I am a big fantasy sci-fi buff, but after a time I just had to stop reading the books because they were so similar, or I would realise 20 pages into it that I had already read it. No such problems there with Leah R. Cutter's Paper Mage (ROC, 2003).

What could possibily be new in the world of fantasy? "In a small Chinese village during the Tang Dynasty, an unsure young woman has managed to elude the conventions of her society to become a gifted paper mage-one who creates magic with the ancient art of paper folding." Not only is the idea coo-el, but it is also very well written. Leah has also written The Caves of Buda (which of course takes place in Budapest), and  The Jaguar and the Wolf. I do not know how these later books are, but her short story "Red Boots" in the anthology Black Heart, Ivory Bones is also a great read.