Reviews with content warning for Sexual content - Chicas de Papel y de Fuego = Girls of Paper and Fire

I really enjoyed this book, although it was a challenging read. It is incredibly dark and deals with a lot of heavy topics, much of which could potentially be very triggering. However, I found the characters well written and (with some big exceptions, for obvious reasons) sympathetic, and the story engaging.

Content Warnings

zoevjester's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is the second time I've read Girls 1. You can tell immediately when your read it that the author poured their heart and soul into the story, and it shows. The diversity is a breath of fresh air, the characters and the story, while dark, is woven and told with such care that my heart breaks. Lei is a brilliant character and her story, so very similar to some people's reality, is a reminder to live despite.

Content Warnings

mayaism_01's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? N/A
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.5

The greatest sin of this book was that it left me bored as hell most of the time.

Let's start with the negatives:

I don’t mind when a character is used to give the reader some exposition, but someone like General Yu is used like that in a way that is very obvious. It doesn’t match what you would expect his behaviour to be towards Lei to literally choke her and then explain the palace forest to her? There’s an attempt to make it seem out of pride but I didn’t feel like that made sense to the bits of his character that’s been established so far. This happens with a lot of the worldbuilding/exposition sections and it's really boring and longwinded to read.

The chaotic pacing! The plot seems to be decently paced but with a bit of up & down pacing in terms of things seemly happening really quickly (like Lei being taken away) to moments that are bogged down a bit due (like the Paper Girls classes) then it slows down around the 45% mark picks up again at 50% and then goes stays pretty slow until the climax at the very end.

Very minor but kinda slutty shamey vibes from Lei towards Aoki “Only because he’s getting what he wants!” :/ I feel like the entirety of Lei and Aoki's disagreements about the King could've been handled a lot better.

Lei as the protaganist :/ As much as I empathise with Lei’s rage, it gets boring after hearing her say she hates the King or his court or the way things are in this world without her actively doing anything to change things. Most of the time the plot/intrigue seems to only be coming from other characters' actions with Lei doing nothing more than watching or reacting which makes the whole story just drag or feel boring and repetitive. It leaves me far more intrigued by the other paper girls and side characters' stories more so than Lei - especially Wren, Kenzo, Zelle, etc.

On to the positives!

WREN! I love Wren, I honestly wish this entire book was from her perspective. She's easily the most engaging character and her backstory is so interesting. Most moments with her are my absolute favourite of the entire book.

The world and set-up are also an enjoyable part of the story, despite finding the worldbuilding a little jarring. The caste system, the set-up of the paper girls, the history, and the political intrigue are all super engaging parts of the world that are just hampered by the weaker qualities of this book.

This book brings some important perspectives to so of the most used tropes in YA fantasy and its point of view is refreshing and engaging. The discussions around rape, power, violence and desire are all interesting and really well done and I loved that this book brought attention to these topics!

TLDR: This book had a lot of potential, with a strong set-up and world, important discussions, and a great cast of characters but it's let down by its execution which made everything that was initially interesting about the book boring and a bit of drag to get through.

Content Warnings

prolinn's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous dark emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Content Warnings

sundayfever's review against another edition

Go to review page

I loved the idea of this book, but didn't connect with the writing style. Characters felt one dimensional & I felt like Lei went through too much trauma that wasn't addressed in depth. The tough issues this book brings up aren't discussed in as nuanced or mature a way as I'd hoped. Quit reading before the really graphic scenes because the story wasn't engaging enough to make it worth enduring the triggers.

Content Warnings

sma_tsol06's review against another edition

Go to review page

dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

It's interestin how it connects several social problems such as misogyny, sexual assault, abuse , bullying etc with the magic of the world and the behavior of the main characters when they deal with these problems

Content Warnings

More...