Early Review – Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao (5/5 stars)

Reading Level: Adult
Genre: Contemporary fantasy
Length: 374 pages
Publisher:‎ Entangled: Del Rey
Release Date: January 14, 2025
ASIN: B0D1T8QLQ3
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone Book
Source: eGalley from NetGalley
Rating: 5/5 stars

“On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see a cozy ramen restaurant. And only 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 its 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—by way of rain puddles, rides on paper cranes, the bridge between midnight and morning, and 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 that she will never be able to take back.”

Series Info/Source: This is a stand alone book. I got an eGalley from NetGalley to review.

Thoughts: The first couple chapters of this were a bit slow, but then once the story got moving, I really ended up enjoying this. This is magical and thought-provoking book that reminded me of an adult Studio Ghibli movie in book form.

Hana is supposed to be having her first morning as the owner of a pawnshop, which she is taking over from her father. When she wakes up things are chaotic; a prized possession is missing and so is her father. She struggles to decide what to do because this isn’t a normal pawn shop. This pawn shop trades in people’s regrets, and the creatures that collect the regrets will be upset that one is missing. Then Kei wanders in; he is not a normal customer and does not have a regret he wants to leave behind. Rather, Kei wants to help Hana find her father.

The main showstopper here was the amazingly creative world and the concepts it represented. I never knew what fantastical thing I was going to run in to as I went through this book. Traveling via ponds, paper doors, and rumors, we adventure through an amazingly unexpected world that is sketched out like the lines of a drawing. All the while we are unraveling the secrets of both Hana and Kei’s past.

The characters are well done too, and there is a sweet romance of sorts throughout the story. However, the feature was definitely the amazing worlds and adventures Hana and Kei experienced. The writing was beautifully done, and the worlds were easy to picture and fall in to. I absolutely adored how the story was wrapped up as well.

My Summary (5/5): Overall I loved this; it was magical, enchanting, unexpected and thought-provoking. The world building is was really made this story shine. I also enjoyed the characters, the adventure, and the subtle romance. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Yambao’s future books but will also be checking out some of her existing books like “A Dream of Trees”.