Week 24 Review: Girls of Paper and Fire

From Goodreads:

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 demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.

In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after -- the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest.

Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable -- she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.

My Review:
Wow, this book was so fantastic! I was really excited to read it-and a bit nervous. And oh, that beginning really had my blood boiling. That they killed her dog while they were abducting her, that was just awful! And I knew there were trigger warnings going in.

This world with the different castes, and how they're treated, was so interesting, but so infuriating. And the idea of the Paper Girls, as a way to elevate some of the Paper caste is pretty nausea-inducing. But getting to know Lei, and Wren, was so fantastic! I loved the two of them together, facing off against the King and his court! 

Running in the back of my head, was the question of when did all these bad things start, the ones that the King is thinking are a judgement on him? Because it if goes back to the war, maybe the gods are mad at how the Paper caste is treated? Did that ever cross your mind? Instead, he's going about, and enslaving more of them, so if I'm right, he's just making things worse. Not that I'm on his side, but the kingdom is suffering, it's bigger than him. 

Oh, that ending though? That was pretty intense, and just a little bit sad, the cost of it all. And then that last chapter, that has me so nervous as to what's going to happen next-because they don't know that he's still alive! I need to know what's going to happen next! 

I'm so obsessed with this book, and I really need to read the rest of the series now, I need to know how its going to end! 

Author: Natasha Ngan 
Series: Girls of Paper and Fire #1 
Read: June 16th, 2022 
Source: Library 
Reason Why: Sounded really great, and it's a Prequel & Sequel Challenge 2022 Book! 
Publisher: Jimmy Patterson Books
Published: November 8th 2018

5/5 Hearts

5/5 Books

5/5 Stars