First Impressions:
The thing that got me to even check this book was its cover. I mean, it's GOREGOUS. LOOK AT IT (shoves cover into your face).
And of course the premise. The thing that first drew me into it was the fact that it was placed in Japan AND dealed with Japanese mythology. I wasn't really in for the romance though, but like majority of today's YA novels, there had to be one (good OR bad).
(If anyone is interested in reading this, I warn you of spoilers)
So here's the thing. I love long books. Long books are great. That means if you enjoy the story, there's so much more to come, and if you don't well - then you put it down like all the rest. And that's fine. But what I didn't like was the RAMBLING in the book that made it so long. I felt like at times the main character, Katie, was just on constant repeat for a good chunk of the book. And only on one thing too: her love interest.
"I LOVE HIM TOMOHIRO SO MUCH. SO MUCH. DID I MENTION THAT I LOVE HIM?! NOW I MUST GO ENDANGER EVERYONE TO BE WITH HIM! BE GONE PEASANTS!"
That last sentence summed up half of the novel.
The characters were bearable, with the exception of the other guy who is totally in love with her. Every time she's alone, BOOM. There he is. And you need to read about his silver earring for the millionth friggen time, cause then the whole book would be a disaster.
Her friends were okay, but like Katie, were on repeat the whole time. "Don't date him. He is bad. No Katie. Bad Katie. Don't date him Katie..." etc etc. They were nothing to really care about, and I felt like they were just thrown in to stress how bad her boyfriend was, even though, like all other YA romances, there's "more" to him than a tough facade.
Despite these character and writing flaws, I loved a few choice things about this book that made me keep going (and will probably make me continue to read the series when she comes out with the second book), such as:
The imagery. I kid you not, Sun actually put in some beautiful descriptions in this book, mostly of the cherry trees. I felt like I was really there, something that doesn't happen a lot to me while reading books. I wouldn't be surprised if the author herself wrote it while in Japan.
Her incorporation of Japanese into the novel. I actually learned a few words in Japanese while reading, and considering how much I love the culture, that was a HUGE factor into my review. She even put in a little glossary in the back of the book for you to check out if you don't know what something means. And if you don't feel like going back, Sun makes the meaning obvious for those familiar with context clues :)
And despite the fact that Katie obsesses over him every minute, I somewhat enjoyed the romance. Of course, it wasn't the best one ever, but still. Sun managed to make the obsessing tolerable to a degree. And I was pretty happy that Tomo actually pushed her away persistently, unlike Twilight, where he just went to Italy to dazzle a tourist attraction and then give up on leaving Bella. In Ink, there was multiple points where he made it clear that he didn't want here there, and forced her at times to do so.
Overall Score: 3.5 stars. It was a nice debut for Sun, and as she reads over other reviews I'm sure she'll improve her second book greatly. Looking forward to it :)
Oyasumi Nasai (good night)!
No comments:
Post a Comment