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3.5 stars. Interesting. Loved the mythology and Japanese stuff. Didn't really like the Katie x Tomohiro much though. Then again…
More review tomorrow/later. Definitely a suggestive read though.
Update
SO Originally this was on my shelf because it had a really beautiful cover. I love this cover a lot. However, I wasn't impressed with the premise, and reading it, yeah, it pretty much coasted the way I expected.
However, in many ways, since I'm an avid manga fan and have read way too many shoujo manga (manga aimed at teen/YA girls as opposed to shounen for guys) which all have the same kind of stories and expectations, I chose to read Ink for that very reason.
I was, undoubtedly, because I am totally weird that way, but I guess this weirdness allows me to see beyond the genericness of the plot, expecting a manga-like story.
And I wasn't entirely disappointed in that area.
The only thing that would have made this more 'manga' like is if the protagonist was also asian. But she isn't and that of course messed with my crazily weird expectations.
Still. In a way, it did read like a manga, I saw a lot of tropes that you'd see in usual shoujo manga, and of course lots of tropes that you usually see in YA lit.
I liked that appearances in this book are really focussed on--I can barely remember much about what Katie looks like, except that she's blond and that she isn't that worried about her looks, I think. But I do know what Tomohiro looks like...and he acts totally like guys in shoujo manga......
So I can't complain about that.
And really, I don't have much to complain about this time round since my expectations were different, since I don't know why I felt that because this book was set in a country that other books are usually not set in, I didn't need to have the same expectations.
I'll say though that there is a plot to all this, even if I think combining it with Yakuza to make it seem more dangerous also didn't feel extremely dangerous (I was a little unconvinced). And then there were the other ink users. So there was a lot of plot and things happening in this book that normal book ones don't have. So that made it interesting.
But other than the japaneseness, this is a pretty typical YA book.
Favourite parts: The Japan setting, Tomohiro (even if he's a typical male guy, I like an asian love interest every once in a while since I don't see many of those around who are not goths, and not disguising their asianness with something else), the mythology (I really like mythology from Japan).
Not so favourite parts: The romance between Katie and Tomohiro (sure it happened over like a three month period but I thought it happened a bit fast. Like she went from 'like' to 'love' wayyyyyy too quickly, and Tomo, dude, you just broke up with your girlfriend whom you loved and already....????). I wasn't entirely convinced with the whole Yakuza and other ink user plot...but that would developed in the sequels I presume, so can't say much about it.
Overall. A good read for the mythology, even the romance if one likes how instantaneous it was. I started reading this in the bookstore and really got into it, before some things ticked me off (when I picked it up to read later on) and then other things held my attention in the story.
More review tomorrow/later. Definitely a suggestive read though.
Update
SO Originally this was on my shelf because it had a really beautiful cover. I love this cover a lot. However, I wasn't impressed with the premise, and reading it, yeah, it pretty much coasted the way I expected.
However, in many ways, since I'm an avid manga fan and have read way too many shoujo manga (manga aimed at teen/YA girls as opposed to shounen for guys) which all have the same kind of stories and expectations, I chose to read Ink for that very reason.
I was, undoubtedly, because I am totally weird that way, but I guess this weirdness allows me to see beyond the genericness of the plot, expecting a manga-like story.
And I wasn't entirely disappointed in that area.
The only thing that would have made this more 'manga' like is if the protagonist was also asian. But she isn't and that of course messed with my crazily weird expectations.
Still. In a way, it did read like a manga, I saw a lot of tropes that you'd see in usual shoujo manga, and of course lots of tropes that you usually see in YA lit.
I liked that appearances in this book are really focussed on--I can barely remember much about what Katie looks like, except that she's blond and that she isn't that worried about her looks, I think. But I do know what Tomohiro looks like...and he acts totally like guys in shoujo manga......
So I can't complain about that.
And really, I don't have much to complain about this time round since my expectations were different, since I don't know why I felt that because this book was set in a country that other books are usually not set in, I didn't need to have the same expectations.
I'll say though that there is a plot to all this, even if I think combining it with Yakuza to make it seem more dangerous also didn't feel extremely dangerous (I was a little unconvinced). And then there were the other ink users. So there was a lot of plot and things happening in this book that normal book ones don't have. So that made it interesting.
But other than the japaneseness, this is a pretty typical YA book.
Favourite parts: The Japan setting, Tomohiro (even if he's a typical male guy, I like an asian love interest every once in a while since I don't see many of those around who are not goths, and not disguising their asianness with something else), the mythology (I really like mythology from Japan).
Not so favourite parts: The romance between Katie and Tomohiro (sure it happened over like a three month period but I thought it happened a bit fast. Like she went from 'like' to 'love' wayyyyyy too quickly, and Tomo, dude, you just broke up with your girlfriend whom you loved and already....????). I wasn't entirely convinced with the whole Yakuza and other ink user plot...but that would developed in the sequels I presume, so can't say much about it.
Overall. A good read for the mythology, even the romance if one likes how instantaneous it was. I started reading this in the bookstore and really got into it, before some things ticked me off (when I picked it up to read later on) and then other things held my attention in the story.