Don’t judge a book by it’s cover, the cover is Beautiful the Book is Awful.

Starting with the good stuff, Wren was a cool character. She has an interesting background, a great motive and is a strong female. I love the cover art of the book and the description on the back sounded very intriguing. That was about it.

Reading this book was like riding what was advertised as a roller coaster and turned out to be a kiddy train ride through a brothel petting zoo.... it was so cringeworthy and boring at the same time.

Our leading lady was a bland and weak and the only special thing about her was her eye color. All of the other characters go through so much but are in the background? Lei spends the whole book (besides 2 terrible instances) being left alone all the while her friends are being attacked and raped weekly. This book would have been 100x better if it was in the view of Wren, or ANY other character for that matter. Even then Wren could do so much better with any of the other characters. There is literally nothing interesting or endearing in Lei. She also gets credit at the end for killing the king when it was someone else who wounded him giving her the knife.

I love fantasy but this world is a complete mess that is not explained at all. The author was not very good at imagery so the whole Animal Human Hybrids were hard to picture. She would also just throw animals at random background characters like “crocodile man” with no description. So all I’m thinking is a human body with claws and a crocodile head sticking straight up to the heavens with 2 beady eyes.

The Animal Hybrids were not developed nor were the Castes. I get that paper is the lowest but the steel and higher ones were not explained well.

Every time something interesting would pop up (like her trying to find her mother or the importance of the necklace etc) nothing came of it or it had nothing to do with the plot. It was jut a straight through boring story. I am surprised at the good reviews because this was just awful...
I do not recommend...

Also as an audiobook the performance was ok but she read Lei like she was a high pitched whiny child making this EXTRA cringeworthy.

14 people found this helpful

Strong, Brave Female Roles!

Synopsis: Girls of Paper and Fire revolves around a seventeen-year-old girl named Lei who was taken from her family as a Paper Girl to serve the king. As she learns what this means and the oppression that stems from the caste system in place, she struggles with her own fate. 🥺 She opens up to a fellow Paper Girl, Wren, and the two form a beautiful and romantic relationship. 👩‍❤️‍💋‍👩 But once the king finds out, both their fates are doomed.

Have you ever read a book where you can’t quite rate it because some things were done so well and others were a bit bothersome? 🤷🏻‍♀️If so, then hear me out on this one. Because overall, this book is 💯 worth it but I also want to be transparent. 👻

Here’s my twofold review: I gave an astounding 5 ⭐️ to the imagery, plot, and character development of this book. The vibrancy in setting the scene was descriptively perfect! And the narration of this alternative realm was so well-crafted that I was completely drawn in. Also, I ABSOLUTELY loved the characters! 🧡

BUT what fell short was the commitment to critical events that stood as pivotal turning points for both Wren and Lei. That and...the pacing.

What do I mean... as a novel that embraced an LGBT protagonist, I thought more emphasis could have been placed on the actual defining experiences than just the feelings before and after. I think, as a reader, I would’ve had a deeper connection with Wren and Lei if I was carried through a lot of their “firsts” rather than just hearing about them after the fact. (I know this sounds vague and I’m intentional being so because I don’t wanna give anything away). But it kinda bummed me out that the most climatic scenes occurred within the last 100 pages of the book and were slightly brushed over (which, TBH, was why I had to resort to listening to it on audio 🎧).

So that’s why I settled on a 4 ⭐️ rating. This book does allude to a sequel, so that’s exciting! And I frankly think this series could grow better with time and confidence! Also, I should mention some trigger warnings to those who are looking into this as a possible upcoming read: sexual assault and violence.

13 people found this helpful

Great story, Sub par narrator

I was excited when I read the synopsis of this book. A F/F romance set in a fantasy kingdom is right up my alley. I really tried to get into this audio book but the narrator is no good. Her tone doesn't carry the emotion that the characters are feeling across effectively. I would recommend that if you're interested in this story to read the physical book instead.

14 people found this helpful

Hunger Games meets the sex trade?

One of my least favorite listens this year. Mature content. The story and characters are interesting, albeit a bit forced.

The narrator is awful. It was hard to finish listening, but I wanted to know the ending and didn't want to invest in a physical copy.

6 people found this helpful

Great Listen!

5 stars for a great story performed beautifully! I found myself sucked into a whole different world mixing Asian culture and magic with a beautiful love story.

4 people found this helpful

Good book

The person reading does have a more level voice but I actually found I preferred it because I could still listen at night to wind down.

2 people found this helpful

wow!

OMG what a excellent book! I'm not normally a fan of fantasy books but James Patterson is my all-time favorite author so when he came out with this book I knew I had to give it a try and boy was I surprised! It's got everything.... romance, fantasy, action and comedy. The characters were so well written and with just enough detail. it's a rather long book but I wouldn't have known it because I was hooked from the very start and could not put it down until it was finished. I'm so impressed with everything about this book. I can't speak highly enough about the narrator either she did a wonderful job. I really hope there's a sequel!!! I give this book 5 stars all the way around, HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

2 people found this helpful

The reviews make it seem worse

Is there sexual abuse? Yes, but the reviews made it seem like it was very detailed. It is not. Rape and any other sexual intimacy is implied.
I would have liked to see a little more magic.

1 person found this helpful

At first, loved it.

Loved the premise and the plot and the characters. But after a second read, especially towards the end, it all fell flat. While I understand that Lei probably isn't a fighter at heart and going through a lot, she is so damn whiney. Always concerned with what's going on with her things and only making small inquiries to others. I had hoped for a much different ending. I wanted Lei to find out her mother was part demon and that's why she was taken. I wanted Lei to take all the fire puns and the premonition the teacher had and just run with it, literally setting everything ablaze. I wanted her to fight like she fucking meant it. I wanted her birth word to be FIRE since that's the premise of the book. Again, loved it at first but then I looked closer.

1 person found this helpful

I should have looked up a Content Warning.

Full disclosure, I didn’t get far before I couldn’t listen anymore. The writing is great, and I really enjoyed the narrator, and the story is intriguing. I highly recommend looking this story up on the content warning site: doesthedogdie which will let you know if there is content in a piece of media that you’d like to avoid. I hope eventually I can listen to the whole thing, I just need gentler stories for now.