Reviews tagging 'Blood'

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan

67 reviews

galexy_brain's review against another edition

adventurous challenging hopeful tense medium-paced

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

3.25

The plot was alright but gahdamn can Ngan write a romance

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Animal death, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Blood, Medical trauma, and Classism

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Bullying, Confinement, Death, Gore, Homophobia, Infertility, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexism, Sexual content, Slavery, Violence, Vomit, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Lesbophobia, Outing, Alcohol, and War

moonchild_cos's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad 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? Yes

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Kidnapping, Grief, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Confinement, Rape, Sexism, Blood, Trafficking, Murder, Alcohol, and War

Minor: Drug use and Death of parent

louisaroselewis's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious 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? It's complicated

3.75

I did enjoy this book but I felt the book is world driven mostly. It depicts a gorgeous description of the world they live in and their culture. 

However, with this in mind, I feel the description is at some points a little too intricate, it doesn't neglect the story, but there are elements of it you forget because you are so focused on creating a picture of the world.

One important detail I found out was that the blurb doesn't match the story. It says "Ten years ago, her mother was snatched by the royal guards" yet it mentions multiple times in the book the event was "seven years ago".

Overall I enjoyed the book. I found the story interesting, the world intriguing, and the characters mysterious, and will continue with the series, especially since the book ends on a gripping cliffhanger.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Sexual assault, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Emotional abuse, Death of parent, and War

poppywarphan's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark fast-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? It's complicated

3.0

Characters: 5/10
Enjoyment: 6.5/10
Plot: 6/10
Worldbuilding: 5/10
Writing: 8/10

This might as well have been a standalone. But it's not because of that extra page at the end. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm invested enough to read any further installments.

The idea was good, the execution not so much. The worldbuilding wasn't really explored. The plot and writing were simplistic. That's not a bad thing, but on one hand it read as a book for younger teens, on the other hand though it discussed mature themes. There's rape. It's not graphic, but there nonetheless. If there's anything that triggers me in books, its sexual assault.  The girls are taken as mistresses and must have sex with the king against their will. Yes, they don't object, but it's either that or be killed.

The characters were underdeveloped. The king as a villain was just stupid. He's evil. OK, and? That's it? The paper girls were pretty indistinguishable. Aside from Aoki and Blue whose personality was being a bitch. The relationship between Lei and Wren didn't really have any foundation. It was pretty much just lusting and attraction.

Now, what I did like was what was done with Aoki's character. Not that I like what happened to her, but the book highlights how easy it is to fall victim to an abusive man. Aoki is the youngest out of the paper girls and naive. The king makes her feel special, so she starts having feelings for him. I like how it pointed out (although in a pretty juvenile way) that such a relationship is, in fact, not good (side-eyeing all the romance books that romanticize toxic relationships). Aoki is probably the most nuanced compared to the other two-dimensional characters.

Overall Girls of paper and fire wasn't a terrible book, just underwhelming. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, and Blood

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Trafficking, Kidnapping, Grief, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

karapillar's review

dark emotional mysterious 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? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Infidelity, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, Outing, Gaslighting, and Injury/Injury detail

books_of_calypso's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring sad 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? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Death, Infertility, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Torture, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Injury/Injury detail

bookcaptivated's review against another edition

emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Rape, Sexual violence, Slavery, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Confinement, Misogyny, Grief, Outing, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Bullying, Infidelity, and Classism

stardivine's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Slavery, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Grief

Moderate: Gore, Rape, Sexual content, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Minor: War

planetshelf's review

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Animal death, Confinement, Domestic abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual violence, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Murder, Lesbophobia, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism and Alcohol

Minor: Bullying, Genocide, Infertility, Infidelity, Slavery, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Pregnancy, Outing, and Gaslighting

zoevjester's review against another edition

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.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Grief, Death of parent, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Death, Infertility, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Murder, Lesbophobia, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Genocide, Gore, Infertility, Blood, Kidnapping, War, and Injury/Injury detail