4.5 stars
tw/cw: sexual assault, rape, severe physical violence, emotional/psychological violence, death

i have no clue what the moon caste people are supposed to look like... i imagined them as animal crossing characters meet the spirits from ATLA and tim burton.??? i literally just realized i should have gone with teenage mutant ninja turtles' vibes...

A world with castes, commenting on the violence perpetrated by those the status quo deems stronger, and the intersectonality of it with the lack of women's ownership over their own bodies.
Lei is taken to the palace, to be one of eight (yearly) concubines for the King. Grieving and trying to gain control over her life, Lei fights back, time and time again, in several different ways - maybe the biggest being love.
This girl may be paper, but *katniss voice* fire is catching.
recommend if you want: low-fantasy, f/f romance, criticism of dictatorship regime, representation of asian cultures (as read in own voices' reviews), resistance plot, predominantly female cast, conversation on grief and on sexual assault
loved:
- the sapphics
- the worldbuilding
- the handling of sexual assault
- the writing