You'll Be Drawn Into the Magic and Mystery That Is "Ink".

Ink (Paper Gods, #1) Title:  Ink
(Paper Gods #1)
Author:  Amanda Sun
Format:  E-galley
Length:  377 pages
Expected Date of Publication:  June  25,2013
Publisher:  Harlequin Teen
Rating:  5 stars

I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe. I reached for it, flipping the page over to look.

Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench.

A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness.

And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.


On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Kay tie 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 

My Thoughts
This story, though set in a culture, language, time, and place that are all foreign to most Western readers, is so well-written and thoroughly expressed that all of those differences are soon banished into nonexistence.  
The more time that one spends with Katie, Tomo, and the others amid the customs, histories, and mythologies, tech, and elegance that comprises "Ink"s Japan; the more one wants to visit said version.

Katie
Though she is a child of loss, Katie Greene, much to her credit spends her time trying to be as normal.
Well, as normal as an awkward American girl, who barely speaks a word of Japanese, and grieving the loss of her mother can be.
So when she finds herself staring into the face of bad boy kendo star, Tomohiro, and sees the beautiful girl in one of his drawings move as it lands at her feet.  What else is a girl to do...but take it in stride.
Though she has heard all the rumors about Tomoshiro and has even witnessed his break-up with his girlfriend amid talk of his having impregnated another; something in he eyes tells her of the real Tomoshiro.  The one he hides from the world.

Tomo
He has a secret.  A powerful secret that he must hide and protect at all costs.
Hiding his secret is dangerous however, because in hiding his secret, denying his art; Tomohiro is denying what he is.
This is however what he has accepted as his life.
Hide
Deny
Live Apart
Never get too close to ANYONE.

Until her.
  
She something in her calls to the power within him.  Something in her make his art dance and fires his blood.
She is foreign,  she is curious, she is annoying.
She is smart, she is funny, she is beautiful.
Can she be his?

The Story
This is a very subtle story that is so easy to fall into that it's complexity sneaks up on the reader.
The mythology and magic plays peek-a-boo with the more contemporary aspects of the story.
This story is one that works because every aspect of it is in perfect balance with every other.
Even the power to make things happen is shared evenly between Katie and Tomo; though one is never quite sure where Katie's power comes from.
In addition to the great number differing genre of treasures which make up this story's plot there are the following mysteries.

1.  Who is Tomohiro?
2.  Why can Katie see the ink in his sketches move?
3.  What is the purpose of the strange relationship between Tomo and his friend Ishikawa?
4.  Who would want to hurt Tomoshiro?
5.  Who is Jun?

This beautiful book works well as a stand alone, but thankfully there will be more in the series.

I try not to gush, but I must say that this book is a personal favorite of mine and I can't wait for the continuation of the series. 



2 comments:

  1. I cannot wait to read this book, and your review doesn't help with that. It just makes me want to read it even more! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ooh, I really want to read this now!

    ReplyDelete

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