DanaSquare

Ink is a strange paranormal story that follows Katie a girl who is forced to move to Japan after the death of her mother and is transplanted into this new country. She meets Tomohiro who is more than he seems and the two begin to go down a dark path that only each other can save them from. Ink is so extremely different from anything I have read in a long time. I have read a lot of different mythology genre books from Greek to Norse but I have never read any books set in Japan or about Japanese mythology. I loved learning about Japanese culture in this book from kendo, to food, language, and the way of life. Though when I started reading it made it very confusing. There is a lot of Japanese language used through out the book that aren't defined right as your reading. The way they phrase sentences is also very different. What I found to be both interesting and confusing was the fact that in Japan they refer to people by their last name making the usage of someone's first name in conversation a personal thing. What I didn't know until I finished reading this book is that there was a glossary at the end that translated all of the Japanese words and phrases to English but because I read an E-ARC I wasn't aware. My favorite word I learned throughout the book was "suki" which means I love you.This book is narrated by Katie who meets Tomohiro under strange circumstances and finds out that he is a Kami which translate to both "God" and "Paper" in Japanese. The Kami were the rulers of Japan up until WWII and they have the ability to have their drawing come to life. Tomohiro is an extremely powerful kami and has both the Yakuza, Japanese mafia, after him and other Kamis who want to gain power from him. This obviously endangers Katie and puts their relationship in a rocky place. As well as the fact that the ink that is responsible for Tomohiro's power is attracted to Katie. Why? We aren't entirely sure of that. Since Tomohiro's drawing come to life art is a huge focus of this book. I loved that this book actually had the drawing in it. They are beautiful and made visualizing everything in this book even easier. The book is just wonderfully designed and that enhanced the reading experience even more. From the gorgeous cover, to the ink stains on the chapter numbers and the little images inside the book as well as full sized images.Overall this is a fantastic and intriguing book that will have you wanting to learn more about Japanese culture and will have you on the edge of your seat. After the ending of Ink I can't wait for more. But I will be picking up Shadows the prequel book to this series. Ahh I have so long to wait now for a sequel since Ink isn't even published yet!