What is “Water Moon” About?
On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it.
Most will see only a cosy ramen restaurant. And just the chosen ones – those who are lost – will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets.
Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop’s new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike other customers. For he offers help, instead of seeking it.
Together, they must journey through a mystical world to find Hana’s father and the stolen choice – through rain puddles, hitching rides on paper cranes, across the bridge between midnight and morning and through a night market in the clouds.
But as they get closer to the truth, Hana must reveal a secret of her own – and risk making a choice she will never be able to take back.
My Honest Review
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Let’s start with the object itself, because it deserves to be talked about. If you get the hardcover of Water Moon, take the dust jacket off, and you’ll find a stunning hardcover illustration. The dust jacket also folds into an origami paper boat. It’s the kind of book you almost don’t want to touch, it’s so pretty. Whoever made these design decisions understood the assignment completely.
The writing lives up to the cover, which is saying something. I’d loosely call this magical realism, though I suspect it resists easy categorization. What I can say is that Samantha Sotto Yambao writes the fantastical elements of this world as though she simply expects you to keep up, and not in a way that feels exclusionary, but in a way that feels like total confidence. She never stops to convince you what is happening is real. She just moves, and somehow you move with her. I didn’t question the legitimacy of a single thing happening in this story, and if you can do that as a writer, you’re crafting it masterfully.
While I was expecting something a little cozier, I was happy with real tension running underneath it. The two main characters are running from something genuinely scary, and I felt that. I was intrigued by their journey the whole time. There’s so much magic woven through it, and the dynamic between the characters is so good that I fell in love with the whole thing.
The ending was a relief. Genuinely. It wraps up in a way that feels earned and satisfying, and I was so glad for it.
I loved this book so much that I’ve already got my eyes on The Elsewhere Express, her other novel, which also has a magnificently beautiful cover, for what it’s worth. I’m very much looking forward to reading more from this author.
