Ink by Amanda Sun

Ink by Amanda Sun
Series: Paper Gods #1
Publisher: Mira Ink
Publication Date: July 5th 2013
Source: Publisher [Netgalley]

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

What did I think about Ink? Well, to start with I was really drawn in by the fact it was set in Japan. I've never ever read a book that's set in Japan and I can honestly say that I loved learning about Japan and the Japanese culture. I've never known much about it so I enjoyed getting the opportunity to learn about it in this book. The other thing that really drew me in to start with was the moving drawings. I mean, how could you not be drawn in by that! One second your just sitting there doodling and the next minute your drawings try to eat you! Yeah, I had to find out more about that.

I wasn't overly impress with this book as the story went on. I found myself getting bored slightly and also kind of confused. The random Japanese words that amused me to start with got more annoying as the book went on. I didn't want to constantly have to look up what they meant so I kind of skimmed over them. I think I only learnt what one of the Japanese words meant and then I gave up. 

Katie was an alright main character, although she did annoy me a lot. She had lost her parents and had to move to to Japan and try to fit into this new life. I really felt for her because of that. She was struggling with coming to terms with her parents death but she was also struggling to fit it. She seemed like a likable character, and then she met Tomo. Katie basically turned into a stalker when she met him. She followed him around, spied on him and tried to find out what he was up to. It was kind of creepy actually, and I thought she was a complete psycho. Sure, Tomo was up to something, but that didn't mean that she had to become his personal stalker! It was pretty weird. 

And then there's Tomo. Tomo was an intriguing character, but he was a dick. Most of the time I wanted to punch him. He'd act like a dick to keep people from getting close to him and finding out his secret. There were times when I really liked him though. He could be sweet and funny, and I enjoyed seeing Tomo like that. I really liked discovering Tomo's connection to the Kami. It was pretty interesting, but his connection was dangerous and that's why he tried to keep people away from him.

The whole storyline of the Kami was extremely interesting. I loved learning about the history of the Kami and what Tomo's connection was. I adored seeing Tomo's drawings and seeing what he was capable of because of his connection. There was a lot to discover and a lot of danger involved with being connected to the Kami. Japan was a major part of this book as well and I adored discovering the culture along with Katie. I never knew much about the Japanese culture before I read this book and I'm glad I got the opportunity to learn about it. 

The ending of this book was actually pretty interesting and I am intrigued to find out what's going to happen. Tomo was given a warning about what his Kami connection will do to him and I want to know whether he'll be able to find a way to avoid it. I'm also pretty intrigued to find out what Katie's connection to the Ink is since we never found out in this book. 

Overall, this was an enjoyable book. There were parts I enjoyed and some boring parts that took me a while to get through, but I still enjoyed it. I'm looking forward to the second book, but it won't be one I'm desperate to get hold of.