Each year, eight beautiful girls are chosen as Paper Girls to serve the king. It's the highest honor they could hope for...and the most demeaning. This year, there's a ninth. And instead of paper, she's made of fire.
In this richly developed fantasy, Lei is a member of the Paper caste, the lowest and most persecuted class of people in Ikhara. She lives in a remote village with her father, where the decade-old trauma of watching her mother snatched by royal guards for an unknown fate still haunts her. Now, the guards are back and this time it's Lei they're after -- the girl with the golden eyes whose rumored beauty has piqued the king's interest.
Over weeks of training in the opulent but oppressive palace, Lei and eight other girls learns the skills and charm that befit a king's consort. There, she does the unthinkable -- she falls in love. Her forbidden romance becomes enmeshed with an explosive plot that threatens her world's entire way of life. Lei, still the wide-eyed country girl at heart, must decide how far she's willing to go for justice and revenge.
The Review
I'm completely torn about how I feel about this book. On one hand, I enjoyed it for the most part, on the other, I just didn't. I suppose the best way to say it is that for me, this is really just an alright story that I hoped to absolutely adore. It isn't bad, it's just missing something essential that separates it from amazingness. The writing is beautiful, the characters diverse, the plot is intense. But I wanted more fight from Lei. She rebels as best as she can, but I still wanted and kind of expected more from her.
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One thing that detracts is the descriptions of the moon caste; for whatever reason, I could only imagine furries and it killed any sense of realism. I did however enjoy the classes and how the political climate came to be. I would love to see more of that in the next installment, assuming I pick it up to read.
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This isn't a bad story; in fact, I quite enjoyed the relationships the girls have with each other and how they grow/wither. Basically, for me this was just kind of an "alright" book. I just wanted to be finished with the second half, even as I enjoyed portions of it.
