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tiareleine 's review for:
Ink
by Amanda Sun
Ink was a huge letdown for me. I mean, I read the reviews before I started reading and maybe I should have taken the hint and not read it, but the premise just seemed to have so much potential! Unfortunately, the story didn't live up to it.
I wanted to like this book, I really did, but Luce and Daniel--I mean Katie and Tomohiro just weren't having any of it. How are the two couple similar? Lets give a run down of how they fell in love, and you tell me which couple I'm talking about. Tragedy strikes, and our young heroine must move and go to a new school. There she sees a mysterious boy, who her friends tell her to stay away from, but does she listen? Why, of course not. Mr. Mysterious wants nothing to do with her, but she just can't get over him. She has to know more about him! Eventually he stops trying to get her to stay away and BAM Insta-love. Any guesses? That's right, the answer is both. That describes both Luce/Daniel and Katie/Tomohiro. But the similarities don't end there. Both Luce and Katie have many men attracted to them (somebody please explain why Jun is so nice to her. Please.) And they're both idiots. I mean, really, Katie. When you find out a guy (Ishikawa) is in the Yakuza, it's time to leave him alone. Don't follow lover boy when you think he going to meet him. Don't confront him about it after you run into him in the back hallway of a karaoke club (when he's holding a switchblade!) I mean, come on. She also demands answers all the time. She has to know everything about the mysterious boy and she has to know it now! And he's surprisingly willing to spill it. But, seriously, her questions were all over the place. "What's going on?!" "What's up with you drawings!?" "Your friend said that pregnant girl is really your girlfriend?!" "TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR LIFE NOW! So I can ask my friends and your friends about it and then ask you again later when they tell me something different!" (Okay, maybe that last one was paraphrased, but you get the idea.) She also had an uncalled for sense if urgency about everything. 50 pages in is too soon for her to be freaking out about needed answers, because the story hasn't built up to the point where I feel like I need them, too. (Or, you know, care) and the worst part is that I guessed all the answers dozens of pages before they were given!
Do you know why I wanted to like this book? The premise and setting were so promising. The mythology used made me sure that it was going to be a fascinating and original adventure. But the execution just didn't live up. If you ignore Katie (which is hard because she's the main character) it's basically heading in the right direction. Cool drawings that come to life, Japan, sign me up! Unfortunately Katie just had to ruin it.
Although, I can't ignore the originality of the story. That's what keeps it from being one star. That and all if the cool little details. The drawings that were thrown in there (like the girl at the beginning, the birds, and the dragon, which were beautiful) as well as the flip animation on the sides of some of the pages. It's stuff like that that makes a book stand out. Plus (and this might not be true of every edition) the texture of the cover was like canvas! That was cool. I know that all has little to do with the story, which is what I should be reviewing, but I feel like publishing companies should know that details like that really do matter.
Then there was Katie's over-emotional reaction to everything. Like this quote (where Tomohiro has drawn some butterflies) : "And then Tomohiro scratched through the drawings and they dropped one by one, like black cherry petals crumpling to the ground. It was so horrible that Tears welled up in my eyes." (153) Katie was crying over the drawings. She was crying over sketched drawings of butterflies that were fluttering around them. But it's important to remember that Tomohiro scratched because he needs them to stay a secret for his own safety, and the safety of everyone around him, and Katie is crying telling him not to do that! She just said she didn't want to be in danger! And then she tells him not to draw anymore. Clearly she's never had a hobby she liked. And clearly she doesn't understand why he draws, he can't just stop.
And, of course, there's the insta-love. Here's a prime example of what I had to suffer through when reading this book. This is from page 157 (157 out of 326. That's not even half-way through) "I knew then that I couldn't live without him, even when he was infuriating. Which was pretty much all the time." You have to be kidding me. That doesn't sound like something a teenager would know, and it also doesn't sound good. If he's "infuriating" why in the world would you not be able to live without him?
There were also some times where I felt the book could have used some more thorough editing. Like on page 221 when Katie is asking about some paintings in a shrine and she says "Is that why all the demons?" I'm sorry, what? I can't tell what that question means. Is it incomplete? Do you want to ask why the demons are doing something, but you forgot a verb, or is it just a poorly phrased question? Is it supposed to be more like "Is that why there are so many demons?" I honestly am just at a loss here. I have no idea what she's trying to say--and this is just one example of really, really weird grammar that I found in this book.
Tomohiro is an ass. Not only did he start out as the cold, mysterious, really annoying guy at their school, who lied about cheating on his girlfriend and getting a girl pregnant, he also wanted Katie not to get close to him but when she did anyway he pretended like he was going to let her stay close. Then he decided to (pretend to?) try to rape her. Yes, you read that right. He took her to a 'love hotel' and was really forceful with her until she ran off crying. He's really a keeper, isn't he (Not). (And then when Katie realized that he drove her away to protect her she was like "How could I have been so stupid!" Listen up, Katie, if a guy takes you to a place for sex and you don't want to go there, and then he's being really rough with you and it makes you uncomfortable enough to leave, you aren't stupid.)
Why Katie? That was the question I was so desperately hoping would be answered. And it was... Sort of. The answer didn't really do it for me, though. I mean, why would this American girl have such a connection to the Kami? They're Japanese Gods, what would she have to do with them? Well, apparently (and this isn't a huge spoiler, but I figure some people might not want to know, if they're planning on reading the book) At least Sun tried.
Then there's the Yakuza stuff. Katie really should try to stay away from that, but she doesn't. When Tomohiro starts to get mixed up in it she follows him every single time, and she keeps getting caught up in mob dealings! She keeps being angry because he's putting her in danger, but its her own damn fault. If she would just give Tomohiro a little privacy I'm sure everything would all work out, but every time they get a hold of her they can use her for bargaining, and that doesn't help Tomohiro a whole lot. And she can't just leave him alone for a minute. She always has to go charging off through the sketchy neighborhoods after him (and getting lost)
And then there's the last 30% of the book. I was completely lost. I had no idea what the hell was happening. The Yakuza captured them! And then, oh look, some Kami are here to save the day! Yay! But wait! No, we can't trust them! We must flee! Screw you guys for trying to help! I'm just gonna try to kendo fight you, even though I joined kendo like 4 months ago and you're the champion at your school! (Because that makes sense...?)
Although, I have to say, the Japanese part was actually done surprisingly well. (Not that I know all that much about Japan) What I mean is that it didn't seem gimmicky, it was actually an important part of the story and not just something to trick people into thinking that it was original (okay, so it did kind of trick me into thinking it would be good but the originality was all genuine)
So, that's one star for originality and one star for... Okay, a half star for readability/not being miserable to read, and just pretend the other half star isn't there. I'm giving it a 1.5
I wanted to like this book, I really did, but Luce and Daniel--I mean Katie and Tomohiro just weren't having any of it. How are the two couple similar? Lets give a run down of how they fell in love, and you tell me which couple I'm talking about. Tragedy strikes, and our young heroine must move and go to a new school. There she sees a mysterious boy, who her friends tell her to stay away from, but does she listen? Why, of course not. Mr. Mysterious wants nothing to do with her, but she just can't get over him. She has to know more about him! Eventually he stops trying to get her to stay away and BAM Insta-love. Any guesses? That's right, the answer is both. That describes both Luce/Daniel and Katie/Tomohiro. But the similarities don't end there. Both Luce and Katie have many men attracted to them (somebody please explain why Jun is so nice to her. Please.) And they're both idiots. I mean, really, Katie. When you find out a guy (Ishikawa) is in the Yakuza, it's time to leave him alone. Don't follow lover boy when you think he going to meet him. Don't confront him about it after you run into him in the back hallway of a karaoke club (when he's holding a switchblade!) I mean, come on. She also demands answers all the time. She has to know everything about the mysterious boy and she has to know it now! And he's surprisingly willing to spill it. But, seriously, her questions were all over the place. "What's going on?!" "What's up with you drawings!?" "Your friend said that pregnant girl is really your girlfriend?!" "TELL ME EVERYTHING ABOUT YOUR LIFE NOW! So I can ask my friends and your friends about it and then ask you again later when they tell me something different!" (Okay, maybe that last one was paraphrased, but you get the idea.) She also had an uncalled for sense if urgency about everything. 50 pages in is too soon for her to be freaking out about needed answers, because the story hasn't built up to the point where I feel like I need them, too. (Or, you know, care) and the worst part is that I guessed all the answers dozens of pages before they were given!
Do you know why I wanted to like this book? The premise and setting were so promising. The mythology used made me sure that it was going to be a fascinating and original adventure. But the execution just didn't live up. If you ignore Katie (which is hard because she's the main character) it's basically heading in the right direction. Cool drawings that come to life, Japan, sign me up! Unfortunately Katie just had to ruin it.
Although, I can't ignore the originality of the story. That's what keeps it from being one star. That and all if the cool little details. The drawings that were thrown in there (like the girl at the beginning, the birds, and the dragon, which were beautiful) as well as the flip animation on the sides of some of the pages. It's stuff like that that makes a book stand out. Plus (and this might not be true of every edition) the texture of the cover was like canvas! That was cool. I know that all has little to do with the story, which is what I should be reviewing, but I feel like publishing companies should know that details like that really do matter.
Then there was Katie's over-emotional reaction to everything. Like this quote (where Tomohiro has drawn some butterflies) : "And then Tomohiro scratched through the drawings and they dropped one by one, like black cherry petals crumpling to the ground. It was so horrible that Tears welled up in my eyes." (153) Katie was crying over the drawings. She was crying over sketched drawings of butterflies that were fluttering around them. But it's important to remember that Tomohiro scratched because he needs them to stay a secret for his own safety, and the safety of everyone around him, and Katie is crying telling him not to do that! She just said she didn't want to be in danger! And then she tells him not to draw anymore. Clearly she's never had a hobby she liked. And clearly she doesn't understand why he draws, he can't just stop.
And, of course, there's the insta-love. Here's a prime example of what I had to suffer through when reading this book. This is from page 157 (157 out of 326. That's not even half-way through) "I knew then that I couldn't live without him, even when he was infuriating. Which was pretty much all the time." You have to be kidding me. That doesn't sound like something a teenager would know, and it also doesn't sound good. If he's "infuriating" why in the world would you not be able to live without him?
There were also some times where I felt the book could have used some more thorough editing. Like on page 221 when Katie is asking about some paintings in a shrine and she says "Is that why all the demons?" I'm sorry, what? I can't tell what that question means. Is it incomplete? Do you want to ask why the demons are doing something, but you forgot a verb, or is it just a poorly phrased question? Is it supposed to be more like "Is that why there are so many demons?" I honestly am just at a loss here. I have no idea what she's trying to say--and this is just one example of really, really weird grammar that I found in this book.
Tomohiro is an ass. Not only did he start out as the cold, mysterious, really annoying guy at their school, who lied about cheating on his girlfriend and getting a girl pregnant, he also wanted Katie not to get close to him but when she did anyway he pretended like he was going to let her stay close. Then he decided to (pretend to?) try to rape her. Yes, you read that right. He took her to a 'love hotel' and was really forceful with her until she ran off crying. He's really a keeper, isn't he (Not). (And then when Katie realized that he drove her away to protect her she was like "How could I have been so stupid!" Listen up, Katie, if a guy takes you to a place for sex and you don't want to go there, and then he's being really rough with you and it makes you uncomfortable enough to leave, you aren't stupid.)
Why Katie? That was the question I was so desperately hoping would be answered. And it was... Sort of. The answer didn't really do it for me, though. I mean, why would this American girl have such a connection to the Kami? They're Japanese Gods, what would she have to do with them? Well, apparently (and this isn't a huge spoiler, but I figure some people might not want to know, if they're planning on reading the book)
Spoiler
it's because of Tomohiro's love for Katie! Even though that makes no sense, because the Ink stuff started before they even really knew each other.Then there's the Yakuza stuff. Katie really should try to stay away from that, but she doesn't. When Tomohiro starts to get mixed up in it she follows him every single time, and she keeps getting caught up in mob dealings! She keeps being angry because he's putting her in danger, but its her own damn fault. If she would just give Tomohiro a little privacy I'm sure everything would all work out, but every time they get a hold of her they can use her for bargaining, and that doesn't help Tomohiro a whole lot. And she can't just leave him alone for a minute. She always has to go charging off through the sketchy neighborhoods after him (and getting lost)
And then there's the last 30% of the book. I was completely lost. I had no idea what the hell was happening. The Yakuza captured them! And then, oh look, some Kami are here to save the day! Yay! But wait! No, we can't trust them! We must flee! Screw you guys for trying to help! I'm just gonna try to kendo fight you, even though I joined kendo like 4 months ago and you're the champion at your school! (Because that makes sense...?)
Although, I have to say, the Japanese part was actually done surprisingly well. (Not that I know all that much about Japan) What I mean is that it didn't seem gimmicky, it was actually an important part of the story and not just something to trick people into thinking that it was original (okay, so it did kind of trick me into thinking it would be good but the originality was all genuine)
So, that's one star for originality and one star for... Okay, a half star for readability/not being miserable to read, and just pretend the other half star isn't there. I'm giving it a 1.5