Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

Reviewer: Mikayla P.
Stars: 5 stars

Girls of Paper and Fire is set in a fantasy world loosely based off of ancient China. There is a rigid class system in place: the Moon Caste at the top (demons whose bodies are more animal than human), Steel Caste (demon/human hybrids), and Paper Caste (the fragile humans) at the bottom. Lei is a young Paper woman who grew up in a small village far from the action of the capital. Although the Paper Caste is incredibly oppressed, Lei’s village is so far from the cities that she and her father are able to live a happy and relatively undisturbed life. Until one day one of the Demon King’s soldiers arrives in the village to bring Lei to the capital, by any means necessary, in order for her to be a Paper Girl, one of the Demon King’s concubines. Girls of Paper and Fire is an astonishing journey undertaken by many young girls forced into a position considered incredibly honorable by society despite its inherent brutality and pain. Each girl is unique and strong in her own way, and despite being merely words on paper become living beings in the reader’s mind extremely quickly. The world is impeccable and the plot is endlessly breathtaking. Despite being a fast-paced adventure, the novel artfully deals with heavy topics such as racism, rape, and sexuality. Girls of Paper and Fire would be easily worth reading just for the world, just for the plot, just for the characters, or just for the romance. Combine all four and you have Ngan’s incredible masterpiece.