Water Moon

This is the kind of book that makes me wish I was better at describing beautiful writing. As I read, there were so many instances where I found myself highlighting lines that spoke not just to me but about life in general in such a perfect way, as if I was reading a book of proverbs. I genuinely can’t wait to see some of the popular highlights on Kindle once the book is released, and I usually ignore those.

I absolutely love how wildly inventive the world of Water Moon is. When Keishin stepped into Hana’s pawnshop, it was like Alice falling through the rabbit hole, but unlike Alice, wandering through Wonderland lost and alone, he had a guide in Hana. The places they visited and ways they moved through the world were always so fun and fascinating. Each location had it’s own special brand of wonder or whimsy, like the Museum of Education, which couldn’t be entered without a ticked purchased with a grain of time when you made a mistake, because its visitors learn from other people’s mistakes. As Kei and Hana traveled on their quest to find Hana’s father, I was invested for multiple reasons: I wanted to know where her father was, I wanted to see how Kei and Hana’s relationship evolved, and I couldn’t wait to see what Samantha Sotto Yambao would come up with next.

The romance between Kei and Hana is sweet, and at first I wished they had fallen just a little more slowly, but I can see why they were so easily drawn to each other. Hana had a lot of inner turmoil over her feelings for Kei having ground up in a world where people have no choice but to follow the path fate has set before them and that was central to a lot of her decisions not only when it came to Kei but throughout their entire journey. Which, by the way, I wasn’t expecting to be so dangerous! It was so exciting and a lot creepier than I thought it would be, and I loved that.

I received an arc of Water Moon from Random House/Del Rey via Netgalley.