Where Regrets Find A Home, And Destinies Are Rewritten

I recently finished reading Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao. This is OwlCrate's January '25 book.

This exclusive edition features an exclusive redesigned dust jacket by @lilittwang, with stenciled edges by @lilittwang, a reversible dust jacket by @art_by_benni, foiled hardcover case design by  @_yodaka, and end pages by @zsjun111. The book is also signed by author Samantha Sotto Yambao on an author page with an author's letter bound into the book as well as bonus content.

~POSSIBLE SPOILER ALERT~

  Rating: 3.5/5 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."

This fantasy mystery novel is a curiously compelling read that transports you beyond this world, perfect for fans of Studio Ghibli

In Tokyo, there is a normal cosy ramen restaurant – but for a select few in need who step inside, it becomes a pawnshop where you do not trade the usual valuables but your deepest regrets: choices that were made (or not). It is imperative that these choices, once stored away, never leave the shop.

21-year-old Hana Ishikawa will be the new owner of it overnight as her widowed father Toshio plans to retire. The business has been in the family for years, and it is important it forever thrives. The next morning, all is quiet in the store – too quiet. Toshio seems to be gone after what looks like a terrible scuffle where he perhaps went in pursuit of an escaping choice, were it not for a card with a moon over the water, and her mother’s glasses which imply this is staged. On top of that, she believes her father drugged her the night before. She believes that the two cases of her mother’s and father’s disappearance are connected. What’s more, there is evidence her mother is still alive.

At that moment, in stumbles scientist Keishin “Kei” Minatozaki, a man always searching for answers and, unlike all the other clients, offers help instead of seeking it. He gets more than he bargains for when Hana reveals she is from a world beyond ours, causing Keishin to question everything he has ever known.

From jumping into ponds to listening to prayers at the Whispering Temple to crossing the Midnight Bridge in their dreams to stepping into the inked realm to sailing through songs to passing through paper doors to visiting The Valley of Stars that set the night sky to riding literally on rumours, Hana and Kei are in for the greatest adventure they will ever know to find her parents, meeting interesting characters along the way – and staying hidden from the evil Shiikuin.

But all, as Hana keeps telling Kei, is not as it seems. Not even Hana herself.

This is told from mostly the third-person past-tense POV of Hana and Kei, with occasional chapters or sections from other characters’ perspectives.

When Toshio is speaking to the mysterious lady who enters the shop about the pottery with kintsugi, she says that some people hide their damage better than others, and it is spoken “so softly it was as if she were worried that her voice might shatter the bowl” – it captures the essence of the woman here! She is desperate, she feels broken and fragile. Beautiful!

I think the Japanese culture was introduced and explored very well, with mention of the kintsugi technique which repairs broken pottery with lacquer mixed with powdered gold (a reminder to embrace imperfections – “Broken things have a unique kind of beauty, don’t you think?”). Hana also feels like if the pawn shop had a name, it would be Ikigai (which is Japanese for “reason for living” or “sense of purpose”). We also have a great paragraph about Studio Ghibli ruining Kei’s experience with buses ever since seeing the Catbus (couldn’t agree more!).

I really love the concept of this story! The different things that make Hana’s world different from ours were unique and reminded me of Alice in Wonderland: like the shells that don’t sound like the ocean but tell jokes instead, crane birds that are made out of paper, prayers that are listened to instead of spoken, trains that are not guaranteed to ever show up, even after 50 years (though, it could be argued that trains not running on time can sometimes feel that way in our world haha) – oh and if you are missing any socks, chances are they or any forgotten things have arrived at stall 510 in the market place. It was a lot of ideas thrown together and, while some are random, it worked rather well. Curiouser and curiouser, indeed.

However, from the moment when Keishin shows up, the beautiful descriptions I mention feel like they vanish and the pacing shifts drastically from slow to fast. The bond between Kei and Hana is really sweet but missing a lot of depth so I didn’t feel for them as much as I’d have liked. This otherwise lovely moment feels super quick and even unrealistic! Surely there could have been more of a time-standing-still moment, how they feel in this moment.

The world-building happens as the reader goes, so we are essentially finding things out at the same time as Kei – which I consider a weaker aspect as there is no history or backstory behind a lot of it. Some thoughts: how did the Whispering Temple come to be? Why is it invisible? How is time folded into paper? It’s just a: this exists, this conveniently happens and that’s that.

The multiple plot twists near the end I wasn’t expecting and they were great, though it took me a moment to get my head around. There were so many I felt like “another one, thank yew” haha.

Not sure this book met expectations. Everything I'd read about made me think it was going to be more than it was. I also am not convinced this is an adult book. It read more like a young adult book to me.

I loved the imagery, and I thought it was an inventive book in many ways - the parallel world, the portal through a pawn shop folded inside a ramen shop, folding as a theme (folding time, folding memories, folding origami), the quest and the rules that governed Hana and Keishin's journey, and question of what is actual choice. So I thought it had a lot of great elements. But somehow, there was still something lacking. I can't quite put my finger on what it was that was missing - that magic x factor that would've made this story exactly what I wanted it to be.

More than a 3 but not quite close enough to round up to 4. I wish this had spoken to me on a deeper level.

Check out Water Moon, and discover what happens when you fall into a magical tea shop.

Happy Reading :)