Review: Ink The Paper Gods Book One by Amanda Sun

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

Ink is in their blood
On the heels of a family tragedy, Katie Greene must 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.
When Katie meets aloof but gorgeous Tomohiro, the star of the school’s kendo team, she is intrigued by him... and a little scared. His tough attitude seems meant to keep her at a distance, and when they’re near each other, strange things happen. Pens explode. Ink drips from nowhere. And unless Katie is seeing things, drawings
come to life.
Somehow Tomo is connected to the kami, powerful ancient beings who once ruled Japan—and as feelings develop between Katie and Tomo, things begin to spiral out of control. The wrong people are starting to ask questions, and if they discover the truth, no one will be safe.

MY TAKE:
When I read the blurb for this book, my first thought was how this sounded like it would make a really great anime series.

In Ink, Katie is a foreigner who has come to Japan to live with her aunt. At school, she meets bad boy Tomohiro to whom she is instantly drawn to. Tomohiro, however, is hiding a dark secret, and Katie soon finds out that her connection to Tomohiro may be deeper than she thinks.

This book started off so well for me. Katie seemed okay, and I liked reading about Japanese culture and how Katie was trying to learn the language. The Japanese words and phrases didn't really bother me or take me out of the story since, when I was growing up, I watched a lot of anime and I was able to recognize a lot of the words.

The concept of the book is also very promising. The idea of gods, ink and paper has enough new elements for me to be interested. The problem begins, however, when the romance aspects of the book come to the forefront. The plot about the ink and Tomohiro's powers feel like they've taken a back seat to Tomohiro and Katie's romance. And the worst part for me is the fact that Katie and Tomohiro's romance, coupled with the guy who completes the love triangle, brings back memories of Twilight, Hush, Hush, and every other book with that same romance plot. Katie became this girl whose thoughts revolved around Tomohiro.

I kinda wish that the romance would have either gone the slower route and become more obvious in the second book, or they would have gone the way of Fushigi Yuugi wherein the romance was a little bit like this one, but Miaka had more common sense and altruism than Katie.

Thanks to NetGalley and Mira Ink for the e-ARC. Publication date of Ink is on July 5, 2013.

THE GOOD:

1. You get to learn about Japanese culture.
2. You get to learn a few Japanese phrases.
3. The premise is interesting.

THE BAD:

1. Katie and Tomohiro's love story can become grating.

FAVORITE QUOTE/S:

Diana woke the next morning at five-thirty so she could cook karaage, onigiri, nasubi and stewed eggs for my picnic bentou.

READ IT IF:

1. You liked Twilight and other similar books.
2. You like Japanese culture.
3. You want to learn a few Japanese phrases.

RATING:


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