Review: Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Girls of Paper and Fire will knock you out. 

This book follows Lei, a young girl who works in her father's herb shop, as she is kidnapped from her village and brought to the King's palace. It has everything that this fantasy/YA trope has prepared us for: beautiful outfits, rivalry with other girls, falling in love. But Lei does not fall for the King; she is instead ensnared in the plot to overthrow his oppressive regime. 

I loved this book. It is heartbreakingly sad at times, has a romance that will undoubtedly sweep you away (hot warrior princess who is so NICE), amazing friendships, a fast-paced plot, and a solid emotional center of the story. 

This book took me a really long time to read, mostly because of how tightly wound with anxiety the book made me. I was caught in a struggle where I was terrified about the next page but also absolutely had to know how this book ended. Now I am 100% on team "I need book two right now."

This book has some heavy subject matter; it deals with sexual assault, captivity, various war crimes, and other traumas. But Ngan handles these issues so well. You can see that she is not doing trauma tourism; she is reflecting horrible parts of the world back at us. Ngan handles the balancing act of how much to show on the page and how much to allude to perfectly. I was so impressed by her ability to nail this; she is such a careful, practiced writer. 

This book thinks deeply about greed, power, exploitation, and segmentation. While also exploring friendship, love, and empathy. Ngan consistently impressed me with how thoughtful her book was while also pulling me deeper into the plot. I am so interested in getting her previous books (which I believe were only published in the UK). 

She also made me feel deeply for the struggles of each paper girl. In particular, I was interested in Chenna, Blue, and Aokai. Chenna seemed like she was who Lei could have been if she had grown up closer to the palace. She was defiant but had less room to express that I assume due to her upbringing. I really would love to see more of Chenna in the future! Blue was probably the most interesting paper girl. She has a deep inner conflict that was so tragic, paired with her absolutely horrible interpersonal skills and inability to place blame on the proper people. I was always so worried about Blues next move, and Blue makes a point of not disappointing. Aokai is Lei's best friend in the palace; she is shy, sweet, and naive. Her journey throughout the book was so frustrating to watch; Lei forgives her for actions that seem hard to forgive. You will get to the point where you want to scream "THE KING IS A MONSTER YOU IDIOT" at her, but she seems so genuinely beguiled that it is hard to blame her. Each of the girls has had her freedom and choice intensely compromised, and it is so well handled by Ngan, it is so easy to see their motivations, even when you profoundly disagree with their actions. 

Wren, another paper girl, was such an interesting character. Two things are apparent relating to Wren very early on, she is hiding something big, and Lei has it bad for Wren. The story disappoints on neither front. Watching her relationship with Lei form in this horrible place was such a solace for the characters and the reader, and the tension of her secret kept you drawn to her backstory. Wren has everything you want in a romantic lead, and it is so refreshing to wee a w/w romance in YA. Most of the LGBTQ content is white gay boys (which is not unimportant), but it is so wonderful to have Girls of Paper and Fire as an addition to this genre, YA and fantasy always need more queer women, and women of color especially. 

The world building in this story is so strong; it is woven in so well that there are elements that can slip your notice. I assume this is especially true for those of us who are not Chinese or Malaysian. I caught a few things that I remembered from friends or media (eight girls because eight sounds like the word for luck), but I am sure other things went over my head. But the world of this story feels so luxurious and real. The descriptions fo the food will have you hungry. The clothing, architecture, and customs of the world will keep you wrapped in the story all the way through. Ngan does such an excellent job pulling in references to current political issues while keeping the reader in her fraught Kingdom. She built a lush rich world than used it as a mirror for issues in ours. 

Magic here is the more ethereal kind, it does not have hard rules explained to the reader, but we are told it is wildly out of balance. The magic plotline is one I am very eager to see more of in future books.

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads (tumblr post here) and recommend it to anyone looking to read fantasy! Also if you are looking for some reads for pride month!