, but I wish we had a bit more closure on some aspects of her life. I did quite enjoy her moments of understanding when she realized she was attracted to another paper girl.
The story was very well done. I think this would be a great book to give someone who's new to fantasy and wants to read more. The caste system was straightforward and easy to understand. Nothing in this world felt too complex. I loved seeing the way Natasha brought together women of different Asian backgrounds and amplified their natural beauty. She took great care in making sure each girl was brought out in the best ways possible. I liked how this book centered around sex, but wasn't overly sexual. Every chapter wasn't about girls having sex and their feelings about it. That being said, I would have liked some conversation about self-pleasure because I feel like that would have made sense in the context of this world. The paper girls aren't supposed to have other lovers, but can they pleasure themselves? How would they do this? Would they do this in front of the king? Questions like that could have been explored. Still, this was quite a good fantasy book and I can't wait to read other books by Natasha.
5 howls
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