Girls of Paper and Fire

Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan tells the story of Lei, a young woman snatched from her loving family to become a Paper Girl, a courtesan to the Demon King. She learns the routine of the palace, connects in various ways with the other girls, but dreads being selected by the king to do her 'duty'.

The world is richly evoked, with its interesting caste system, the different backgrounds and attitudes of the Paper Girls provide an interesting range of characters and perspectives, and Lei's narrative point of view is effective in portraying the inner and outer conflicts she faces.

But the title, the intermittent supernatural aspects in the story and the blurb on the back of the book led me to expect something very specific to happen - which didn't. So, the conclusion of this book, while satisfying in some ways, felt a bit flat to me. Plus, it was very much undermined by the last-page coda - thought I realise this was setting up the next book in the series.

So, beautifully written and engaging in a lot of ways, but perhaps a bit let down by the expectations it raised itself about how the story was going to turn out (but maybe that's just me).

The Empress of Salt and Fortune

The Empress of Salt and Fortune by Nghi Vo is a beautifully crafted novella, which builds up the story of an empress, who takes her destiny into her own hands and secures her succession in an unusual way. It's made up of multiple anecdotes from the empress' life, told by one of her servants to a non-gendered cleric who has come to catalogue the contents of a lakeside house where the empress spent several years in exile.

Each chapter opens with the catalogue description of one or more items, which prompts the servant, Rabbit, to tell a story related to that object's history. Those stories gradually combine to complete the picture of a complex, sometimes ruthless, sometimes compassionate, and very driven woman, and the relationships that defined her. We also learn about both the cleric and servant as the story progresses.

It's brilliantly constructed and very emotionally involving, despite the potential remoteness of the format. Lovely language, vivid descriptions, effective character development, and some welcome humour, provided by the cleric's companion, a talking hoopoe bird.

Highly recommended.