Water Moon is a whimsical and imaginative fantasy novel that transports readers to a dreamy world set in Tokyo, centered around a unique pawn shop where you can trade your biggest regrets. This book evokes the magical essence of Alice in Wonderland and Caraval, offering a delightful and unpredictable adventure from the very beginning. The characters are beautifully developed, and getting to know them through the memories they bring to the pawn shop adds depth and intrigue to the narrative. Water Moon is, without a doubt, one of the most magical books I’ve ever read. It’s a wonderful trip into a fantastical world that is both enchanting and thought-provoking. If you’re looking for a book that combines lyrical prose, beautiful world-building, and a whimsical storyline, Water Moon is a must-read.

Off a street in Tokyo lies a ramen shop, but a chosen few find a pawn shop instead. This pawn shop is magical - instead of pawning off jewelry and other things, people pawn off their life choices and deepest regrets. When Hana, the owner, wakes up to a ransacked shop, a precious item stolen, and her father missing, she and a stranger, Kei (a physicist who talks to a ghost of someone in his past), go on a journey to find the item and her father. At first, Hana is apprehensive about taking Kei with her, but she realizes that his presence might be needed after all.

Throughout reading this book, I fell in love with the magical worlds Yambao describes. Riding on paper cranes, being transported via rain puddles, shopping in a night market in the clouds - all seemed so mystical and intriguing and it left me wanting to experience it. The characters were well written and interesting too. There were a bunch of twists and turns I didn’t see coming. Where was Hana’s father? What happened in Hana’s past? How will Hana choose? Overall, I really liked this book, and I am looking forward to reading more of the author's stuff. Special thanks to NetGalley and RandomHouse for this ARC!

Rating: 3.5 Stars
This was a fun read mostly due to the unique worldbuilding. Every setting was described so vividly and beautifully, my favorite part was the characters going to a new location just to see what the next setting was going to be like.
Speaking of characters, sadly they didn't leave as much of an impact on me as the world did. Hana and Keishin were interesting when they were introduced, but besides their arcs about making choices, which even then felt limited, I felt like they hadn't changed all that much. Hana definitely felt like she had changed the most though. I know characters don't exactly have to be different by the end of a story, but we spend a good chunk of time on their inner conflicts, so it's hard to stay invested when the characters aren't that easy to get attached to. The ending also felt rushed compared to how long we spent getting there.
The saving grace of this book, besides the world, is definitely also the writing. The author has beautiful prose, and describe everything similar to a fairy tale, which is definitely the vibe I felt reading this. The only bit I didn't really like was some of the dialogue, which sometimes felt it was trying a little to hard to be deep. Some lines felt like they were trying to become iconic quotes outside the book. But this is a personal thing. I prefer realistic dialogue for characters, but the way characters talked here definitely fit the writing of the book.
So overall, good writing, nice prose, so-so characters. I thought the book was fine, but I could see some people loving this.
Thanks Net Galley and Random House Publishing Ballantine for providing me an e-ARC copy!
Review to come on my Goodreads 01/21/2025

★★★★1/2


Plot
Hana inherits her father’s magical pawnshop that specializes in pawning regrets. When she wakes up on her first morning as the new owner, she notices that something is wrong. This sets her off on a quest where she begins to question everything she knows.


Characters
Hana: Our main character. Inherits her father’s magical pawnshop.
Toshio: Hana’s father and former owner of the pawnshop.
Keishin (Kei): A man who enters the pawnshop one day and befriends Hana.
And many more characters that are difficult to mention without spoiling!


World building
The modes of transportation were unique and fit in well with the world, while having conceptual consistency with real-life. What I didn’t understand were the limitations of these modes of transportation. Sometimes it was totally easy and acceptable to travel through puddles and paper; other times it was seemingly impossible to do so? For how frequently our characters traveled to and from places in a pinch, I would like to better understand <I>how</I> travel works in this world.


Writing
The writing is gorgeous. I was hooked on the first paragraph! Yambao conjures up the dreamiest, coziest, and whimsical-est imagery. Sometimes, this falters when the action kicks into high gear, but even in those moments her writing remains vibrant. There were also a lot of sentences that captured the essence of the story and showed glimpses of foreshadowing so simplistically and beautifully.

Some pretty good pacing, but I would’ve liked to see more tension and conflict and stakes. A lot of things got resolved quickly and the stakes always just seemed to be “trust this person and live, or don’t act at all and die.” And every time, whoever the characters decided to trust really was trustworthy. I did, however, like that a lot of questions were raised and then swiftly answered before the reader forgot about them with everything happening in this dreamlike world.

The characters were pretty flat. Because the world was so wacky in the best way possible, I didn’t mind this at all. I think giving the characters only a few traits and motivations helped balance out the world building and the plot, both of which were mind-bending.

Oftentimes, the dialogue felt stilted to make certain points about life, happiness, regret, etc. This occurred mainly when Hana or her father were speaking, a specific instance being her father’s conversation with the female client in the beginning of the book. I also noticed that Hana talked very stiffly (never using contractions, ever) for most of the book. At the end of the book we see her speak in a more relaxed manner. This was a great way to differentiate her from the other characters and show her development throughout the book.

Japanese terms are used often, but always with explanations or context clues for readers unfamiliar with these concepts.

The ending was so Murakami-esque.


Etc.
I love books that are split into parts because I feel like I can read them much faster than I’d otherwise be able to. (This book is split into 4 parts)

What Kei can see throughout the book confuses me. I don’t understand how? No further explanation to prevent spoilers.

I loved how neatly everything tied back together at the end. The story truly came full circle and left me feeling satisfied.


TLDR: Dreamy and mind-bending and worth the read.



Thank you Random House-Ballantine/Del Rey and NetGalley for the DRC! This title will be available January 14, 2025.

I absolutely LOVED this book. The magical realism was so special. I loved that I never knew what was going to happen next, oh we’re jumping in a puddle to travel, done. We’re traveling by way of a rumor? I’m in. We’re being folded into origami? Sounds like a great idea. The creativity of the author is unmatched. I am already recommending Water Moon to friends and they’re bummed they have to wait until 2025 to dive in to the read.

4.25 stars
I loved this book! Water Moon is about a ramen shop in Japan that sometimes isn't a ramen shop; for folks who need it, the door instead opens to a magical pawn shop in an alternate world. This pawn shop collects people's regrets over choices they made or didn't make. A number of things are quickly revealed and readers continue to discover new things about this alternate magical world and what's happening with our characters throughout the book. Early on, we find out that Hana, daughter of the pawn shop owner, is going to take over the pawn shop from her retiring father. We also learn that Hana's mother was killed a while ago in punishment for stealing one of the pawn shop's regrets. The plot gets really kicked off on Hana's first day as the new pawn shop owner when she wakes up and discovers that the pawn shop seems to have been ransacked by thieves and her father is gone. At this point, Keishin, a physicist, enters the pawn shop, though he doesn't seem to have a regret to pawn. He ends up joining Hana on her quest to figure out what happened to her father. This quest takes them through a beautifully built out world that involves a number of forms of magical travel, like traveling through puddles, traveling by folded origami paper, and traveling by rumors. It takes them to a night market in the clouds, a paper house, a ghostly onsen, and more. The writing and world-building were beautiful and lyrical. It was easy to read and felt hard to put down. It seemed like a quick read despite being on the long side, and it moved quickly. There was so much that happened; at the end of the book I really felt like I had gone through so much with the characters and the characters felt like they had grown and changed so much.
The only reason this book isn't a 5 star book for me is the numerous times throughout the book and in the ending resolution, there were moments that felt like deus ex machina. The characters would need to get somewhere and they would seem stuck and then the perfect solution would present itself.
Other than that, though, the book was incredible. And despite some deus ex machina parts in the end, the ending of the book was also quite cool, and for me, it had some reveals that I was surprised by and quite enjoyed.

A water moon, sometimes referred to as a mirror flower, is something that can be seen but not touched; like the moon reflected on the surface of water. This is often used to refer to something that is beautiful but unattainable, a far-fetched dream if you will. Throughout the book we experience a reflection of our own world, where things are not quite as they seem. The way that different transportation functions in the mirror world is akin to how you might travel in a dream, falling through a puddle of water and stepping out into a new world.

Kei and Hana are our main characters, neither of whom is quite content with their place in life and longs to reach for more. They each want to reach for their own water-moon. Hana runs a magical pawnshop that trades choices for peace of mind, until one day her father vanishes with the brightest choice she has ever seen before. The Shiiukin are the rulers of this world, and I kind of imaging them to look like dementors, who collect the choices at the end of every week. Kei is from our world and he stumbles into Hana, immediately the two are drawn to each other and begin to gravitate towards one another.

Please note that I read an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) and some of my misunderstanding may have been in part due to the translation, although I believe this is a beautifully written book and likely well translated. They get to know each other by exchanging stories about their families, and particularly when they were sharing about how their mothers both left in a similar fashion before they could remember, I was very concerned about where this was going to go. To be honest my initial thought was "Oh no they have the same mother. They are related. We are about to get siblings falling in love with each other." Thank goodness that was not the case and became much less of a concern throughout the story.

A beautifully written, introspective allegory of how choices shape the people we become and how our lives are populated. Yambao also chose to explore what not having choices might do to shape a person's point of view or way of living. Pure magical escapism while having an existential crisis. This was excellent. If you like Before the Coffee Gets Cold this is one you should definitely consider picking up. I was enthralled with adventuring through the mirror realm.

To the publisher specifically, there was a slight scientific inaccuracy with the Super K. I have a masters degree in Physics and did neutrino work with SNO. Super K is similar to SNO, they are both underground telescopes filled with heavywater and PMT's. Heavywater or deuterium is H3O, so it has a bonus hydrogen. Usually it is suspended in de-ionized water, which re-ionizes as neutrinos interact with the water inside causing it to become slightly acidic. It is a REALLY slow process. The dissolved wrench would technically happen, just over like 12 years. So Hana is in no danger to touch it with her hand, if anything Kei would be concerned about contaminating the water itself with whatever oils/impurities are on Hana which would cause Super K to function less well. This is not particularly important to the plot, but was something that stood out to me specifically as being incorrect. It is likely to just be accepted by like 99% of readers, I happen to have a lot of experience with neutrino telescopes.

This book follows a girl named Hana. She inherits a magical pawnshop where people trade their regrets. The first day on her own, she wakes up to find her father is missing, and the shop robbed and in shambles.Later a customer enters the shop, finding Hana in need of help. After many rejections Hana finally agrees to let Keishin help her find her father.

I believe this book is best not knowing much about it, and just diving in.
I knew from the first chapter this was going to be good. I was sucked in and couldn't put this book down.
It has the vibes of Studio Ghibli, meets Everything, Everywhere All at Once.
It was all the cozy, whimsical vibes you'd want in a fantasy novel.

This story was beautiful and thought provoking, and takes you on the most imaginative ride. I know this is a book I'll be thinking about for a while.

Thank you netgalley, Random House Publishing Group, and author for this ARC!

There is a warning printed on automobile rearview mirrors, something like "objects are closer than they appear," and there should be a similar warning for Water Moon, "objects are not as they appear". A ramen shop is a pawn shop but only for regrets; currency is dreams, regrets, and memories; and two young people searching for missing parents find each other in this magical story. The story tries to paint itself into an anime movie, but much of it felt surreal for me. The plot is an adventure quest, not on the level of an epic fantasy, perhaps, but not "low stakes" like a cozy fantasy either. It was a pleasant read that I would recommend to those who enjoy a bit of whimsical fantasy with tinges of darkness at the edges and a touch of light romance. (3.5/5)
I received advanced access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, Random House Publishing Group - Ballantine, Del Rey) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

Wasn’t too sure if I would like this one and turns out I was correct. Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for gifting me this arc.

A delightfully enchanting tale. I absolutely adored the mystical world Hana lives in and all the small things that make it so appealing. Puddle jumping, the cranes, the tea room, the pawnshop, everything. This author has quite the creative imagination and I look forward to seeing more from them! This is definitely a wonderfully easy read with a world that is easy to imagine and a plot that just keeps you wondering just what comes next!

Wow, Water Moon was fantastic! The story centers around Hana, the daughter of a pawnshop owner in a world adjacent to our own. She meets Keishin, a man who walks into the pawnshop, on the morning her father has disappeared. The two of them pursue the mystery of what happened to her father throughout Hana’s magical world.

Different areas of the world reminded me of a Studio Ghibli film- a paper house where everything is made from origami, a night market in the clouds where people hire boats to get around, jumping into bodies of water to travel- all of it was magical and beautiful.

This story is about the choices and regrets we make in life, and how we have the ability to forge our own futures. I really enjoyed this one!

THIS IS ONE OF MY NEW FAVES

Someone in one of my tiktok videos where I mentioned this book said that the description sounded like a Studio Ghibli movie (vibe wise) and that is so accurate!!

Water Moon is set in Tokyo and also in another world. It's about a woman who owns a pawn shop with her dad, but instead of pawning regular items they pawn choices off of people from our world so we can live without regrets. This shop is magical and otherworldly and only people who are meant to find it are able to step foot inside.

When she discovers that her dad has gone missing at the same time as a customer walked into the shop, the two go on a journey to find her dad together.

This was so WHIMSICAL. We go on journeys where the characters:

- Ride on paper cranes
- Travel through music
- Go to night markets in the sky
- Jump through puddles
and so much more.

While going on this journey the main characters are being chased by dark entities and so many secrets are being uncovered.

This has romance, it has horror, it's mysterious and adventurous.

I COULD NOT STOP READING THE LAST 20% PERCENT. I was shook.

My only complaint is that some of the writing felt kinda sappy and cliche? There are lots of lines about following your heart and being your true self and fate and falling in love etc., and I did find myself kinda rolling my eyes at times, but definitely not enough to take me out of the story.

*Thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review*

I initial was drawn to the book because of the cover. It was a piece of art that i would have hanging in my house. When I read the summary it sounded very interesting and I was not disappointed. This book take you on a crazy adventure to discover who you are, what choice you want to make, as well as discovering the truth behind everything. I loved the relationship between Hana and Ki. I was so engrossed with the story and details given to each place they fisted that I didn't even guess the actual truth behind who Hana and Ki actual were. As I read this I truly though I was in the movies watching this world come together. This would be a book that I would read again. I plan to get myself a hard copy when it is officially released.

Reviews will be on the following
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nightlyreadingnook/ by 6/7/2024
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/nightlyreadingnook by 6/7/2024
Amazon: by 6/7/2024

Water Moon is a magical story about Hana, a woman who runs a pawn-shop disguised as a ramen shop to the naked eye, in which you can sell your regrets. From here, her father goes missing, and she embarks on a journey (with the help of a charming physicist client) to uncover what has happened to him and how to move forward.

This was a great concept that unfortunately missed a bit for me, due to pacing mostly. I felt like at the end of every chapter there was some sort of reveal, and the formula of the story began to feel a bit predictable and cheesy at points because of it. Due to this though, it is very fast-paced, so if you like more of a fast-paced but still cozy-ish fantasy, I think you would really like this.

That said, the world in this was unbelievably beautiful. It was very scenic, and the descriptions of the environments were so detailed that I felt like I was really there. The writing/quotes in here were beautiful as well. I wish I had annotated this (and perhaps I will go back and do so at some point), because story aside, the lessons taught through this book and the way that some things said made me question my own perspectives in my real life are so special and important.

Thank you very much to NetGalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing an eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful, fascinating, philosophical. At first it felt like the author was just tossing new fantasies at us - we'll travel by jumping in a puddle! Now we'll travel inside origami! Now we'll climb a ladder to the clouds ... But it mostly came together in a meaningful way and I liked it better once I started to see how the various elements tied together with themes of choices, regrets, time, etc.

This book was a refreshing take on a fantasy book. It was well crafted and complex, yet still easy to follow. I had such a good time reading it!

What an absolute joy of a book. Absolutely loved everything about it. Samantha is an extremely talented writer.

Reading this reminded me of having a strange dream that you can't really remember when you wake up. The premise of this novel is unique and whimsical, and the cover matches the vibe perfectly Interesting details include:

- Selling minutes of time in bottles of sand
- Giving up memories for ticket admission
- Paper cranes that come alive and fly
- Jumping into puddles for teleportation
- Seashells that tell jokes

Quick and easy read, although I do think more could have been done with the ending to make it feel wistful and bittersweet.

Thank you Netgalley, Samantha Sotto Yambao, and Random House Publishing for this eARC!

This was absolutely superb. I loved the concept of this book. The characters are well written, the story was constructed ik an excellent manner and didn't overwhelm you with characters or story, with some cute moments sprinkled in. I'm excited for the release and will be looking out for pre orders of this. Wonderful storytelling, realistic characters and actions on a fantastical world. Masterful? Perhaps.