Review: Ink (Paper Gods #1) By: Amanda Sun

Title: Ink (Paper Gods #1)

Author: Amanda Sun

Published: June 25th, 2013

Source: E-galley from publisher

Buy The Book: Amazon/Barnes and Noble/The Book Depository/Kobo

My Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Goodreads Summary:

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 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

My Thoughts: 

I was really looking forward to reading Ink, the summary sounded like something fresh and different and the cover was definitely calling to me. Overall, Ink was definitely something new  and I loved the setting of Japan and getting to learn so much about their culture but Ink, didn't live up to what I was hoping it would be I still enjoyed reading it.

Katie is an American girl living in Japan with her aunt after her mother has died  from cancer, she isn't loving Japan, she feels out of place, different, and alone. She is learning to deal with so many things as once, the loss of her mother, a new culture, and a new language. Things begin to change for her when she becomes in  my words  obsessed with this boy at school named Tomohiro, he is the star of their school's Kendo team and Katie wants to find out what makes him so different from everyone else and what he is hiding. 

Honestly I wanted to love this story more then I ended up, only because it felt like so much talk and not enough action, Katie and Tomohiro  spent so much time talking about his abilities and what could happen and not enough time actually having anything happen. I wanted more action and I didn't get it until the end, and by that time I was invested in the story enough  to even care at all. 

What I did love was the writing, learning about Japan was so fascinating, and even though Katie felt completely alone and like she couldn't feel at home in Japan, she really took to it. I couldn't imagine having to learn a whole new way of life and I loved reading about everything that Katie was experiencing in their culture.

The mythology of Ink was also so enchanting, I don't know much about Japanese culture so, I don't know whether or not this is  actual mythology from Japan but, I was totally fascinated with it. I really felt like I understood the background to Tomohiro's abilities and everything about, no confusing stories or names to remember which was definitely a plus for me. 

Overall, Ink was a good beginning to a series that I will follow but, it didn't completely live up to my expectations.  If you are looking for a new and refreshing read in the YA genre then this one is definitely for you with the captivating backdrop of Japan and beautiful writing Amanda Sun's debut is a great start!

Want to learn more about Ink? Check out the links below!

My Shelf Confessions
Vampire Book Club
Bibliophilic Monologues