Girls of Storm and Shadow

This is such a good sequel to Girls of Paper and Fire! I've loved meeting Lei and Wren again and nearly cried during all the hardship moments they faced together. The worldbuilding is expanding and I loved every minute I've spend in this universe!

I was so happy to receive the ARC of book 1 and after reading it, was hoping to get book 2 as soon as it came out, so getting this ARC meant a lot!

Where do I start? This was such a fantastic sequel! The world-building, character development and relationships only got stronger. I loved the writing as always, and that ending blew me away. I can't wait to reread this before the 3rd book comes out next year!

I highly recommend this to fans of the first book- this is on par with it and might be slightly better!!
Also, that cover is gorgeous!

5 stars.

Trigger warnings: murder, violence, torture, alcohol dependence, rape, death, distressing scenes.

Wow. What a book! I loved Girls of paper and fire but I think I loved this even more! This series is turning out to be a firm favourite of mine and even though this is technically not out yet, I am already desperate for the third book!

Right, to review this without spoilers is going to be hard but I will give it a go.
This book was filled with adventure, danger, fights and battles, brilliant wit, new wonderful characters and love. It sees Lei grow and become less of a village girl and more of a soldier. I adore her character and getting to know more layers to her personality outside of the horrors of the palace is wonderful. The new characters bring a fantastic dynamic to the whole book and reminded me of aelin galanthynius and her crew!

What's more, I didn't call the twists and shocks in the storyline which was both wonderful to not know what was coming and utterly HEARTBREAKING. I also really enjoyed the multiple views (that didn't chop and change too much) throughout the book.
The ending leaves me on a massive cliffhanger and I am probably going to read these 2 books a ridiculous amount of times before the third comes out.
If you can't tell, I adored every single part and will reread ASAP! I cannot wait to get my pretty Fairyloot edition!!

Please note that this ebook was gifted to me from netgalley in return for an honest review.

I already enjoyed the first book a lot, but this was even better. There was a lot of action, a lot of sarcasm and a lot of character development. And after the cliffhanger ending of Girls of Paper and Fire, this was exactly what I needed.

For the war against the king, the Hannos need allies. For that reason, a small group sets out to talk to clan leaders and win them for their side: Lei and Wren, Wren’s teacher Caen, the shaman Hiro, the owl-demon Merrin and the leopard-demon-siblings Nitta and Bo. So. I love groups on quests. I love reading about their relationships and their dynamics and how they might change in certain situations. And Natasha Ngan did a really good job writing this group. All of them are such different characters, Hiro being quiet and mostly alone, Caen being the dad who hasn’t got anything under control and the siblings wreaking havoc wherever and whenever they can. The group feels like a little family that grows closer but there are always secrets looming, as well as the war that is right before starting. There’s a tension, in the group as well as the whole book itself, like a bowstring drawn, ready to be released. Because you as the reader knows there is something going to happen eventually. You know and it makes you nervous and fear for this group. I enjoyed the dialogues between the different people, the banter and the serious talks. Generally, this group is amazing and I fell a little bit in love with them all.

I also enjoyed the action scenes immensely. There was a lot of fighting, with hands and weapons and magic. They were fast paced and bloody and I could imagine it all really well, it felt like watching a film, seeing the characters run and stab and cry. And I think that the consequences of an (impending) war and the fights before were written well, as well as the consequences of betrayal, of loss and rape. The trauma felt raw and my heart hurt and I just wished I could help these characters. This book shows really well how differently people deal with bad things happening to them, how it may strengthen them or weaken them, how they affect the mind and body. And how they often affect not only people involved, but also their environment.

To sum this up, this book was a lot. It was dark, but also full of hope. The plot was fast paced and full of action, while still having a focus on the characters, which weren’t perfect. But they were perfect for this story. I enjoyed this a lot, but I also felt a lot.

Girls of Storm and Shadow also had me thinking a lot. What makes a villain? When does one become a villain? What goal justifies hurting others? What makes us who we are? How do our actions affect other people, especially those we love?

Such a great sequel, and a very emotional read, I found myself in tears several Tim’s throughout the book. I think this book is actually better than the first and I’m desperate for book 3 now. Natasha has done it again, wonderful character development, world building is expanded on even more. It’s just fabulous. Highly recommended read

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

I was very behind on the hype for Girls of Paper and Fire and earlier this year I decided to finally give it a go. I absolutely loved it so when I saw an opportunity to get an advanced readers copy of Girls of Storm and Shadows I knew I would regret not trying.

This book was perfect in every sense. It made me smile, it made me laugh and it also made me cry. There are new characters introduced and I couldn’t help but feeling so attached to them all and their different personalities. I still love Lei’s character just as much as I did in the first book. She’s such a brave and strong woman who only continues to grow. This time Lei is struggling with finding love in the middle of a war where everyone’s motives are tested and doubt really starts to take a forefront.

Natasha Ngan has this amazing way with words and she has managed to build such an amazing and in-depth world that just hooks you in and makes you never want to leave. With its smooth flow and range of diversity its no wonder that this series is so widely loved.

There was never a dull moment in this book, which for me was honestly surprising because I find that the second book in some young adult fantasy trilogies tend to be my least favourite. While this book did do a lot of setting up for the next book in the series I never found myself bored, in actual fact I found it almost impossible to put down.

Honestly, I could sit here and talk about this book for hours but I don’t want to spoil it for anyone. All I can say is that after fighting through the tears I found myself desperately needing the next book in this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Hodder & Stoughton for providing me with a copy of the book in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, What a follow up! This book was an incredible sequel to my top read of 2018: Girls of Paper and Fire. This book has fear, action, grief, anger, love and adventure all in one book. The character development is amazing and is well rounded from the previous book. I felt like the caste system was very interesting as was the introduction of different animal characters. I really enjoyed the plot and all of the twists. I would highly recommend reading this series.