Book Review: ‘Water Moon’ by Samantha Sotto Yambao (Studio Ghibli influenced healing fiction)
‘Water Moon’ is already getting a stellar reception and it’s not even out yet, and now that I’ve read it, I totally understand why.
I was initially lured in by the beautiful cover, tempted by the Tokyo setting, and was fully locked in with the comparisons to Studio Ghibli and the genre of healing fiction. I’ve dabbled in the genre briefly, but I’ve never fallen in love with it. If ‘Water Moon’ indicates a new iteration of the genre then I think I could definitely fall in love with it.
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.
Step into the captivating and romantic fantasy novel that will sweep you away on an unforgettable adventure - perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli, Erin Morgenstern and Before the Coffee Gets Cold!
I was immediately blown away by Samantha Sotto Yambao’s writing. There feels like there’s real magic in her words. It’s not just the character development and arcs of Hana and Kei, it’s the unravelling of this secret world hidden in a pawnshop behind a ramen shop and the jumping through puddles and being folded through paper doors to reach another realm. Every page delivers a new whimsy and a new note of magic, but underwritten by sadness and hope and longing in the most beautiful way.
The main motivation for Hana is finding her father and solving the mystery of his disappearance, but there’s so much more to it. This sub-genre of magical realism rarely has big twists and turns, it’s soft and gentle and emotional, but ‘Water Moon’ delivers a little bit extra in this way. There’s a moment towards the end of the novel that actually made me gasp. It revealed an undercurrent to Hana’s motivations that was completely unexpected and really added some depth and stakes to the whole journey where there aren’t usually in the genre.
There is some insta-love and the pace is pretty intense so I actually would have liked ‘Water Moon’ to be a little longer and to give us time to dwell in the magic, even though there’s real urgency in Hana and Kei’s task. Basically, I wanted to stay in this world.
This is Samantha Sotto Yambao’s UK debut and I really hope that this is the beginning of something for her as I’d very much like to read her backlist, or honestly, whatever she brings out next.
‘Water Moon’ is my favourite book of the year so far and I’m so, so glad that I read it so early on in the year. It’s sad, romantic, enchanted and utterly transportive; I can’t recommend it enough to bright and soften the hard, long days of January.
Thank you to Transworld and NetGalley for the review copy.
Written by Sophie
