Ink, Amanda Sun

Ink, Amanda Sun.
Cover artist: Petra Dufkova
Interior artist: Ross Siu
ISBN: 9780373210708
Read August 21

YA: Gaijin-in-Japan romance/fantasy series starter.

My blogging handle might be a giveaway, but I am fond of Japan.  I want to be fond of this book also, but I don't quite know if I am.

I will say that the cover artist is fantastic, and I am most assuredly fond of her work.  I'd love to see more in this style.

The story?  Ano... betsu ni?   It wanted to be awesome, and occasionally got there, but mostly it made me feel like I was watching GTO or Suzuka.   Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I was expecting more like Spirited Away or AKIRA.

I don't tend to like romancey-YA, so the fact that the romance in this one didn't entirely put me off is a credit to how well Sun flavored the story with authentic (or at least anime-authentic) Japanese youth culture.  I mean, while I can't stand YA romances, I do watch Suzuka when I'm in the right mood. 

I wish there was more substance to the fantastical elements, and to the mythology that's being plundered, but there's always a hope that more of that will appear down the line.  It was enough to explain and draw interest, but not nearly as much as I would have preferred to see.  I also would have liked the school-girl-crush segment to not have been nearly the entirety of the book.  However, as the story seems to be more of a romance with fantasy elements than a fantasy with a romance sub-plot, I don't really have much room to complain.  It is what it is, as much as that's backwards from what I had hoped for.

Between the light touch on the artistic elements and the fantastical bits, and the laser focus on the characters in school, in after-school club activities, and on simply being around in Shizuoka, I found myself often wishing that the author had just teamed up with Ms Dufkova and Mr Siu, and written a manga series.  I think it would do quite well in that format.

As it is, it isn't bad, but it's not entirely to my taste.  Like red beans, or natto - either you like them or you don't.  Ink isn't as bad as natto, but I don't know if it will grow on me or not.