Ink

I had been looking forward to reading Ink since it was previewed at the Harlequin Summit in February. The first in a new young adult series, it promised an original mythic element set in an exotic but contemporary locale.

Katie Greene is still settling into her new life with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, when she accidentally witnesses a nasty break up between Tomohiro and his girlfriend. Katie is shocked at the handsome, Kendo stars cruelty but wonders at his fleeting expression of pain and regret. She is further intrigued when she awkwardly gathers together the sketches flung at her feet and one of the figures appears to turn and glare at her. Despite being warned off by her friends Katie is drawn to Tomo, determined to discover just show more what she saw, and what he is hiding.

The strongest element of Ink is the introduction of a fresh concept for the paranormal genre which has exhausted all things vampire, werewolf and fae. The myth of the Kami (Japanese Gods), and Tomo's ability, is interesting and creative. Tomohiro's sketches come to life, but the spirit that inhabits them is malevolent, turning on him and whomever is near. It's a power Tomohiro does not understand and tries to keep hidden but he is finding it increasingly difficult to control his ability.

I also liked the way in which Sun incorporates the distinctive cultural traits of the Japanese, from changing footwear, to the popularity of Kendo and the normality of 'cram' schools, without bloating the text with details. The meaning of the few Japanese words used can be worked out using context (though there is a glossary at the back if needed) and the setting is a welcome change from small town America.

Unfortunately, I was so frustrated with Katie that my notes while reading Ink consist almost entirely of complaints about her attitude and behaviour. I thought her character was inconsistent, I considered her weak rather than vulnerable and I struggled to make sense of several of her decisions.

Sadly, my disappointment with Sun's character development affected my enthusiasm for the story considerable. There is definitely potential in the idea and room for the storyline to grow and mature but the characters will have to do the same to keep my interest. show less

'Tomohiro's eyes grew vacant as he sketched...he couldn't stop.'

Japanese intrigue and legend come together in this fascinating YA novel.
The tension builds like the sweep of the calligraphy pen. One moment flowing musical lines, the next, staccato and angry. This off centre flow kept my attention, at once both riveted and yet dreamlike.
Much of the action is set against Sakura, the backdrop of the cherry blossoms which to my mind become an analogous reference to the flowering of the story.
Upon her mother's death Katie moves to be with her aunt in Japan.
At school she chances upon a break up confrontation between two students. The male student is Tomohiro Yuu. Katie happens to see a drawing of a girl the two were both arguing about. When show more the image turns its head and glares at her, Katie's world begins to change. It seems that Katie is a catalyst to Yuu's strange talent, a talent that could destroy him unless controlled.
Yuu is possibly a Kami, powerful Japanese mages whose ink and blood drawings could create alternative realities and mythical creatures. This gift has a dark side, dooming the Kami as the need to draw in ink and blood takes over their being. Their calligraphy is more cursed than blessed.
Visually prompting, the story unveiled with an anime quality that made it even more compelling.

A NetGalley ARC show less

Originally posted on Tales to Tide You Over

In a novel set in the United States, this story would be considered urban fantasy. The separation of the mystic and mundane in other cultures is different, though, so I would hesitate to apply those genre expectations here. Ink brings the cultural difference to life in a story that reminds me of Ran, a Japanese movie with a beautiful tale that I later learned covered only a portion of what it conveyed to the right audience because of the symbols used.

Ink tells its tale through the eyes of an American teenager thrust into a culture she doesn't understand, where they speak a language she doesn't know, and where she must follow rules she's blind to. Reeling from her mother's death, tossed into the show more care of a hardly familiar aunt who has no more experience being a mother than Katie has in Japan where her aunt lives.

The cultural interactions alone would have been enough to interest me in this NetGalley title, but that's only the start.

Katie stumbles into a world where what she believes impossible is clear reality. Rather than denying what she saw as most would she starts on a personal mission to understand, much like how she's taking on Japanese culture.

From that paragraph, you might expect a superhero approach full of noisy entrances and flashy colors.

That's not this book at all.

Ink is deeply personal.

Katie falls for Tomohiro, a complicated boy with major issues that put them both at risk. She's bound to him by more than just feelings, though. The ink lies between them, but so does a shared loss of their mothers. He offers her the right to grieve and the right to learn to open herself again. She sees through the masks he uses to block out the world, and neither denies nor runs from what he is even when she should.

These two struggle on so many levels, but amidst it all, Katie learns to define herself. Tomohiro and Katie fight demons, both spiritual and in the hearts of the people around them. It's a love story, a mystical journey, and a suspense thriller all wrapped in a cultural blanket where the results and reactions aren't what you might expect.

Because this is an eBook, and though I didn't know it when I started, it has a glossary of the Japanese terms used throughout, I thought I had more to read as I approached the end. Because of this, the final words came as a shock. I wasn't ready to be pulled out of this world just yet.

That said the book ended at the perfect moment based on the rest of the book. I can't say more than that without spoiling, but there was no letdown beyond the obvious one of a good read coming to an end. This story satisfied from first page to last.

In case it wasn't clear, I enjoyed reading Ink and highly recommend it as a mystical growth book with an amazing atmosphere and wonderfully flawed characters. show less

I'll be straightforward with you and explain that the reason I picked Ink up in the first place was that it was set in Japan. I love Japanese mythology, and I definitely love Fantasy reads. Needless to say, I was really excited to read this book. I couldn't wait to see where Katie Greene's new life in Japan would take me.

It was so interesting to watch Katie as she settled into her new life. I can't imagine living in another country, much less one where the language is still new. I felt her reactions to everything were really spot on. In fact, I can't deny that I liked Katie immensely. She was kind, honest, and just sarcastic enough to create some lightheartedness for the story. When Tomo came into the picture, I knew things were headed show more in a fabulous direction. A boy with a dangerous side, who Katie just can't stop thinking about? Yes, please!

Japan was a gorgeous setting for this story. It's really obvious that Amanda Sun did her research on the culture and the mythology laid out between these pages. Katie's new home comes to life on the pages. I could see the cherry blossoms, feel the breeze, and fell in love with the descriptions of her surroundings. If I didn't already love everything about Japan, I know I'd be intrigued after reading this. It was a perfect backdrop for all the dark, menacing events that take place.

The absolute only thing that I had a problem with was the slow beginning. Some of Katie's reactions to Tomo were a little over the top, but I was willing to forgive them for the most part. Once everything took off, once I learned what Tomo's dark secret was, I was lost in the story. The story is wonderful, the setting is perfect, and I definitely enjoyed reading Ink. show less

A whole new world of adventure!

Ok there are so many things about this book that I loved, but the first thing that caught my attention was the location, Japan! I love Japan and everything about it, but there aren’t that many YA books set in this place and the books that are tend to be based mainly in the past. The author gives us a glimpse into the contemporary Japan and using imagery and humor shows us many of the places and things that I would love to see for myself one day. I also loved how she was able to interweave a lot of the culture and mythology of Japan without making it seem like a history lesson.

Then there was the paranormal aspect to the story. I really liked the unusual powers the characters had with Ink and trying to show more figure out exactly what it was and how it worked. There was a lot we learned about it, but just as many questions arose from it as well and I can’t wait to find out more in the next book.

Katie is a really strong willed character and I really admired her spirit. I liked that although she made mistakes she still kept trying. Just like when she was trying to learn the language. At first she wasn’t that great at it and even though her friends didn’t mind speaking to her in English she chose to keep on trying and perfect her Japanese instead of just giving up. She is a fun character to get to know and a bit quirky at times too.

Tomohiro was an interesting character and although I was a bit leery of him at first I really came to like him right along with Katie. He keeps to himself and for good reason, but once you get past that hard outer shell he really is a sweety and really funny. I love how he interacts with Katie and the way he sometimes teases her. It is so much fun to see them together. It was also great that he could also be so lighthearted and have a sense of humor about things given the situation he is in. I think he and Katie make a great team and I can’t wait to see more of them.

I also loved Katie’s two friends Yuki and Tanaka. Yuki is one of her first friends and she is one of my favorites. She is always cheerful and a lot of fun to be around kind of likes Tanaka who is a bit of a goofball. I liked how supportive they were of Katie even when things got really weird. They are definitely the kind of people I would love to be friends with.

Overall this is an exciting read with an imaginative new world that I am dying to read more of! show less

I had so much fun reading Amanda Sun’s debut novel INK. Set in Japan, INK follows Katie as she meets and falls for Yuu Tomohiro, finds out kami (gods) are real, and that she has more to do with everything than she thinks.

There are so many aspects of INK that worked for me. I’m going to break it down and talk about a few reasons why. First, characters. I loved Katie. She’s very smart, determined and capable of looking after herself (with a bit of help sometimes, but everyone needs help sometimes). Katie is incredibly curious, a little awkward, sad (understandable, considering the reason she is living with her aunt in Japan is because her mother passed away) and even a little lonely. Throw in Tomohiro who is mysterious, protective, show more artistic and caring with a dash of angry loner boy thrown in and there is some awesome scenes and interactions between the two. The pacing of the book works very well with a mix of quieter moments and action packed, breath-catching ones. There are some secondary characters that throw quite a wrench in things, and really help flesh out the mystery and mythology of the story.

Which leads me into the love I have for the setting and mythology of INK. I’ve always had a fascination with Japanese history and culture (it’s the history major in me, that I love old cultures, I swear) and I feel that INK delivered a descriptive and engaging, though brief, glimpse into Japanese society. Amanda Sun herself lived in Japan for a time, so I felt comfortable trusting the picture she is showing us. Language is used wonderfully, and there is a glossary in the back for the Japanese words and terms that may be unfamiliar to the reader. The mythology that Amanda Sun created around the kami is very well developed and intricate – and though I’m still a little confused where some of the ink that is a sign of the kami comes from, I still quite enjoyed it!

INK by Amanda Sun is a slow-burn romance that winds its way through Yakuza thugs, gods in human flesh, high school, mysterious pasts, secret societies and family. There is a wider threat to Tomo and Katie that comes because of Tomohiro’s connection to the kami, and this first book only touches the tip of it. The out of control powers and the interest from the Yakuza are only the beginning. I am very excited to see where the sequel takes Katie, Tomohiro and the others involved. Should be an interesting ride! show less

I am never going to pick up a book because of its cover again. It serves me right, it really does.

Do you know how excited I was about Ink? It is probably the YA début I anticipated the most in 2013, I'm even on a video saying it's the HarlequinTeen release I'd love to read the most. So you can probably imagine how heart-wrenching it is for me to say this - Ink isn't the book it's pretending to be.

The juvenile, non-sensical plot elements that made Twilight one of my most hated reads are present in full force throughout Ink, and the only differences I could discern are the change in setting (Forks to Japan) and mythology (vampires to Japanese Kami). The unbalanced insta-love, the lack of self-preservation instinct on the heroine's part, show more the stilted story telling and hazy world building all contributed to my disappointment.

Remember Bella? Remember how she was so irrationally convinced that a vampire, who craved her blood specifically, wouldn't hurt her? Well Katie sees a mysterious boy at school, one who tries to intimidate her, and she decides the best thing to do is follow him around after school. Because he's hiding something and she damned well wants to know what it is. Her stalking skills give Edward Cullen a run for his money, and even when it became painfully obvious that Tomohiro was bad news, she continues to follow him around and force her company on him.

When the whole 'I can do freaky things with the things I draw' part comes to light, Katie is strangely accepting of the whole thing. No thinking she's losing her mind, no avoiding Tomohiro because he's obviously dangerous/crazy/magical. It just didn't feel realistic to me.

Remember Jacob? Remember how he was just there, Bella's friend, and then suddenly he was a love interest and it gave you (me) whiplash? Katie makes a mysterious friend named Jun, who's indescribably hot, but she doesn't see him in that way. It never, never strikes Katie as weird that Jun turns up everywhere she goes. She's basically too busy stalking Tomohiro to realise she's got her own stalker, and even when Jun knows things about her and her friends that prove he's been following her around, it doesn't click to Katie as weird until much later.

On the topic of Bella's Katie's friends, Yuki and Tanaka are as stereotypical as they get. Yuki is the over-excitable Japanese girl, kept around to provide Katie with alibis and for her to vent her boy-gossip to. Tanaka is the cute guy friend who might be interested in her, and Katie keeps thinking to herself that life would be so much easier if she'd fallen for him instead (remember Mike Newton anyone?).

What I did like about the book is its setting in Japan. I haven't ever been there, so I can't comment on whether the descriptions are accurate, but the place that is described in the book is magical, and I'd really love to go there. I feel this novel has a very strong sense of place, and I really enjoyed getting to know a bit more about Japanese life and culture. I'm not sure about the grounding of the supernatural element in Japanese mythology. I don't feel like it was explained well enough for me to truly understand, but this might be because the characters themselves are stumbling around in the dark.

I also really liked the illustrations that pepper the novel, they bring Tomohiro's drawings to life and helped me imagine what Katie might be seeing a bit more.

I wish Ink was more. I wish it was stronger, had a tighter plot line,that Katie and the rest of the characters stood out from the pages. I wish I wasn't so disappointed. I hope, that if you pick it up, you find it to your liking. I pray the undoubtably pretty cover of the sequel won't pull me in.

A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.
You can read more of my reviews at Speculating on SpecFic. show less