Sunday 14 April 2013

ARC Review of Ink by Amanda Sun

Pages: 377
Ink (Paper Gods, #1)Publisher: Harlequin Teen
Release: June 25th 2013

Plot: On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive. (Goodreads)


Good Points: One of the major things that stood out for me when I read this book was the obvious love the author has for Japan. The description of the people, traditions and scenery all helped beautifully create a vivid image for the reader right from page one which I absolutely loved. The use of the Japanese language throughout for me worked really well also, as at times a character would say something and you wouldn't necessarily find out what they had actually said, only what they had implied, and I thought this fitted into the book really well as the reader gains some understanding and a brief insight into the humongous challenge that Katie has of being placed in an environment where she doesn't really know the language yet. I thought this was a nice touch to the story.
Also every now and then there's a little drawing that's relevant to the scene which was nice seeing as though its a book involving drawings coming to life and for a moment I did look at the pictures on my Kindle and expect them to move -_- Just saying... 
Continuing with the Japanese setting in the book, traditional Japanese mythology is used to create the paranormal element to the story and explain the strange things that Katie is sure she is seeing such as the moving drawings that she catches staring at her.
Overall though the book did get slightly better the more I read on though I think the first half ruined it a little for me in the end and that's why I'd probably only give it 2, maybe 3 stars if I was rating it. 

What I didn't like: I really wanted to love this book but I just didn't. I saw INK a couple of months ago on Goodreads before I received the ARC and it sounded really interesting with its plot being set in Japan where a girl see's drawings come alive. Sounds pretty good, right? But instead I guess you could say that I just felt a little let down.

Firstly I would have loved for the book to deal a little more with Katie starting out in Japan rather than jumping dramatically to the point where she meets Tomohiro and seemingly falls in love with him pretty much from the start. This is reflected in her infatuation with her following him despite his cries of 'Get away from me, I'm dangerous!" which I have to admit had me rolling my eyes. I don't know, maybe I'm finally getting tired of this sort of stuff cropping up in YA books. Yes, the whole drawings to life and Japanese culture playing a key role within the book were unique I give it that, but the sub-plot wasn't. It was you're typical bad yet mysterious boy falling for the new girl at school who is being sought after by that other guy and they somehow get caught up in danger. 

To Sum Up.... I wouldn't completely rule this book out because I know some people will really love it but for me it just wasn't my cup of tea. 
The book hit shelves June 25th this year so look out for it! 

4 comments:

  1. I've just finished reading it and have similar thoughts :) Great review.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm getting an ARC of this soon, but I've read a lot of mixed reviews about it. I'm definitely still willing to give it a try, though.

    I saw your post on the YA Book Club Discussion group on Goodreads and thought I'd check your blog out. I'm now a follower via GFC and BlogLovin'!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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