I absolutely adore this book! Falling in love with the characters was so easy for me. Fun engaging book! Thank you!

This book was so cozy and fantastical. The world was so richly drawn and I loved that this other world of the pawnshop felt like a more magical, complicated version of our own. The writing style really added to the almost fairytale like aspects of the story. I wasn’t expecting there to be a central mystery but it was done so well and kept me turning page after page. The cover is stunning and perfectly fits the story.

This. Was. Exceptional. This book brought me back to the days of reading in the middle of the night under my covers because I could not wait to see where we went next. Water Moon is perfect for fantasy readers that want a break from the norm, and want to be immersed in a delightfully unique alternate dimension. It's a vibrant, dreamlike fantasy, but with the perfect sprinkling of mystery to keep you on your toes.

Water Moon is a fantastical, dreamy fantasy set in Tokyo, where a magical pawnshop can be found only by those that need to find it. There, they can pawn their life's deepest regrets for a chance at a clean slate. The pawnshop exists in a dreamlike alternate universe, where everything is not as it seems. In this world, you can teleport to other places by jumping in puddles, listen to prayers spoken into smoke, and walk through towns made entirely of paper and ink.

I was captivated by Yambao's writing style. Yambao painted some of the most unique and beautiful worlds that I've ever read. This book was fast-paced, with nearly every chapter leaving me wondering what I'll see next. I'm usually one that can guess where the story will go next, and I didn't guess correct one single time. There is also a wonderful blend of Japanese culture and folklore that was very tastefully done.

Overall, Water Moon is one of my top reads of all-time now and I will be thinking about the places Yambao took me for years to come.

Thank you to Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for the eARC.

Thank you Netgalley and Random House Publishing Group for providing me with this ARC.

Otherworldly. Parallel universe. Magical. I was enamored by this book. I love the concept of the pawn shop where you trade off your burden/regrets/choices. Reading this book was very much of a mystery type genre. The author has you running around with the characters, trying to find the next clue. I definitely felt Alice in Wonderland x Spirited Away vibes while reading this. The author wisps you away to this magical world that only a few can stumble upon and it literally feels like a dream. I felt almost everything about this book was well written except for the relationship between Hana and Keishin. I didn't feel like their feelings for each other developed smoothly. It felt forced at times and sometimes it just didn't feel like they had a connection. I also found that the characters sort of lacked emotions. Some of the conversations they had with each other made me question if they were serious, annoyed with each other or if they were simply being sarcastic. It could be the lifestyle where you don't express your emotions but I found it hard for me to wrap my fingers around it.

Other than that... everything was great. I was able to envisioned everything. When the author threw in that twist, about 70% in, omg! My jaws dropped. I couldn't believe I didn't see it coming. I love a good mystery and that blew my world upside down. I highlighted soooooo many lines/quotes from this book. It was that good.

I would give anything. And I truly mean anything to read this book again for the first time. Wow was it so beautifully written, I genuinely felt like I was there with Hana the entire story. The descriptions made me feel so cozy and i genuinely fell into the book world so hard. My heart feels so broken knowing I can never go back and read this beautiful story again for the first time. I laughed, I cried my eyes out, and I felt a connection to the characters I seldom feel when reading. Thank you for this beautiful masterpiece.

What if a land of metaphors, wishes, regrets and dreams were real? That’s the world of Water Moon. Yambao takes us on a magical adventure—a Studio Ghibli film, of sorts, through her illustrative world-building descriptions and innovative creativity.

Water Moon spends the first act setting up all of the characters with a lot of backstory. For the first half of the book, there’s a lot of telling and very little showing. Nonetheless, I did enjoy the fact that Yambao did not waste any time and executed the conflict more faster than other books I’ve read before where it takes hundreds of pages for the plot to begin (or so it seems). Our two main characters, Hana and Keishin are established upfront as well including their distinctive dynamic. Hana is driven by her world of destiny since that is all she’s grown up to know, while Keishin is driven by science (mostly physics) because that’s all he’s also grown up to know. As they learn each other’s worlds, it was fun to watch them try to explain their differences of living and bridge similarities. Yambao caught me laughing as I watched these two enthusiastically connect their esoteric aspects; such as Keishin’s TARDIS, dating and Funyuns, or Hana’s origami boats, paper homes, and puddle gateways.

A favorite scene of mine when this chemistry works so well even at opposite ends is when Keishin chooses to jump through the pond with Hana, beginning the mystical journey. Keishin’s first thought isn’t about the why, but how. When he tries to overlay his worldview with the impossible physics of Hana’s, she lifts a brow, and reminds him of the conflict. Hana cuts in and just like that, Keishin snaps back to reality. While Keishin is driven by his studies of reality, he is also motivated by his wonderment of fantasy. And while Hana is driven emotionally by the different fabrics of various worlds of wonder, she is motivated by one serious reality: her missing father . . . And soon enough, her mother.

Throughout Water Moon, I began to notice Yambao’s writing pattern. Almost every scene and/or chapter would end abruptly. Usually 98% of the time during dialogue, without any exposition to flesh anything out. At times, the conversations would seem robotic and usually plot checkpoints would casually happen to work out by coincidence: A woman overhears their conversation at the train station and happens to know a different path to move the characters forward when they’ve hit a roadblock, a man doesn’t care about their names and yet offers his after just meeting to help them succeed, or where Hana meets her father again just to name a few. Because of these moments on top of the sudden cuts, there’s no reflection, pause, or relative consistency.

Sadly, this held my reading experience back because Yambao would write a beautiful quote or elaborate description that left me astounded. And then, next scene. The plot is so rapidly paced that I really would have liked a breather to immerse myself in how exquisite Water Moon is. When in the first half there was lots of telling and very little showing, the second half relies on a ton of showing and there’s not enough telling. A small paragraph, at the very least, after these dialogue lines or narration (or even between conversation points) before cutting off the scene or chapter to further explain, evaluate, process, and/or pause would improve the story exponentially.

To add onto my appreciation for Yambao’s talented writing, The Museum of Education was something I enjoyed and thought was an inventive way to execute some thematic purpose. As Hana shows Keishin each of the cranes on display that hold small fragments of time—each holding the most heaviest impact—Keishin is horrified to see the tragedies kept on display. When he asks why this is, Hana explains that everything in the museum has a purpose, everyone has free choice, and everyone has to live with these choices.

Water Moon is a pleasant, fast-paced read that’s also original, which I love to see in modern literature. While the story ends (once again) abruptly, as if the author was a director for a film who realizes the runtime will exceed the budget so they rush to wrap everything up, it’s still a nice and pretty bow. The story doesn’t rely so much on a destiny that concrete our happily ever after, but our choices that can help us reach to that satisfying ending in life full of rewards and cherished memories.

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for providing an ARC (Advanced Readers Copy). This review is based off of an uncorrected proof. Can’t wait to see the success of this release on shelves next year!

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the arc! I have very mixed feelings about this. The story was very atmospheric and did contain some of the whimsical elements you’d see in a Ghibli film, yet it lacked Ghibli charm. Most of characters were okay, but holy hell Hana was unlikeable. Look, I get self-loathing, and I have the mental illnesses to back it up, but Jesus. There was simply no character arc for her, but she somehow self-loathed herself into a relationship built on deception. For being a physicist, Kei was dumb asf. The characters and their relationships made less sense than the entire nonsensical world Hana is from. That world is what saved the book for me though. I’d say maybe 3.25-3.5 stars

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC!
What a little lovely magical story! I enjoyed very much.

I requested this cause it gave off similar vibes to xxxholic. It reads more like yumi and the nightmare painter meets xxxholic. It has an airy feel, that leaves you relaxed but wanting to know more. I enjoyed this quite a bit.

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.