Review: Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

I received an advanced review copy of this book for free from the publisher via NetGalley and purchased a finished copy as part of my Illumicrate subscription. This did not affect my opinion of the book in any way.

Publisher: Bantam
Published: January 2025
Pages: 375

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Summary

Would you rewrite your destiny if it meant losing a part of your past?

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!

My Thoughts…

This book was one of my most anticipated reads this year, as everything in the blurb basically screamed at me to read it. Despite having a NetGalley e-arc for this one, I ended up reading the Illumicrate hardcover – which is just stunning, by the way.

Water Moon is a whimsical fantasy starting from a great premise: I absolutely loved the concept of a pawnshop for regrets and it sounded really different to other books I’d read recently. The vibes are immaculate here and the world is fascinating. It really shows what rich imagination this author has! It is a shame that the book is too busy jumping from one plot point to the next with no breathing room to really savour the worldbuilding and delve deeper into the lore, its pacing completely off.

Unfortunately, the execution didn’t fully live up to the hype for me. The writing is just too stilted and repetitive for my taste, with a strong over-reliance on short, simple sentences. There’s nothing wrong with short sentences per se, but they were so overused here that it ended up feeling clunky to read and not at all the smooth, dream-like experience it could have been. There are sparks of deeper writing here and there, but they end up falling into nothing.

The romance also didn’t work for me at all: it was all too insta-love and I just couldn’t buy the dynamic between the two main characters, pining over each other despite having literally just met. And don’t get me started on the love triangle… The character development was also quite lacking for me: they all felt pretty much one-dimensional and barely ever acted their age. I mean, Kei is supposed to have a PhD, yet he acts and talks like a (very unnatural) teenager for the vast majority of the book!

I did like the themes the book was trying to explore and the way in which reflections on choices, regrets, duty and – ultimately – the purpose of living were woven into a fantastical adventure, but unfortunately it ended up remaining fairly surface level for me. There were a few quotes I highlighted because they were so beautiful, but sadly they were too few and far between to make this a new favourite read.

Life is about finding joy in the space between where you come from and where you are going. I may never get to where I want to go, but I can look back on my life and say that I did not waste a second of it being bitter that I was not someplace else. Happiness does not exist in a place. It lives in every breath we take. You need to choose to take it in, over and over again.

This is a classic example of a missed opportunity sadly, with so much unrealised potential, but I did like the vibes. I will probably give this author another chance when her new book comes out, as the premise for that one sounds good too, but I will certainly approach it with lowered expectations.

Rating: 3/5