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3.39 AVERAGE
3.39 AVERAGE
This novel is ideal for teens who enjoy contemporary retelling of myths. Much like the Percy Jackson series opened up the world of Greek Mythology for young readers Ink brings Japanese legends to life. The Paper Gods series is off to a good start with an interesting plot and vivid imagery. The beginning and the end had me hooked, however the middle did drag a bit.
Katie Greene lost her parents, and while her grandfather recovers from an illness, she has to move all the way to Shizuoka, Japan with her aunt. And she's never been so unsure of herself, in a country where she hardly speaks the language, can't navigate the culture, and doesn't know anyone.
When she sees Tomohiro, the gorgeous kendo team star, breaking up with his girlfriend in an extremely cruel way. But in an unguarded moment, she sees sadness in his eyes--and when she picks up a fallen drawing, she could swear she saw the drawing move. And the more time she spends, drawn to him even though he keeps trying to scare her away, the more Katie is sure there's something strange about him.
There's a bit of insta-love with a bad boy, but that's to be expected from a romance, really. There's rather a lot of angst and drama, and intense emotions, but first love is like that--and there's quite a lot of spectacular events to deal with. Danger lurking within and without, lies and secrets, and plenty of supernatural surprises.
When she sees Tomohiro, the gorgeous kendo team star, breaking up with his girlfriend in an extremely cruel way. But in an unguarded moment, she sees sadness in his eyes--and when she picks up a fallen drawing, she could swear she saw the drawing move. And the more time she spends, drawn to him even though he keeps trying to scare her away, the more Katie is sure there's something strange about him.
There's a bit of insta-love with a bad boy, but that's to be expected from a romance, really. There's rather a lot of angst and drama, and intense emotions, but first love is like that--and there's quite a lot of spectacular events to deal with. Danger lurking within and without, lies and secrets, and plenty of supernatural surprises.
I loved the overall concept and story line of this book since I've been interested in and have been studying Japanese culture since I was in middle school. The author takes the art of calligraphy and infuses it with the legends and stories of the kami (gods) giving it a fantasy- like effect.
Katie, our main protagonist, is mourning the death of her mother and is sent to live with her aunt in Japan. She is thrust into a completely foreign culture and environment unlike what she's used to and has to learn to adapt quickly to her new surroundings as well as getting a grasp of the Japanese language (which is not easy, since I currently study the language myself).
The novel flows really well, and is full of interesting characters as well as being action packed. The ink drawings/sketches placed throughout the book to go along with the written descriptions are absolutely gorgeous. However, for people that are unfamiliar with the language and culture, there are translations, brief explanations, and a nice glossary included in the back of the book.
Katie, our main protagonist, is mourning the death of her mother and is sent to live with her aunt in Japan. She is thrust into a completely foreign culture and environment unlike what she's used to and has to learn to adapt quickly to her new surroundings as well as getting a grasp of the Japanese language (which is not easy, since I currently study the language myself).
The novel flows really well, and is full of interesting characters as well as being action packed. The ink drawings/sketches placed throughout the book to go along with the written descriptions are absolutely gorgeous. However, for people that are unfamiliar with the language and culture, there are translations, brief explanations, and a nice glossary included in the back of the book.
3.5, terimlerden kafam çorba oldu ama üşenmezsem bir yorum yazarım.
Normal de 4'e tamamlardım ama içimden gelmedi...
Manga sever arkadaşlara sesleniyorum ilk olarak, bu kitabı kesin olarak okumalılar. Neden? Bildiğiniz bir animenin, manganın, comic'in roman olmuş hali. Benim bilgim dahilinde her şey öyle tutuyor ki! Erkek kakülleri falan. :D Hele erkeklerin anlatım biçimleri. Japon kültürünü de tanımış oluyoruz. Kentai'nin aslında cep telefonu olduğunu, hitap kültürlerini, pembe çiçekli ağaçları vs.
Bu kitabın anlatım şekli beni çok sinir etti. İki olumsuz not alan yönden biriydi. Şöyle anlatayım; kitap Japonya'da geçiyor, bunlar japonca konuşuyor. Çok nadiren ingilizce. Ama kitap ingilizce ve yazar sürekli sağdan soldan japonca kelimeleri terimleri tıkıyor bize. Buna çok sinir oldum. Ya şu anda japonca kullanıyoruz, şurada ingilizce diye benim dikkatimi oraya çekme, ya da çekiyorsan sadece o dili kullan. Neden iki dili çorba yapıp bana vermiş anlamadım. Hoş değildi bu. Sürekli sinir oldum.
Kitabın kurgusuna % 100 oranında bayılmadım, ancak içinde beni çeken çok şey vardı. Yabancı bir kültürü tanıtması bunun başında geliyor. Tomo ve Katie'nin cilveleşme olayları da fena değil ama arasıra can sıkıyor doğrusu. Aşk sevimliydi ama. Romantik bile denilebilir. :D Ne kadar çabuk, ne kadar çok dediğim oldu yani. Onun dışında diyecek pek fazla bir sözüm yok sanırım. Konu ilginizi çektiyse bir bakın derim, ben ikinci kitaba okumayı planlıyorum, çok kötü bir yere kaldı. Üstüne klavye basmadan da geçemeyeceğim, kapağı ne kadar güzel değil mi ama! Bayıldım!
Normal de 4'e tamamlardım ama içimden gelmedi...
Manga sever arkadaşlara sesleniyorum ilk olarak, bu kitabı kesin olarak okumalılar. Neden? Bildiğiniz bir animenin, manganın, comic'in roman olmuş hali. Benim bilgim dahilinde her şey öyle tutuyor ki! Erkek kakülleri falan. :D Hele erkeklerin anlatım biçimleri. Japon kültürünü de tanımış oluyoruz. Kentai'nin aslında cep telefonu olduğunu, hitap kültürlerini, pembe çiçekli ağaçları vs.
Bu kitabın anlatım şekli beni çok sinir etti. İki olumsuz not alan yönden biriydi. Şöyle anlatayım; kitap Japonya'da geçiyor, bunlar japonca konuşuyor. Çok nadiren ingilizce. Ama kitap ingilizce ve yazar sürekli sağdan soldan japonca kelimeleri terimleri tıkıyor bize. Buna çok sinir oldum. Ya şu anda japonca kullanıyoruz, şurada ingilizce diye benim dikkatimi oraya çekme, ya da çekiyorsan sadece o dili kullan. Neden iki dili çorba yapıp bana vermiş anlamadım. Hoş değildi bu. Sürekli sinir oldum.
Kitabın kurgusuna % 100 oranında bayılmadım, ancak içinde beni çeken çok şey vardı. Yabancı bir kültürü tanıtması bunun başında geliyor. Tomo ve Katie'nin cilveleşme olayları da fena değil ama arasıra can sıkıyor doğrusu. Aşk sevimliydi ama. Romantik bile denilebilir. :D Ne kadar çabuk, ne kadar çok dediğim oldu yani. Onun dışında diyecek pek fazla bir sözüm yok sanırım. Konu ilginizi çektiyse bir bakın derim, ben ikinci kitaba okumayı planlıyorum, çok kötü bir yere kaldı. Üstüne klavye basmadan da geçemeyeceğim, kapağı ne kadar güzel değil mi ama! Bayıldım!
Did not finish.
I live in Japan, and maybe that's one of the things that bothered me.
Maybe.
As I posted in the last status update I added to this book, it's just SO CHEESY. The paranormal aspects interested me, and I kinda liked the cover. I should have read more reviews before I bought it though because this book was incredibly hard to bother reading. I hated the random insertion of Japanese (without any real reason at that. My friend and I joked that we should write a book too, and talk about how we spilled some MIZU on the YUKA and then we wiped it up with the ZOUKIN because we didn't have a MOPPU.) This is how I felt this book was with adding Japanese to the story- random nouns everywhere. And, I can speak Japanese so it's not that "Oh I didn't know what the words were so it was troublesome to look them up." No.
It just felt completely unnecessary.
I know there were a bunch of other readers who enjoyed this book and I am glad they did. But I did not.
I live in Japan, and maybe that's one of the things that bothered me.
Maybe.
As I posted in the last status update I added to this book, it's just SO CHEESY. The paranormal aspects interested me, and I kinda liked the cover. I should have read more reviews before I bought it though because this book was incredibly hard to bother reading. I hated the random insertion of Japanese (without any real reason at that. My friend and I joked that we should write a book too, and talk about how we spilled some MIZU on the YUKA and then we wiped it up with the ZOUKIN because we didn't have a MOPPU.) This is how I felt this book was with adding Japanese to the story- random nouns everywhere. And, I can speak Japanese so it's not that "Oh I didn't know what the words were so it was troublesome to look them up." No.
It just felt completely unnecessary.
I know there were a bunch of other readers who enjoyed this book and I am glad they did. But I did not.
I did not care for this book when I read it (many moons ago). First off the fish out of water white girl in ~The East~ is both overdone and badly handled, so admittedly this is a book I wouldn't have picked up on my own. Got it as a gift, and it *did* prove hilariously bad in a "written specifically for young weebs to romanticize about before they learn better ways of interacting with the world", so that's something!
The "mixed signals" love interest trope was worn out about two interactions in, and the author never sold me on his "mystery" or their couple's chemistry.
Like, maybe its my natural lack of desire-to-physically-pursue-a-dude, but if I am going to follow a guy, a schoolmate/stranger, around a city to “see what he’s up to” I’m going to need more motivation than "he looked and me funny and grinned", but that's what our MC rolls with. Also hated having to read/suffer through the MC being like “flirting? Whaaa. Surely not. No, no! He is so teasing/sweet/grinning/banter-y! Stars above I wonder why! It’s really getting under my skin yet making me blush and taunt back!!!!” He's flirting. Y'all are flirting. Please get a clue, I beg.
Even if I had ever enjoyed the MC or the setup, tone and the pacing made this book really hard to get into-- even as a big fan of magic/mystery/urban fantasy.
The actions, the motivations, the dialogue-- there was no true flow, and it gave the impression that the author knew she wanted an emotional breakdown RIGHT HERE, and ok sure we hadn’t built up to that just yet and the guy’s mood is flimsy at best but that's too darn bad he he’s going to freak out right here right now because MOMENT.
The entire book is like that: flirt-blush-mad-DARK WOOBIE BACKSTORY-flirt-blush-emotional breakdown-BUT ITS OK I JOKED AND WE’RE FLIRTING AGAIN.
1.5/5 -- keep the sequels far away from me.
The "mixed signals" love interest trope was worn out about two interactions in, and the author never sold me on his "mystery" or their couple's chemistry.
Like, maybe its my natural lack of desire-to-physically-pursue-a-dude, but if I am going to follow a guy, a schoolmate/stranger, around a city to “see what he’s up to” I’m going to need more motivation than "he looked and me funny and grinned", but that's what our MC rolls with. Also hated having to read/suffer through the MC being like “flirting? Whaaa. Surely not. No, no! He is so teasing/sweet/grinning/banter-y! Stars above I wonder why! It’s really getting under my skin yet making me blush and taunt back!!!!” He's flirting. Y'all are flirting. Please get a clue, I beg.
Even if I had ever enjoyed the MC or the setup, tone and the pacing made this book really hard to get into-- even as a big fan of magic/mystery/urban fantasy.
The actions, the motivations, the dialogue-- there was no true flow, and it gave the impression that the author knew she wanted an emotional breakdown RIGHT HERE, and ok sure we hadn’t built up to that just yet and the guy’s mood is flimsy at best but that's too darn bad he he’s going to freak out right here right now because MOMENT.
The entire book is like that: flirt-blush-mad-DARK WOOBIE BACKSTORY-flirt-blush-emotional breakdown-BUT ITS OK I JOKED AND WE’RE FLIRTING AGAIN.
1.5/5 -- keep the sequels far away from me.
Couldnt finish it. It was way to slow. I only got 78% into the book. No desire to finish it.
What I thought: Ink is a story very different to anything I've read before. Katie is a westerner stuck in Japan after a family tragedy. Very early on she meets Tomohiro, a gorgeous but mean boy at her school. Tomo is hiding a very big secret and Katie seems to bring out the worst in him. While Ink is definitely a story about the Kami and the moving ink pictures, I thought it was more about Katie's time in Japan and her connection with Tomo. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but I was more interested in the ink drawings. As this was the first in a series, it left me with many burning questions, which will hopefully be answered in future books. Tomohiro is a character that I loved then hated then loved again. He is a diverse character and we see many different sides to him throughout the story. Amanda Sun has also added some humor to the story, just to give it something extra and you can't help but love Tanaka and Yuki, the form the humor comes in.
This is a pretty great novel, despite how long it took me to get through. The Japanese terms slowed me down, and I was constantly having to turn to the glossary at the back of the book. Despite this, I am looking forward to the next one.
The Good: I just loved the premise of the story - unlike anything I've read before.
The Bad: A lot of the Japanese terms flew straight over my head, making it a bit slow for me to read.
Rating: 4 bookstacks
This is a pretty great novel, despite how long it took me to get through. The Japanese terms slowed me down, and I was constantly having to turn to the glossary at the back of the book. Despite this, I am looking forward to the next one.
The Good: I just loved the premise of the story - unlike anything I've read before.
The Bad: A lot of the Japanese terms flew straight over my head, making it a bit slow for me to read.
Rating: 4 bookstacks
This gets a 4 stars from me, because it has a satisfying ending and the plot becomes better in the second half.
I liked this novel mainly because it was based on Japanese myths and included a lot of Japanese culture. And by a lot, I mean a lot. From tea to kendo and calligraphy to the Kami, this book had it all. Lots of Japanese language was used, and since it's set in Japan, all the customs and mannerisms were there. This was at first a bit overwhelming but it grew on me, and I found the whole experience really interesting, especially as I have never read a book like this. It's refreshing compared to all the American novels I have been reading lately. Which brings me to the concept of the Kami and the power of the ink, which was original and also very interesting to learn about. In this first book, the reader is introduced to the Kami and two main antagonistic groups. The series is set up nicely, though I found the novel started a bit unconvincingly.
Katie, the protagonist, is an American teenager who is sent to live in Japan with her aunt after her mum dies for about half a year while it is decided if her grandparents can get custody of her or not. The novel starts a couple of months into her stay at Japan, right before she meets Tomohiro, and introduces us to her school and home life and her feeling of not belonging. She doesn't like how she doesn't fit in, and her only friends being Yuki and Tanaka. After meeting Tomohiro of course, everything changes...
Nothing much happens through half of the novel, and I would've liked more depth and character development with Katie and most of the other characters. That may not pose a problem in the later books when the characters might be more developed. The writing as well isn't spectacular, but it's enough to convey the story effectively.
Overall, because this book is based on such a unique concept and has some intriguing characters, I will continue on with the series. Included are drawings of some of Tomohiro's ink creations that come to life throughout the book, which enhanced the reading experience. It is a decent book, but one of those which gets a 4 stars that I myself isn't entirely convinced of.
I liked this novel mainly because it was based on Japanese myths and included a lot of Japanese culture. And by a lot, I mean a lot. From tea to kendo and calligraphy to the Kami, this book had it all. Lots of Japanese language was used, and since it's set in Japan, all the customs and mannerisms were there. This was at first a bit overwhelming but it grew on me, and I found the whole experience really interesting, especially as I have never read a book like this. It's refreshing compared to all the American novels I have been reading lately. Which brings me to the concept of the Kami and the power of the ink, which was original and also very interesting to learn about. In this first book, the reader is introduced to the Kami and two main antagonistic groups. The series is set up nicely, though I found the novel started a bit unconvincingly.
Katie, the protagonist, is an American teenager who is sent to live in Japan with her aunt after her mum dies for about half a year while it is decided if her grandparents can get custody of her or not. The novel starts a couple of months into her stay at Japan, right before she meets Tomohiro, and introduces us to her school and home life and her feeling of not belonging. She doesn't like how she doesn't fit in, and her only friends being Yuki and Tanaka. After meeting Tomohiro of course, everything changes...
Nothing much happens through half of the novel, and I would've liked more depth and character development with Katie and most of the other characters. That may not pose a problem in the later books when the characters might be more developed. The writing as well isn't spectacular, but it's enough to convey the story effectively.
Overall, because this book is based on such a unique concept and has some intriguing characters, I will continue on with the series. Included are drawings of some of Tomohiro's ink creations that come to life throughout the book, which enhanced the reading experience. It is a decent book, but one of those which gets a 4 stars that I myself isn't entirely convinced of.
I picked this book because I wanted to get into Japanese mythology more.
One word for this book: meeeeeeeeeeeh.
It wasn't bad but it wasn't something I had to finish. I thought the kami power could be cooler. But that's just me. I didn't really care for any of the characters (I thought Katie cried too much but that's just me, and the whole "I love you person I barely know because you're so mysterious and dark and whatever" didn't really appeal to me either. I did like the parts where Tomo acts shy/embarrassed, though) , and the hint of a love triangle (of course) in the next book makes me like them even less.
But learning about Japanese culture is fun, it's obvious the author did a lot of research on it.
Nopt sure about picking up the next book.
One word for this book: meeeeeeeeeeeh.
It wasn't bad but it wasn't something I had to finish. I thought the kami power could be cooler. But that's just me. I didn't really care for any of the characters (I thought Katie cried too much but that's just me, and the whole "I love you person I barely know because you're so mysterious and dark and whatever" didn't really appeal to me either. I did like the parts where Tomo acts shy/embarrassed, though) , and the hint of a love triangle (of course) in the next book makes me like them even less.
But learning about Japanese culture is fun, it's obvious the author did a lot of research on it.
Nopt sure about picking up the next book.