There was a lot of hype behind this book, and I pre-ordered it when it was announced, and also got a 2nd copy in Owlcrate. This story just sounded like it was up my alley, and while I was excited for it, it just happened to fall in to my ever growing TBR pile until now.

Sadly, all that hype turned in to disappointment. The whole courtesan/concubine setting forced upon these girls just didn't do it for me, and it rarely does. I just expected more from the "Fire" part of the title, and the emphasis behind Lei's eyes being golden. What could be the meaning? Well who knows. There just isn't any true development outside of one moment with a teacher and then a "revelation" at the final pages with her pendant. It just felt like a let down, and cheap cliffhanger to get someone excited for the sequel.

I also kept wondering why there were nine paper girls for concubines, as some of them just felt worthless to the story. The author could have had 4 or 5 and done a much better job in fleshing them out. Outside of Lei, Wren, and Blue, I just felt like the rest just were. There were moments to Aoki, but it kept falling back to her being that girl who is delusional is how she sees the demon king.

Speaking of the demon king, what a waste of a character. He was there, he was cruel, evil, a rapist... but outside of learning how he got the throne, how he takes what he wants ,and the cruelty he delves out to hold on to it, there was nothing to him. Felt like a generic terrible antagonist that the author forgot to go back to and fill out the rest of him. Some of the generals and people around him were way more interesting and even with less page time, somehow stood out more.

I really did like Lei and Wren, but even their love for each other just couldn't save this read considering how lackluster everything and everyone around them felt. Sad, because this book had a lot of potential but squanders way too much of it.