Book Title: Girls of Paper and Fire
Author: Natasha Ngan
Series: Girls of Paper and Fire #1
Date Started: September 26th 2021
Date Completed: October 18th 2021
Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Quality Rating: Three Stars
Enjoyment Rating: Two Star
Final Rating: Two Stars
Review:
I didn't finish Girls of Paper and Fire, despite the rave reviews I've come across from other people, and in spite of attempting to persevere for nearly a month. Ultimately, I just wasn't getting anything out of reading it, and life's too short to read books you aren't enjoying.
It's violent and dark and really grim honestly, but then the characters are so YA and insubstantial about it all. I'm all for making these issues accessible but this book tackles so many challenging topics and Lei's just standing there like 'ah, I can't wait for the year to be over so I can visit my dad.' It just feels like it bounces from drowning you in how horrific these girls' experiences is to trivialising it into a teenage romance. Yes, I see Lei is supposed to be naïve (I mean, I also question how naïve she would be growing up in the circumstances she did), but I read halfway through this book and she was still being plain old dumb when I gave up.
I appreciate slow burning plots, but halfway through and the book has mainly consisted of Lei being terribly persecuted a couple of times, and then Mean Girls. I can't even comment on the LGBT+ aspect because Lei had only just noticed she thinks one of the other girls is pretty - which is fine, but when added to the fact nothing else has happened and I just don't have the investment to carry on.
At the end of the day, when the themes are actually dealt with I think they're dealt with well. The detail and world building is interesting, but Lei ruined it for me in imitating a 2013 copy-and-pasted YA heroine. Accessibility and expanding themes tackled for younger audiences is important, but making it feel trivial in comparison to the 'fun' plot isn't the best way to do it. (Disclaimer: I know lots of people really love this book and if it was a cathartic and/or enjoyable experience for you that's awesome. I just unfortunately didn't have that experience.)
