Girls of Paper and Fire Series- Natasha Ngan

Girls of Paper and Fire Series- Natasha Ngan
1. Girls of Paper and Fire
2. Girls of Storm and Shadow
3. Girls of Fate and Fury

 

It’s been a while since I finished this series, but I honestly didn’t know how to write about it. A simple review felt wrong. To give them stars and make some comments about pacing and character development… it felt wrong.

This series touches on serious topics that cripple people in the real world. Sexual violence, domestic violence, and how to heal from it all. There are a lot of details that are hard to read. As an adult. As a survivor. As a woman. It was hard sometimes to read. I remember thinking, “omg, this is marketed as a YA series… wtf.”

I get it now, though. I do. It’s important, and it’s real, and as Ngan talks about in one of the notes to the reader… teenage years are usually how it starts. For some, it happens much younger. I didn’t know how to process anything then. I don’t think our brains are wired to. I think this is an important read. I’m not going to go as far as saying everyone should read it. I know people who couldn’t handle parts of the story because of triggers from their own trauma. I think it is an important read for anyone that is able. It shows how the mental damage last far longer than the physical damage. It shows how hard it is to move forward and how we shoulder guilt we shouldn’t have to.

Ngan gave a beautiful journey of the after. The recovery. She showed how everyone handles it in their own way but that you can recover from it. You can put yourself back together again. You can heal.

This doesn’t feel like a series I can just review, so I’m not going to. Picking it apart to talk about the moving pieces feels wrong. Instead, I will tell you her writing style is phenomenal. Her immersion in the world and in the places is fantastic. I will tell you that I highly recommend this book series if you are able to read it.