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etemp 's review for:
Water Moon
by Samantha Sotto Yambao
fast-paced
heavy on the magic and light on the realism, here. i got about halfway through this novel thinking that i was going to be rating it five stars, but by 50% i started noticing some questionable patterns and details that bumped it down to four stars, and by about 85% i was even questioning whether i could realistically rate it a four. i did read it all the way to the end but only by the power of being able to vent in my journal entries about it.
The (imo, marvelous) first half: delivered everything that the summary and cover art promised and more! i really liked the unfolding of the mystery and the gradual revealing of details through the lens of keishin's culture shock in hana's world. the whole regret-based economy of the pawn shop was intriguing, as was their wild-goose-chase after hana's father.
even keishin and hana's romance was sweet and fresh and interesting in the first half. i went absolutely feral for kei's line (at ~40%) that was like "if you're a mind-trick like everything else in this world, then consider me willing to be fooled." that's objectively cute.
~50% through ~85%, beware spoilers: this is where i started to notice the repetition a lot more, not only in kei and hana's conversations but also in the narrative. they would ask someone for help, receive a cryptic and surly response (bonus points for "we can't talk here, let's go somewhere safe"), and go on some uniquely magical journey to arrive at the next person to ask for help. and it just kept going and going and going like that for what felt like half a dozen times. the details all changed, but the formula stayed the same.
i also started to get a huge ick from kei in this section. the longer their adventure goes on, the more i saw him become the epitome of a 'male savior' figure. maybe this is because this also happens to be the section with (light but cringey) sexual content. from then on, i got the sense that he was treating hana differently and ignoring her advice/decisions if they got in the way of his relationship with her or his self-righteous protection over her mind and body. wacky shit.
oh also, i'd bully anybody who said the words "i don't like looking at maps because they remind me of all the things people pretend to know," (~77%) but i'd especially bully keishin for that. he's a damn scientist, not a phony ass philosopher.
~85% through the end, definitely spoilers:
MOMMY ISSUES MOMMY ISSUES MOMMY ISSUES, blah blah blah.
keishin's red flag armada grows even stronger, if you can believe it, and what does my girl hana do about it? yes that's correct, she chooses him over her parents, whom she spent the entire novel looking for.
a garbage plotline implying that haruto's disability means that his life is worthless: "my hands were shattered. without them, i was less than nothing. i had no purpose or duty, i had no life." and that his most precious possession is somehow all of his memories of hana?? which he surrenders in exchange for a small measure of peace while his unfairly short life dwindles?? (~95%)
what do you MEAN hana basically started a revolution in her world and you only dedicated one single line of dialogue to it at 99%????? that would have been way more interesting to hear about than keishin in a ramen shop!
forget bullying, i'm straight up ruining keishin's life over the line, "no lies anymore. wait, maybe sometimes we should be able to lie to each other so that I can avoid telling you that you look fat when you ask." (~100%) and i'm not even joking, that's literally in the text.
so yea, if you don't mind the unfinished mystery, try reading up until about chapter 35 and call it a day. i read all the way to the end, and i still don't understand some of the mystery's details, so do with that what you will
The (imo, marvelous) first half: delivered everything that the summary and cover art promised and more! i really liked the unfolding of the mystery and the gradual revealing of details through the lens of keishin's culture shock in hana's world. the whole regret-based economy of the pawn shop was intriguing, as was their wild-goose-chase after hana's father.
even keishin and hana's romance was sweet and fresh and interesting in the first half. i went absolutely feral for kei's line (at ~40%) that was like "if you're a mind-trick like everything else in this world, then consider me willing to be fooled." that's objectively cute.
~50% through ~85%, beware spoilers: this is where i started to notice the repetition a lot more, not only in kei and hana's conversations but also in the narrative. they would ask someone for help, receive a cryptic and surly response (bonus points for "we can't talk here, let's go somewhere safe"), and go on some uniquely magical journey to arrive at the next person to ask for help. and it just kept going and going and going like that for what felt like half a dozen times. the details all changed, but the formula stayed the same.
i also started to get a huge ick from kei in this section. the longer their adventure goes on, the more i saw him become the epitome of a 'male savior' figure. maybe this is because this also happens to be the section with (light but cringey) sexual content. from then on, i got the sense that he was treating hana differently and ignoring her advice/decisions if they got in the way of his relationship with her or his self-righteous protection over her mind and body. wacky shit.
oh also, i'd bully anybody who said the words "i don't like looking at maps because they remind me of all the things people pretend to know," (~77%) but i'd especially bully keishin for that. he's a damn scientist, not a phony ass philosopher.
~85% through the end, definitely spoilers:
MOMMY ISSUES MOMMY ISSUES MOMMY ISSUES, blah blah blah.
keishin's red flag armada grows even stronger, if you can believe it, and what does my girl hana do about it? yes that's correct, she chooses him over her parents, whom she spent the entire novel looking for.
a garbage plotline implying that haruto's disability means that his life is worthless: "my hands were shattered. without them, i was less than nothing. i had no purpose or duty, i had no life." and that his most precious possession is somehow all of his memories of hana?? which he surrenders in exchange for a small measure of peace while his unfairly short life dwindles?? (~95%)
what do you MEAN hana basically started a revolution in her world and you only dedicated one single line of dialogue to it at 99%????? that would have been way more interesting to hear about than keishin in a ramen shop!
forget bullying, i'm straight up ruining keishin's life over the line, "no lies anymore. wait, maybe sometimes we should be able to lie to each other so that I can avoid telling you that you look fat when you ask." (~100%) and i'm not even joking, that's literally in the text.
so yea, if you don't mind the unfinished mystery, try reading up until about chapter 35 and call it a day. i read all the way to the end, and i still don't understand some of the mystery's details, so do with that what you will
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Abandonment
Moderate: Sexual content, Torture, Dementia
Minor: Abortion, Pregnancy