Girls of Paper and Fire

Let me go ahead and give the warning labels that should have come on this book, a book that is supposedly young adult. First off, this book should not be labeled YA even if the main character is 17 (6 months from 18). Second, it is a lesbian love story taking place in a fantasy realm, so therefore it is fantasy. Third, there is a violent rape scene. Fourth, there is forced prostitution, and coerced prostitution. Fifth, there is beastiality. I place these warning because some parents are pickier about what their young teens read than others. So if you are considering this book for your teens or your teens are wanting to read it, this review will perhaps give you better awareness of what is in the book.

This book was interesting enough, but the world-building drove me crazy. Why? Because every single culture in Asia was used as background and smushed together sloppily in a way that I doubt would have been accepted if the base culture had been European. Don\’t get me wrong, I\’m thrilled to have fantasies set in non-European culture and love this trend. But perhaps because I know Asia well, this really grated. It starts with a China/Southeast Asian premise, then throws in Japanese names and words – to the extent that all alcohol is called \”sake\” – adds some characters that are clearly Indian-based, has cheongsams and other Chinese clothes as the dresses. I also thought a lot of the cultural references played to Asian cliches – pagodas, lanterns, people saying \”Aiyah!\” – which made me cringe. While admirable, I think there are questions here about whether Ngan\’s Asian ancestry gives her the authority to appropriate every and all Asian cultures so messily – and if the editors would have accepted a book that was, say, clearly based on a French prototype but had characters wearing lederhosen and mantillas and drinking beverages called \”glog.\” I\’m just a little concerned that if it\’s Asia, lurid exoticism is completely fine and fact-checking goes out the window. Characters in the same culture named Blue, Wren, Lei, Mariko, Chenna, Ryusuke and Kareem? Melanie Rawn appropriated names from various cultures for her \”Dragon King\” series – Rohan (Indian), Sioned (Gaelic-ish) and so on – but the overarching culture was very definitely its own. That wasn\’t quite achieved here; the pieces were much too obvious. Characters also used phrases that were way too colloquial and modern. I get that it\’s hard to stay in your world and not sound clunky, but having a character say \”Anything involving cake is more than fine\” just seems way too obtrusive. I think the author is talented, but I also think this book was a better \”pitch\” novel – ie, it ticked all the boxes to be successful such as Asia-based, lesbian relationship, and references to sexual abuse complete with author afterward about her own experience – than it was a good read. I also wonder if it was first written as an adult novel, but didn\’t sell so was recast as YA. And the ending! Talk about treacle!!

I like the book and depending on the person, I would recommend it. I will say, that 35% of the way via my kindle app, I found it difficult to get through, because of the subject matter. I have a hard time watching, reading, or otherwise being entrenches in characters or a story that involves rape or sexual exploitation. I found it hard waiting around to read about women selected to be raped. (It is not overly graphic and its written tastefully.) Its part of the story, but it is not everything. I dont want to taint anyone elses opinion of it, and it is a worthy read, but it took me a while to get invested. The story and characters had depth. I did want the main character to be more of her own advocate. The love story evolved beautifully. Im expecting a sequel to this novel, since it ends with a lot of promise. Id like to read more about these two women, their backstories are deep & creative. I want more of this universe, especially where it left off.

This book is about a young girl Name Lei who is a paper caste aka human. She lives in a world where humans have mix with animals and create weird creatures such as the Bull king. The Bull King is Moon Caste which is full demon. The Bull king guard kidnaps Lei and brings her as a present to the kingdom , to become the king\’s mistress. After arriving to the Kingdom, Lei discovers that she must create a back bone to survive the king and his world. But Lei back bone gives her far more than she ever knew she needed. It gives her love and determination to fight for everything she has feared she loss. But in order to know the rest how about you go find a copy of this beautiful book and read it for yourself. As for my rating of this book I give it a five out of five stars. I love how Natasha was able to depicted this stunning world, mix with Malaysian and Chinese culture. Lei was an incredibly strong female who did not know she had any strength until she fell in love with the right person. Natasha gave Lei an amazing build up as a character in this unique world filled with demons. The way Lei discover her love for her partner or discovers the strength to fight back against everyone who told her to obey. She became a fierce female as the story continue. I also love the way Natasha discusses discrimination in Lei World and explain how love is simply love. Natasha was able to take such a hardcore topic as discrimination and make it so simply to explain to this world. I love that part of the story so much. I love how Lei discovers that she is able to fight when she considers herself unable to do anything. I love the flirting between the love match in this book it was so incredibly beautiful. I love all of the detail Natasha added into this story, how that detail was able to turn a simple story into magic. Natasha writing reminds me of Leigh Bardugo, it is filled with a magic about it. It is something you will continue to think about again and again. I seriously cant wait for the next book in this story. This story is filled to the brim with female empowerment and also with love for your fellow person regardless of race or gender. This story will become a classic for the ages because of the message Natasha talks about in this book. I really did love the beauty of the world in this book and I will recommend it to everyone. I hope you will you will check out this inspiring world that Natasha has provide for all of us.

Ok so I just wish that the author included the rest of the book (or is doing a sequel, if there is one, otherwise this book is just a big disappointment to me) because the whole thing felt like a set up to a second novel. This is billed as a fantasy YA novel with f/f romance and set in a world inspired by the authors Malaysian heritage. So far, so good. The plot of the story is based around Lei, who is kidnapped from her village and taken to be one of the King\’s eight \”paper girls\” – basically a combination of a lady of the court, and the King\’s personal bedtime plaything. She is an extra to the eight, as it\’s deemed she has beautiful golden eyes. It\’s a years old tradition to have eight, but the book makes an exception because Lei happens to have pretty eyes. Ok then. Predictably, Lei then cannot escape her impending fate as to do so would cause the General who handed her over to kill what remains of her family. Despite Lei\’s weak performance and bad behaviour as one of the Paper Girls, this threat over her family is never used to keep her in line, even though other girls are punished for less. lt\’s also mentioned her mother was also taken many years ago. The story could of gone somewhere with this thread, but it falls flat and never amounts to anything (I am willing to be she is found alive in a sequel) Somewhere amongst learning what it takes to be a Paper Girl and narrowly avoiding being raped by the King (trigger warning), even though she is subjected to abuse, Lei manages to find time for a romance with another of the Paper Girls. This romance suddenly leads to a plot to kill the King, and who has to carry out the deed? Not the trained rebels and spies she meets, but of course our inexperienced main character Lei!! Unfortunately it didn\’t wow me, and I found the plot really predicable. This is a bit of a let down because there was the opportunity for something pretty original here. The world building was just ok, I could picture the setting, but there is only so many times you can describe a garden or a ballroom, and it bordered on tedious and I found myself skipping bits. I struggled to see where the world fit. It was neither a fictional alternative to our modern world, as there was no electricity or showers or cars etc… but it didn\’t feel like a fantasy world either even though there was magic. Maybe because the only bits of magic we see is when its used to heal injuries, or by the shamans for the sole purpose of maintaining a security perimeter around the king\’s castle. The reader gets the history of the world and it\’s various clans and families along with their politics and opposing sides through snippets of conversation that are dumped into the dialogue purely for the purpose of informing the reader. It seemed lazy and didn\’t engage me to care about the world beyond the current setting. The ending was rushed and just sets up for an us vs them, poor vs rich, good vs evil power struggle/war type sequel, but without characters I care about to move that along, I don\’t think I\’m on board with it.

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