About.com Rating



Ink is Amanda Sun's debut novel, and the first in a promising new YA paranormal series. It has romance, as one would expect from a book published by Harlequin Teen, but as I am beginning to learn, Harlequin Teen books are often as much or more about other things than just romance, and Ink is no exception.

Publication Information

• Full Title:Ink
• Series: The Paper Gods
• Author: Amanda Sun
• Publisher: Harlequin Teen (North America), Mira Ink (UK)

• Publication Date: 2013
• ISBN: 9780373210718 (North American paperback), 9781848452312 and 9781472010599 (UK paperback), 9781743641651 (e-book), B00BNRHJ26 (Kindle e-book AISN)

Paint Me a Picture

Katie Greene is an American teen who finds herself in an unfamiliar country at a difficult time in her life. Her mother recently passed away from an unexpected heart attack and instead of being sent to live with her grandparents in Canada (her grandfather has cancer and is too ill to take on the stress of raising a teen), she ends up with her aunt in Japan. All Katie wants is to go back to North America where she won't stand out because of her blonde hair and her awkward Japanese.

But she isn't helpless, and while she can be stubborn like any teen, she makes an effort to improve her Japanese -- even going so far as to refuse to speak English with her schoolmates so she will learn faster. She is making friends, slowly, and she even meets an intriguing boy. Yuu Tomohiro seems to be a complete jerk, but Katie thinks it's an act, and when she thinks she sees a sketch he did moving on the page, she's too curious to back away, even when she knows Tomo is probably very dangerous.

Write Me a Story

Ink started off a little slow for me, as if author Amanda Sun was still feeling her way around writing a novel, but very quickly the story itself made up for any lingering awkwardness in the writing (and I should point out that as a writer myself, I tend to be hyper-critical, so other readers might not even notice some of the things that stand out for me). There were a few times when I thought the action or the characters' motivations didn't quite ring true, but for the most part, Katie, Tomo, and the others are well-drawn, believable teen characters, and the author made me care about what happened to them.

The paranormal aspects of the story involve the Japanese spirits or deities called kami and their interactions with the human world. The yakuza (gangsters) want to use people with kami ancestry and abilities as weapons, while the kami themselves want to regain their old position as gods and kings. Against this grand background, two teens try to figure out what they want for themselves.

Ink on Paper

As a longtime fan of anime and manga, I was delighted to find a book that used the culture and folklore of Japan as a background (for a fun book on Japanese folklore, see Yokai Attack!). And as someone who also draws, and who used to do kendo (the Japanese equivalent -- sort of -- of fencing), Ink had a lot of the right elements for me, and reading it made me want to pick up a pen and draw, and to find a kendo class again.

Fans of Japanese culture and art will know that puns and similes are important elements, and the Japanese language is particularly good for using them -- puns are much more layered and clever in Japanese than in English. And Sun takes full advantage of the fact that kami means both "spirit" or "deity" and "paper". There were a few times when I thought the drawing and ink similes were a little overdone, but for the most part they add to the richness of the story.

The Writing is On the Page

Although it has some of the flaws common to first novels, they're easily forgivable in Ink. It's a beautiful book, and a great story. The cover is simply gorgeous, and there are even little ink drawings here and there throughout the book, which only add to the appeal. I read Ink as an e-galley, but I'm really thinking about getting a paper copy just because it's such a lovely artifact.

There is some violence in the book, including both fistfights and guns, but there isn't too much of it, and it's never gratuitous. There's no sex at all, though there is one scene in a "love hotel". The main characters are teens, so of course they sometimes think about sex, and there is a little kissing, but parents should feel quite comfortable letting even younger teens read Ink.

This is the first book in a series, so there are plot elements -- some pretty significant ones -- left unresolved. But the story does have a conclusion, or at least a good stopping-point, so readers shouldn't be too dissatisfied. They might be unhappy about having to wait for book 2, though, but that's a plus, not a minus. And there is a prequel novella out, as well, so if you love Ink as I did, you'll have something to help tide you over.



Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.