Book Review: Girls of Storm and Shadow

GIRLS OF STORM AND SHADOW by Natasha Ngan
Girls of Paper and Fire #2
3 Stars
Verdict: Middle book syndrome.

Travelling? Check. Cliche twins? Check. Shaky love triangle? Check.

I'm afraid this book is suffering from middle book syndrome.

Book two picks up where we left off, tense and fast with plenty to question: is Lei being followed, is the king alive, can Ketai Hanno be trusted? With luscious writing and a fiery romance, it promises a grand adventure full of political intrigue, battles, and romance.

But then it sort of withers away.

We see Lei become reckless and riled up at silly times, and quite frankly putting her spur of the moment needs in front of her friends' safety. But when she's not riled up, she's travelling or eating or having one too many drinks. This all equates to not a lot of progress for your pages.

A band of new characters are introduced, including twins. Hopefully this isn't considered a spoiler as not all of these things happen can happen at once, but are there any books out there with twins which don't either a) only speak in 'banter', b) become mortal enemies, or c) one of them dies. I'd quite like to read a book where the twins are on the same side but don't quite understand each other at times and both survive the whole series.

The word 'sluice' is used a weird amount. Yes, I'm aware that's a strange thing to notice, but I think this speaks to my level of interest at times. The sense that all the exciting plot points are being saved for book three is sewn throughout the whole thing, and if you pull at that thread as you idly read on, the story falls apart.

I've bumped it up to three stars as I still have a hope for the series. I love the whole birth blessing pendant concept and there are a couple of brilliant moments. I'll admit the banter adds character to the dialogue. The scrap of plot progression within the palace blossoms in a way that makes me want to know more.

So I was disappointed but it was an okay read. I think it comes down to the story being stretched out into a trilogy when two books might have worked better. Maybe we should change YA trends?

Source: With thanks to the publisher via NetGalley.com.

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