Water Moon is one of the most magical books I’ve ever read. Sotto Yambao has constructed a wonderful world and a brilliant protagonist in Hana. Hana truly feels like the welcoming shopkeeper she is, and I found myself drawn to her throughout. Reading this book is like diving into all the puddles of the universe, surprised and awed at every turn. I am deeply grateful to have been given the opportunity to read Hana’s story and introduced to this delightful tale.

Oh boy! The magical world-building in this fantasy takes you to places like jumping into ponds to travel around parallel universes, putting your head on your pillow to wake up in a land where a bridge connects you to another dreamland, or listening to candles to hear the prayers of the person lastly talked to them.

The story takes place on the backstreets of Tokyo: a magical pawn shop that can only be found by people who intended to eat at a ramen place but entered here to trade their deepest regrets and some life choices that needed to be changed in exchange for something that belongs to them. Regrets turn into birds to be caged in a vault, to be shared with shiikuins, who are wailing, scary people (somewhat supernatural entities) wearing masks.

Hana Ishikawa has been raised in this shop, learning to read people’s emotions, their resentments, and regrets with the help of her master father who reached her lessons by sending her scavenger hunts, leaving clues behind for her to solve the puzzles.

Now her father, Ishikawa Toshio, decides to retire, and this will be Hana's first workday, even though she wakes up with a terrible hangover-induced headache, finding the store intruded upon, everything strewn around, the furniture turned over, and the door that separates her from the outside universe (the real world) open! Her father is nowhere to be seen. It seems like somebody tried to steal something from the store because one of the acquisitions is missing, and her father might have followed behind the thief to catch him.

But the incident in the store seems staged, which raises more questions about the whereabouts of her father. And this is not the only struggle she has to deal with. A charming stranger bangs on the door, helping her to clean the ice cut at her feet, bandaging her, intrigued by the mystery of the pawnshop just like any other puzzles he likes to solve as an aspiring scientist. His name is Minatozaki Keishin, still talking to the ghost of a man who tried to save his life, getting attracted by Hana’s stubbornness and calmness.

Even though Hana initially rejects his help, she realizes she cannot bring her father back alone. They team up, revealing many secrets about her own life, and she realizes there’s a possibility that her mother might be alive and her father went missing to go after her. But this is not the only secret she finds that may change everything she thinks about her purpose, her family, and her meeting with Keishin in the pawnshop might not be such a coincidence.

What if the entire truth shatters everything into pieces and there won’t be a future for them to be together as their worlds get more apart at each second and the threat of Shiikuin gets escalated?

Overall, this is a creative, unique, well-executed fantasy with surprising twists I never saw coming. I loved the brilliant mind of the author and am looking forward to reading more of her works in the near future.

Many thanks to NetGalley and Random House Publishing House/Ballantine/Del Rey for sharing this unique fantasy’s digital reviewer copy with me in exchange for my honest thoughts.