Reviews

Rain by Amanda Sun

kayleigh_kbooks's review

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5.0

Rain Review on K-Books

"If you're going to violate me, I'd appreciate if you wait till I'm naked."

Oh My Gods... This book is absolutely phenomenal!
I have been dying to get my hands on Rain, the second book in the Paper Gods Series, by Amanda Sun since the moment that I finished Ink. I remember back before Ink was released and I was offered an ARC of it and I turned it down thinking it wasn't really my thing. Then after reading glowing reviews of it from friends and other bloggers picked it up after the release... and then kicking myself for not accepting and reading it sooner. It was just so unique and different and good. After finishing I just needed Rain so bad. To find out what would happen to my favourite characters and so I could vicariously visit Japan again. Rain was everything that I wanted and more. It surpassed all of my, already super high, expectations and just utterly blew me away.

Katie has decided to stay in Japan and help Tomohiro fight against the Ink. But as Tomo starts to lose control more and more Katie discovers that her staying just might be making it worse. Discovering a shocking secret about herself that changes everything, trying to help Tomo and trying to stay away from the awful gang who want Tomohiro's power things just got a whole lot more complicated for Katie. She cares about Tomo and he her, but can they fight through the ink to be together or is the ink destined to tear them apart?

Rain was utterly phenomenal. Once again Amanda Sun took my breathe away, not only with her phenomenal magical story, but with the magic of writing about Japan. It really makes me feel like I am there and like I really want to go visit this beautiful place. Amanda's writing is so phenomenal and once again it reminds me of how shocked I was that Ink was her debut because she really is that good. She has a talent and skill that makes you think she has been writing for years and years. She really sucks you in at the start of the book and never once lets your attention go until you have demolished the whole book in one sitting. I adore her writing and story-telling and Amanda Sun is fast becoming a favourite and auto-buy author for me. I don't need to know anything about the book if Amanda Sun's name is on it I am reading it.

Once again I fell in love with the characters of this series. Katie is an amazing protagonist and I adore her. She really goes through a journey of self-discovery in this one and you really experience every shock, surprise and emotion along with her on the journey. Tomohiro... I just love him. He is sweet, romantic and protective. Everything you could possibly want in a book boyfriend. I loved him.
One character surprise I had while reading Rain was I really started to dislike... and then hate... a character I really didn't think I would dislike. Tomo's best friend Shoiri... well she turned out to be an utter bitch in this book and I just wanted to dive in the book and slap her. I really hope that she is in book 3 as little as possible or that she redeems herself in some way.

Rain was the perfect follow up to Ink. Gladly it didn't suffer from "middle-book syndrome". It was in no way a stepping-stone or a unsatisfying build up to the third book. It was amazing. It was packed full of drama, romance, action and intrigue. I couldn't put the book down and when I found myself having to do something else all I was thinking of is when I could pick the book back up and read more. It was excellent and everything that I love in a book. If you haven't read this series yet I highly suggest that you pick this one up. It really is a gem. A unique, and different book that will not only take your breath away with the story but will take you on the trip of a lifetime to Japan.
Utterly phenomenal!

"I love Katie. And if that means I have to suffer to keep her safe then that's what I'll do. If it means I have to stand aside so someone else can take care of her because I can't... I will stand aside. That's what love is."

nessas_library's review

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3.0

I had higher hopes for this book. I was hoping it would be much better than the last book because that had to set up the entire series. I found it very repetitive and nothing really happens in the book until the last hundred pages or so... That being said, I didn't necessarily hate the book but I still find the main character a bit annoying.

maddiemarie's review

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3.0

I really wasn't expecting much from this book, but I still feel a tad disappointed. After reading Ink, I thought I knew what I was in for: a little bit of cute romance and a weak supernatural plotline that was cringey but bearable, and a cool little look at life in Japan. So, really, my bar was low. It wasn't that I disliked Ink, but I just... I was very self-aware while reading it that it was not exactly stellar literature.

Which is fine. In moderation, at least. So, after a couple of months I decided to pick up Rain from the library and continue.

And... it was fine.



It was decidedly less fine than its predecessor, though. I probably should have expected that but I didn't.

I feel like for me to explain my complicated relationship with this book, I need to break it down into categories.

WRITING
The writing in Rain is quite similar to my overall feelings for it. Those being... it was fine.


Amanda Sun has some good bits sprinkled into Rain, but she also has a lot of cringey things in it that really leave a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't write any quotes down or anything, but you'll just have to take my word on it.

CHARACTERS
Underdeveloped does not even begin to cover these characters. They are like drawings with no color. They are like chicken with no seasoning! Seriously, I have read so much about Tomohiro and the way his copper hair looks like in the sunlight and how cute his smile is and blah, blah, blah. Yet, after being inside Katie's Tomo-obsessed brain for two freaking books, I still don't know a lot about him or how he thinks or anything like that.

Things will just happen and Katie will be like, "Oh, Tomo would never do that" or "Tomo would do this" and I'm just like... okay? Seems legit, Katie. God knows I have no idea what the hell he would do in any given situation.



Also, one of the things that I liked in Ink was Katie and her spunkiness, but I felt like Amanda Sun took every last bit of personality from Katie and just injected her with filler.



Seriously, what happened? Katie used to be so assertive and sassy and she just did what needed to be done. Now, she's just a typical teenager in any YA book ever written.

PLOT
And here, folks, is where things went downhill.

And fast.

Just as a disclaimer, this section will probably be riddled with spoilers.

Now, I will begin.

So, what the heck happened? Literally nothing makes sense.

So, Katie is part-kami now? I mean, I guess I should have expected that would happen at some point. But the whole story behind how she became that way is so confusing. Like, megaaaaaa confusing.

So, Katie's absentee father went on a business trip to Japan, and then along the way he got some pomegranates or something. And then he brought them home, I guess, even though I'm pretty sure you can't even bring fresh food on a plane like that. (I know this because my grandmother tried sneaking a whole bag of apples on our flight back from Mexico and made us almost late for our flight.)

Then, after he has brought them home, he feeds them to his pregnant wife. But, the twist here is that one of the pomegranates was not a real one, but instead was one drew by a Kami????? And when Diane is explaining this to Katie, she says that she remembers one of the pomegranates being a weird color or something, so that's how Katie massively jumps to the conclusion that it was drawn by a Kami. You know, I have a really great idea when it comes to miscolored pomegranates, and it is: DON'T FEED THEM TO YOUR PREGNANT FREAKING WIFE! I know that it's a crazy concept, but maybe then Katie's mom wouldn't have gotten sick from it and nearly died.



So, since this happened, Katie is now a "manufactured Kami", and has ink in her veins. My question is, how would her mom eating the fruit have done that? Like, that seriously does not make any sense. If this were the case, then why wouldn't Katie's mom have become a Kami? And here's an even better question: Why would a Kami even draw a freaking pomegranate anyway? Did they draw one and then just put it in a food cart or something just to maybe get someone sick as a prank or something? Did they do it on accident? Also, all it takes from Diane is to say that the pomegranate was a weird color to have Katie convinced that a Kami drew it. ????????? I know that I am not being the least bit coherent, but I seriously have NO IDEA how Amanda Sun mapped this out in her head, or how people have been reading this and not even questioning it.



Later in the book, Tomo and Katie walk into the school only to find that there are messages written in ink on every chalkboard of every classroom in the school saying things like "Demon Boy" in reference to Tomo, and "the girl must die" in reference to Katie. The people in the school are like "oh, this must be some sort of prank." PRANK? What teenager would do something like that? Like, what the hell? What sort of comedic value is there to be gained from writing crap like that on walls? Also, why would someone write that on literally every chalkboard in the whole damned school? It's just so weird and confusing and scary to be blamed on a little prank.

When I read that part I was like "wtf lol I guess Jun must have done it." and expected that they would address it later but they never did. WHO WROTE THAT? Did Tomo blackout and do it or something? Did the ink do it itself? Did Jun do it? This seems like some pretty important info that I really have no idea about.

This kind-of-sort-of brings me to my biggest problem with this story. Amanda Sun has set absolutely no guidelines for how the supernatural elements in this story work.

1. Whenever Tomo or Jun or a Kami get hurt, half the time they have ink around them instead of blood. But they still have blood and bleed sometimes. So ??? Why does the ink just splat them whenever it feels like it?

2. Katie randomly bled ink one time?

3. The ink can make Tomo blackout and turn all evil and stuff. This made sense when Katie thought Tomo was descended from basically the Japanese version of the devil, but then it turned out that Tomo wasn't actually descended from that at all, and instead he is descended from two different types of gods. So, why is he still turning evil and stuff then? And is all the stuff that Katie investigated and found out about the other god just completely out the window? I mean, we had a pretty solid case that Tomo was related to the bad god, but then Amanda Sun was like "lol nevermind I don't want him to be related to him anymore" and had June related to him instead????????

4. Katie walks into an auditorium at Jun's school and sees him playing the cello and there are just swirls of ink floating around in the air. Katie is like, "oh my God this is the most beautiful thing la di da" while meanwhile, I am just soooo confused! Where does this ink just magically appear from? I keep reading the term "the ink is running through me" or "the ink is in my blood" and stuff like that, so is it kept inside? But if it's kept inside, then how does Jun randomly have a freaking aurora borealis over his head while playing the effing cello? And how do fireworks randomly turn into ink? None of it makes sense!!!!!!



OVERALL
The story is fine, okay? It's not as bad as I'm making it out to be, I guess. I know that it's hard to write a book, and it must be even harder to write and come up with a completely new world to put into the said book, but at the same time, this whole thing is so incredibly convoluted and nonsensical. There is no rhyme or reason for anything to happen other than it moves the story along. It's so full of plot-holes that its similar to a piece of swiss cheese. I felt so disconnected to the story by how unrealistic and just plain, flat-out dumb most of it turned out.

So yes, I was disappointed in this book. Am I still going to read the next one? ....yes, I am.

Feel free to tell me how dumb I am, but I still want to know what happens next. As they say, curiosity killed the Maddie, so who knows if I'll make it out of this one alive.

Thank you for reading this and I'm sorry for how dumb and incoherant I am in it. I definitely just ranted and ranted, but sometimes those the reviews are the best kinds!!

booksandcecilia's review

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3.0

I like the setting and the plot the best!

diaryofabookahloic's review

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4.0

This book felt slower than the frist book. it dragged its feet a bit with the whole Shiroi, Katie, Yuu, and Jun love square thing I just no There no reason to make Shiroi who from what I can remember being such a sweet friend to Yuu and Katie both out of nowhere she in love with Yuu come on she is pregnant with another man's baby really oh she loves Yuu tho and blame Katie for how people treat her at a school Katie doesn't go to like bitch maybe you should have not gotten pregnant. okay, I need to stop ranting about that I'm not mad that Shiroi got Pregnant my problem is this obsession she has over Yuu she stalks Katie to find a reason Yuu should break up with her and send a pic of Jun kissing her after they already broke up. Katie gets so much hate for no reason if you want to get pissed off girls get pissed off at those boys Jun Obsessed with Katie because of her ink in her blood and has never loved his best friend she hating Katie. Any how I did love the ending and boosted this book up from a three-star to a four star

penguininabluebox's review

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4.0

FUN TIMES. These books are really so much fun to read. Had to take one star off the rating because that freaking love triangle-ish part bothered me so much.

jcqb09's review

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4.0

4.5 stars

I feel like I could read these books forever, they're so engaging. Yet again the world of Japan and the kami and the ink and everything captured my attention.

This book took a turn for the dark side. A pretty repetitive one if I do say so. We find out that Tomo is (possibly?) descended from one of the evil gods, so that's why he keeps losing control. But I didn't like the fact that they kept having pretty much the same conflict every chapter. Tomo tries to do something nice, Tomo messes up, Tomo says something along the lines of "crap I'm so evil Katie you need to stay away from me", Katie says "no I love you Tomo, you're not evil", repeat. It was kind of annoying.

And then the thing with Jun. I mean, we saw it coming, but I think we all didn't really want it to happen. I personally don't hate love triangles - like them sometimes, even - but this one was somewhat pointless. We knew Jun - sorry, Tomo, Takahashi - was evil somehow or at least lacking good motives, so Katie had no chance of picking him over Tomo. Even though there were like three people in love with Tomo (Katie, Shiori, [kid whose name I still don't know]) and two in love with Jun (Katie-ish and Ideka).

I think it was kind of refreshing that Jun turned out to be the evil one, not Tomo. But him - Tomo - and Katie still had problems in the form of "our ancestors hated each other so the ink in our respective blood is going to try to kill us."

I do hope to see Katie sand Tomo's love persevere, and I need the next book now.

sp_13's review

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3.0

3.5 stars.

Much better than book one. The romance was way more tolerable and the mythology aspects were better presented in this one. Overall, it's an intriguing instalment in the series.

nixwolfwood's review

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5.0

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I've been looking forward to this book since I finished Ink, about a year ago. As the count down for it's release came closer, I became more and more excited.

When I actually received the book, I was actually nervous about starting it. Ink was one of my top 10 books from last year, and I was worried that I had built up my excitement for the sequel - and I didn't want to be disappointed.

I have to say this... I was worried for nothing. Holy freaking fluff balls, this book... I had to compose myself so I could put my feelings for it into words.

I don't know how she did it, but Rain was much better than Ink... which is saying a lot, because I loved the first book. Maybe it's because I already knew the characters, so she could get more into the story, but I think it's because their was more folklore in this one.

There was still a lot of action, with the kendo matches and ink, the romance felt more intense, and their was one character that I wanted to jump into the book and shake because they were so selfishly cruel. Just like both Shadow and Ink, I couldn't put this one down. (Who needs sleep when you're reading a good book, am I right?)

Absolutely loved this story. It will definitely make it into my top books again this year. I cannot wait to read the third one next summer.

5/5 Platypires

http://www.platypire.com/j-hooligan/ink-by-amanda-sun

onlyongracexm's review

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mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.0

I just want to say right off the bat that Susanoo is not the ruler of Yomi. It’s actually Izanami, the wife of Susanoo’s father, Izanagi, and one of the creators of the islands of Japan. She died and ate some underworld fruit, so when Izanagi tried to rescue her, Izanami couldn’t leave, thus leaving her to rule Yomi. Susanoo may be a bit of a jerk, but he’s more like the Loki of the Japanese pantheon. How on earth do you miss all this information when you’re doing Internet research??

I hate this book. It’s so stupid... They’re all so stupid...

It’s just a continuing cycle of Katie with Tomohiro, Katie reiterates the same cycle of questions, Katie goes to Jun, Katie thinks about all the physical contact, Katie crying... Repeat. That’s it. I don’t even understand how Tomohiro and Katie even work. They have no discernible chemistry, there’s nothing solid keeping them together. Tomo’s gorgeous, okay whatever, but what else? There’s no base of common ground, except for ink hunting them down. It’s all so flimsy, it’s all just heterosexual fodder.

I hate this book. It’s so stupid... They’re all so stupid...