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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
THIS WAS FANTASTIC. The writing was very graphic, so you felt like you were in Japan yourself, right in the middle of the events. I loved how the Japanese culture, language and the mythology were woven into the story (even though I've got to admit that I don't know whether it's real Japanese mythology or not). I had never particularly cared about Japan so much but this book made it sound SO BEAUTIFUL. I also loved the art in this book. I need it in paperback because I only read it on my kindle. I need this beauty in a physical edition!
4.5 stars
When you realize there was a glossary at the back and you didn't have to be confused the entire time. *facepalm*
If I'm being completely honest, the synopsis of this book wasn't really what drew me to this book. Had I not read the synopsis, I still would've picked this book up in an instant because of the book itself. I mean, the cover art is GORGEOUS. And once you actually get the book, you find out that the texture of the book is so ... well, texture-y, unlike most books. And the pages of the book - the chapter headers and the little animations on the bottom corners of the pages and the sketches every now and then - made the reading experience all the better.
But about the story itself. The beginning of this book is so cringe-worthy-ly dramatic, I almost put it down. But I needed a particularly dramatic book at the time, and - let me tell you - I was not disappointed by the end. The very concept of this book is infinitely unique - I mean, no one else has written about this (that I know of). And the fact that it was based in Japan, so we got to learn more about a different culture throughout the book - perfection.
Like I said, the beginning of this book was super awkward to read. (This is a bit off topic, but there are these Twitter accounts - Brooding YA Hero and Typical YA Heroine - and they pretty much just exploit cliches and stuff from YA books. (This is in no way a shoutout or an advertisement, but if you have a Twitter, I recommend checking these accounts out.) Anyway, I just noticed that some events/characters in this story were begging to be referenced in those accounts, and I found it a bit funny.) Anyway, yeah, very cringe-worthy beginning. I kind of found Katie's character a bit irritating at times; the way she would follow Tomo around and obsess over him and what he did was really annoying at first, but when I saw how it turned out, I was okay.
Not to brag, but I knew Jun was evil or somehow not on Katie's side from the beginning. Wanna hear my reasoning? No? Okay here we go: So first of all, he kept flirting with her, but it was too much. I'm-just-doing-this-so-you'll-agree-with-me too much. Second, we have Tomo, Jun, and [kid whose name I can't even pronounce, let alone spell from memory]. Tomo was obviously the good one, and even though nameless-kid was in a bad gang, he was harmless. So that leaves Jun to be the evil-but-pretending-to-want-to-help-you guy. Third of all, he kept randomly showing up places and, come on, who randomly - "coincidentally" - shows up everywhere and isn't evil? Huh?
But let's talk about Tomo. Try not to swoon, ladies. I really liked his character, and not only because he was so swoon-worthy. He was another unique aspect of this book: he was on the good side, but he couldn't control his power, per se. His Kami-ness kept getting ahold of him, he wasn't in complete control all of the time. That was very intriguing and pleasing to me. I was pretty nervous about him, because, at the beginning, even I was puzzled by his on-and-off, hot-and-cold behavior. But he turned out okay. More than okay, I'd say.
I really liked the end of this book, how he sends her the flower drawing and she just up and leaves the airport. Can you feel the rebellion meters exploding? I can't wait to see what happens next.
When you realize there was a glossary at the back and you didn't have to be confused the entire time. *facepalm*
If I'm being completely honest, the synopsis of this book wasn't really what drew me to this book. Had I not read the synopsis, I still would've picked this book up in an instant because of the book itself. I mean, the cover art is GORGEOUS. And once you actually get the book, you find out that the texture of the book is so ... well, texture-y, unlike most books. And the pages of the book - the chapter headers and the little animations on the bottom corners of the pages and the sketches every now and then - made the reading experience all the better.
But about the story itself. The beginning of this book is so cringe-worthy-ly dramatic, I almost put it down. But I needed a particularly dramatic book at the time, and - let me tell you - I was not disappointed by the end. The very concept of this book is infinitely unique - I mean, no one else has written about this (that I know of). And the fact that it was based in Japan, so we got to learn more about a different culture throughout the book - perfection.
Like I said, the beginning of this book was super awkward to read. (This is a bit off topic, but there are these Twitter accounts - Brooding YA Hero and Typical YA Heroine - and they pretty much just exploit cliches and stuff from YA books. (This is in no way a shoutout or an advertisement, but if you have a Twitter, I recommend checking these accounts out.) Anyway, I just noticed that some events/characters in this story were begging to be referenced in those accounts, and I found it a bit funny.) Anyway, yeah, very cringe-worthy beginning. I kind of found Katie's character a bit irritating at times; the way she would follow Tomo around and obsess over him and what he did was really annoying at first, but when I saw how it turned out, I was okay.
Not to brag, but I knew Jun was evil or somehow not on Katie's side from the beginning. Wanna hear my reasoning? No? Okay here we go: So first of all, he kept flirting with her, but it was too much. I'm-just-doing-this-so-you'll-agree-with-me too much. Second, we have Tomo, Jun, and [kid whose name I can't even pronounce, let alone spell from memory]. Tomo was obviously the good one, and even though nameless-kid was in a bad gang, he was harmless. So that leaves Jun to be the evil-but-pretending-to-want-to-help-you guy. Third of all, he kept randomly showing up places and, come on, who randomly - "coincidentally" - shows up everywhere and isn't evil? Huh?
But let's talk about Tomo. Try not to swoon, ladies. I really liked his character, and not only because he was so swoon-worthy. He was another unique aspect of this book: he was on the good side, but he couldn't control his power, per se. His Kami-ness kept getting ahold of him, he wasn't in complete control all of the time. That was very intriguing and pleasing to me. I was pretty nervous about him, because, at the beginning, even I was puzzled by his on-and-off, hot-and-cold behavior. But he turned out okay. More than okay, I'd say.
I really liked the end of this book, how he sends her the flower drawing and she just up and leaves the airport. Can you feel the rebellion meters exploding? I can't wait to see what happens next.
I really enjoyed this book! I liked the two main characters, and their angst did not seem overdone. It felt natural that they would build a connection and will feel drawn to each other. I enjoyed the mythology and the paranormal element did not feel forced and out of place...I also really appreciated the fact that the intercultural relationship was built slowly and was immersed in cultural elements. I learned a lot about the contemporary teen culture in Japan. A good read! I would definitely read the sequel.
I actually had the honour of meeting Amanda Sun at her book signing in Toronto. She was really nice, fun, a great speaker, and she got me totally pumped about her book, between the reading and the origins of the plot concept, I was ready to dive into Ink.
Although I really enjoyed this book, I felt kind of off about Katie. Where Tomohiro has a history to him, and she does everything in her power (including STALKING him) to find out about him, his past, and WHY drawings are moving whenever he’s around, we learn very little about her. After such a loss, one would suspect she’d be in mourning, or more… within herself. However, the book simply jumps right into her new life, and we learn very little about her family and what happened to them in the past. I did like her – she’s a strong protagonist – I wish there had been a little more back story and depth to her character.
Something that I wish also hadn’t been a part of the book was the insta-love. I can understand why she found him intriguing through his drawings, but this was a YA cliche I hadn’t wanted to see in this book. Also, I feel like the romance overpowered the novel’s plot, and kind of slowed everything down.
Aside from those two things, I found the setting absolutely awesome. As an Asian reader, born and raised in Canada, I rarely see a book set in an Asian country or starring an Asian character. You do not know how pleased I was with myself when I saw Jem speaking in Chinese in Clockwork Prince and UNDERSTOOD what he was saying. Then now, with Ink, I knew some of the words (thank you anime and J-drama obsession) and I was ecstatic. Amanda Sun had spent a few years in Japan studying, and that really translated into her novel when it came down to descriptions of the parks, schools, and shrines, as well as the language, in the book. I think that was one of the strongest points in the book, ’cause I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a J-drama instead of a book, and could picture everything with ease.
The concept was amazing. I loved that the ideas were drawn from Egyptian and Chinese history, as well as Japanese mythology. It really made the story unique and I was intrigued by the drawings coming alive and what the characters could do with such a power. I hope to see more of it in the second book, though, as well as a lot more action (’cause I expected way more than I got in this book…).
Something I loved about this novel, that added it it’s total specialness, were the drawings. Throughout the novel, there were drawings that illustrated the things that Tomohiro drew, and also what was happening at the time (through those little animation things where you turn the pages really fast and the pictures move (they said the technical term for it in the novel, but I kind of forgot what it was…)). I think this added to the beauty of the novel and made it more fun (:
The plot was awesome once we all got past the lovey-dovey moments (don’t get me wrong, when Tomo and Katie interacted, it was often funny and cute and I enjoyed them, but it also overpowered the story). There were Kendo fights, there were motorcycles and we got to see some action, and when it boiled down to it, the plot was definitely interesting and, at times, thrilling.
All in all, while I found the characters lacking, and the romance overwhelming, I think that the setting, the concept, and the plot of the novel really helped make the book come to life and made it a unique and captivating read~
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing: 5/5
World Building: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.60/5
-review by Between Printed Pages
Although I really enjoyed this book, I felt kind of off about Katie. Where Tomohiro has a history to him, and she does everything in her power (including STALKING him) to find out about him, his past, and WHY drawings are moving whenever he’s around, we learn very little about her. After such a loss, one would suspect she’d be in mourning, or more… within herself. However, the book simply jumps right into her new life, and we learn very little about her family and what happened to them in the past. I did like her – she’s a strong protagonist – I wish there had been a little more back story and depth to her character.
Something that I wish also hadn’t been a part of the book was the insta-love. I can understand why she found him intriguing through his drawings, but this was a YA cliche I hadn’t wanted to see in this book. Also, I feel like the romance overpowered the novel’s plot, and kind of slowed everything down.
Aside from those two things, I found the setting absolutely awesome. As an Asian reader, born and raised in Canada, I rarely see a book set in an Asian country or starring an Asian character. You do not know how pleased I was with myself when I saw Jem speaking in Chinese in Clockwork Prince and UNDERSTOOD what he was saying. Then now, with Ink, I knew some of the words (thank you anime and J-drama obsession) and I was ecstatic. Amanda Sun had spent a few years in Japan studying, and that really translated into her novel when it came down to descriptions of the parks, schools, and shrines, as well as the language, in the book. I think that was one of the strongest points in the book, ’cause I felt like I was sitting in the middle of a J-drama instead of a book, and could picture everything with ease.
The concept was amazing. I loved that the ideas were drawn from Egyptian and Chinese history, as well as Japanese mythology. It really made the story unique and I was intrigued by the drawings coming alive and what the characters could do with such a power. I hope to see more of it in the second book, though, as well as a lot more action (’cause I expected way more than I got in this book…).
Something I loved about this novel, that added it it’s total specialness, were the drawings. Throughout the novel, there were drawings that illustrated the things that Tomohiro drew, and also what was happening at the time (through those little animation things where you turn the pages really fast and the pictures move (they said the technical term for it in the novel, but I kind of forgot what it was…)). I think this added to the beauty of the novel and made it more fun (:
The plot was awesome once we all got past the lovey-dovey moments (don’t get me wrong, when Tomo and Katie interacted, it was often funny and cute and I enjoyed them, but it also overpowered the story). There were Kendo fights, there were motorcycles and we got to see some action, and when it boiled down to it, the plot was definitely interesting and, at times, thrilling.
All in all, while I found the characters lacking, and the romance overwhelming, I think that the setting, the concept, and the plot of the novel really helped make the book come to life and made it a unique and captivating read~
Plot: 4/5
Characters: 3/5
Writing: 5/5
World Building: 5/5
Cover: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
GoodReads Rating: 3.60/5
-review by Between Printed Pages
4.3. Plot was pretty good at first, but it became more and more lacking the further it developed. The story being set in Japan did make up for it, though!
I thought this book was amazing! I have wanted to read it for a long time and when I started it I couldn't stop reading. The characters are amazing and the setting is so enticing. The plot was perfectly paced and it always kept me on edge.
After the disaster that was Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh, you'd think I would have learned my lesson to not read books set in Japan but written by non-Japanese authors. Apparently, I am a fool.
I'll start with a disclaimer: I live in Japan. I speak Japanese. I work in a Japanese high school. So I may notice and be bothered by mistakes and inaccuracies that the average reader can more easily gloss over. But, Lord, there are so many. The author apparently studied abroad in Japan when she was a high school student, but I couldn't find any reference anywhere to how long she was there. Judging from the level of detail and accuracy featured in this story, I'm going to guess it was about a week.
I'll leave the griping about small details (naming practices, school rules, etc.) aside for now - you can look at my updates for those - and focus on the bigger problems - namely, the main character, Katie.
Katie is a white American girl who moves to Japan to live with her aunt after the death of her mother and gets involved in a bunch of nonsense with Japanese gangsters and descendants of gods. The main problems with Katie are twofold - her suspension-of-disbelief-breaking language skills and her complete uselessness in regards to the plot.
Despite having only started studying Japanese (I believe) five months before the story begins, Katie is able to converse with every character in Japanese fluent enough to the point that every single conversation sounds like it's taking place between two American teenagers (and often includes phrases and expressions that can't even be translated into Japanese, but that's another matter). Her narration mentions her struggles with the language, but we never see any. She can have conversations with vocabulary advanced enough to trip up N1 Japanese speakers . . . after five months? The author easily could have set the story at an international school in Japan, or simply mentioned that Katie's friends were returnees or half or something, but, no, instead, Katie has a supernatural ability to speak a new language fluidly and completely naturally in the time it takes most people to learn self-introductions, days of the week, and the weather. (Also, we readers understand the characters are speaking Japanese. There's no reason to throw in random, easily-translated Japanese words or even full sentences except for the author to show off how she totally knows Japanese, u gaiz. Is this fanfiction.net in the year 2006?)
Secondly, Katie did nothing. Her boyfriend is a kami, which in this story means a descendant of the ancient Japanese gods who has the power to bring ink drawings to life. He is being chased by the yakuza and rival kami for his abilities. He is tormented by abilities he does not want. He has lost people he loves and been forced to sacrifice relationships because of these abilities. He has to fight against the abilities trying to take him over and potentially hurt people. Katie . . . is there. The ink he uses "reacts" to her. That's it. It's clear Sun wanted to make Katie (again, a white American) a kami also, but realized that that would be ridiculous even by the standards of this nonsense book. However, this leaves the main character as a side character in someone else's plot.
Sun has stated that she didn't want to write a white savior story and she wanted the Japanese characters to save themselves - and while this is admirable, therein lies the problem with Katie. If Sun didn't want to write a white savior story, why make the main character white? Why not have a fully Japanese cast? Or if you want to write the fish-out-of-water story, why not have Katie be a Japanese-American returning to the ancestral homeland she has never lived in before? This would have solved multiple problems. A Japanese-American Katie could easily have kami ancestry and thus been able to fully participate in the story. Her language skills would also make more sense - maybe her parents sent her to Japanese lessons when she was young, or she occasionally spoke Japanese over the phone with her grandparents or something. White Katie ends up both overpowered and underutilized.
In conclusion, if you want a poorly-written book with a useless main character who plays almost no role in the plot (what little of that there even is) that reads like it was researched by reading LiveJournal recaps of early 2000s J-drama episodes, boy is this the book for you. If this is not the case, stay far, far away.
I'll start with a disclaimer: I live in Japan. I speak Japanese. I work in a Japanese high school. So I may notice and be bothered by mistakes and inaccuracies that the average reader can more easily gloss over. But, Lord, there are so many. The author apparently studied abroad in Japan when she was a high school student, but I couldn't find any reference anywhere to how long she was there. Judging from the level of detail and accuracy featured in this story, I'm going to guess it was about a week.
I'll leave the griping about small details (naming practices, school rules, etc.) aside for now - you can look at my updates for those - and focus on the bigger problems - namely, the main character, Katie.
Katie is a white American girl who moves to Japan to live with her aunt after the death of her mother and gets involved in a bunch of nonsense with Japanese gangsters and descendants of gods. The main problems with Katie are twofold - her suspension-of-disbelief-breaking language skills and her complete uselessness in regards to the plot.
Despite having only started studying Japanese (I believe) five months before the story begins, Katie is able to converse with every character in Japanese fluent enough to the point that every single conversation sounds like it's taking place between two American teenagers (and often includes phrases and expressions that can't even be translated into Japanese, but that's another matter). Her narration mentions her struggles with the language, but we never see any. She can have conversations with vocabulary advanced enough to trip up N1 Japanese speakers . . . after five months? The author easily could have set the story at an international school in Japan, or simply mentioned that Katie's friends were returnees or half or something, but, no, instead, Katie has a supernatural ability to speak a new language fluidly and completely naturally in the time it takes most people to learn self-introductions, days of the week, and the weather. (Also, we readers understand the characters are speaking Japanese. There's no reason to throw in random, easily-translated Japanese words or even full sentences except for the author to show off how she totally knows Japanese, u gaiz. Is this fanfiction.net in the year 2006?)
Secondly, Katie did nothing. Her boyfriend is a kami, which in this story means a descendant of the ancient Japanese gods who has the power to bring ink drawings to life. He is being chased by the yakuza and rival kami for his abilities. He is tormented by abilities he does not want. He has lost people he loves and been forced to sacrifice relationships because of these abilities. He has to fight against the abilities trying to take him over and potentially hurt people. Katie . . . is there. The ink he uses "reacts" to her. That's it. It's clear Sun wanted to make Katie (again, a white American) a kami also, but realized that that would be ridiculous even by the standards of this nonsense book. However, this leaves the main character as a side character in someone else's plot.
Sun has stated that she didn't want to write a white savior story and she wanted the Japanese characters to save themselves - and while this is admirable, therein lies the problem with Katie. If Sun didn't want to write a white savior story, why make the main character white? Why not have a fully Japanese cast? Or if you want to write the fish-out-of-water story, why not have Katie be a Japanese-American returning to the ancestral homeland she has never lived in before? This would have solved multiple problems. A Japanese-American Katie could easily have kami ancestry and thus been able to fully participate in the story. Her language skills would also make more sense - maybe her parents sent her to Japanese lessons when she was young, or she occasionally spoke Japanese over the phone with her grandparents or something. White Katie ends up both overpowered and underutilized.
In conclusion, if you want a poorly-written book with a useless main character who plays almost no role in the plot (what little of that there even is) that reads like it was researched by reading LiveJournal recaps of early 2000s J-drama episodes, boy is this the book for you. If this is not the case, stay far, far away.
I listened to this book from audible and that was both and amazing and sometimes disappointing experience. I don't read unfamiliar (foreign) words well so having a book set in Japan with loads of foreign vocab and phrases interspersed required I use audio. I loved the reader's Japanese voice and she was great at the nuances involved in those. But her narration was otherwise mediocre, with either the editing or her reading failing to pick up some important moments that required inflections she just failed at.
The novel was intriguing, a story vehicle, living ink, I had not seen before. But it was not completely satisfying. Neither am I compelled to read the second in the series. It was... okay. Worth a few hours maybe, but probably not if you have a very long reading list.
The novel was intriguing, a story vehicle, living ink, I had not seen before. But it was not completely satisfying. Neither am I compelled to read the second in the series. It was... okay. Worth a few hours maybe, but probably not if you have a very long reading list.
I love this book! Everything about it-the cover, the art, the setting, the story....it's fantastic!
First off, can I just gush about the cover?! I had the paperback edition, which felt like real calligraphy paper. It most likely wasn't, but whoever mimicked the product did a fabulous job. I love the art of the main character on the cover-it looks like traditional Japanese art!
The art inside the book is also great. I tend to steer away from books with illustrations in them, they seem sorta childish to me, but in this book, it works at helping the story feel more real.
I also love the setting! I'm in my fourth year of taking Japanese in school, and unfortunately good books set in Japan are the exception. I always feel left out. But here, not only was the Japanese language incorporated beautifully into the text-and I could test my prowess out on translating the English-but the description of the city itself is very well done. I felt like I was in an anime or Japanese drama althroughout the story.
And the plot sounds lifted from a Japanese drama, doesn't it? Drawings coming to life is nothing new, but I feel like it really fits into Japanese culture the best because of their long ties to it. The ancient ties to the Kami was great as well, and as someone who also loves Japanese mythology I'm eager to see which myth this parallels...
Overall, a wonderfully-written story that I'm more than pleased I read, and I will most certainly be finishing this trilogy as soon as I can.
First off, can I just gush about the cover?! I had the paperback edition, which felt like real calligraphy paper. It most likely wasn't, but whoever mimicked the product did a fabulous job. I love the art of the main character on the cover-it looks like traditional Japanese art!
The art inside the book is also great. I tend to steer away from books with illustrations in them, they seem sorta childish to me, but in this book, it works at helping the story feel more real.
I also love the setting! I'm in my fourth year of taking Japanese in school, and unfortunately good books set in Japan are the exception. I always feel left out. But here, not only was the Japanese language incorporated beautifully into the text-and I could test my prowess out on translating the English-but the description of the city itself is very well done. I felt like I was in an anime or Japanese drama althroughout the story.
And the plot sounds lifted from a Japanese drama, doesn't it? Drawings coming to life is nothing new, but I feel like it really fits into Japanese culture the best because of their long ties to it. The ancient ties to the Kami was great as well, and as someone who also loves Japanese mythology I'm eager to see which myth this parallels...
Overall, a wonderfully-written story that I'm more than pleased I read, and I will most certainly be finishing this trilogy as soon as I can.
