Man, this was such a fantastic sequel! I've been meaning to read this book for so long, to the point where I had to reread the first book before I came back to it. And it was worth the wait, I loved being back in this world with these characters!

While Katie decided to stay in Japan, it doesn't mean that everything was dealt with. Tomo's powers have become unpredictable, and his effort of stopping makes things even worse. I loved learning more about what was going on with his powers, getting the history of this world!

It was so great to send this time with this pair again! The first book built them up as characters and their romance, and they leaned on one another in this one, and they needed to, with everything that they were going though!

I'm so excited for the final book! With everything that was set up in this book, it has me so excited to see how everything is going to resolve there! There is a short story that I'm so glad that we're getting, it's going to add so much to this world, and then Storm! I'm so excited!

This was such a great read, and I can't wait to finish out the series!

Rain is the second book in the Paper Gods trilogy by Amanda Sun. I had read and reviewed Ink previously and had found myself to be in the middle when it came to my feelings about the book. This was back in 2014, and after my re-read of Ink to refresh my memory, I found that many of my feelings were still the same. I also felt prepared to now read Rain and find out what happened next in the story of Katie, Tomo, and Jun.

I found the pacing of Rain to be better than in terms of the Japanese background. I got to learn bits and peaces of different societal ideas which influenced character development or the plot. The characters of Katie, Tomo, and Jun each experienced struggles internationally and externally which impacted their relationships and personal growth.

The struggles that the characters experienced in Rain did feel realistic but there were times that they had me cringing as well. Katie’s relationship with Tomo was still very push-pull and then there was this very unneeded love triangle that was forming between Katie, Tomo, and Jun. I just feel that it wasn’t necessary to keep the story interesting; and that it took away from the overall story involving the mythology behind the Kami.

The mythology behind the Kami remains my favorite part of the Paper Gods trilogy. New pieces have been revealed but there is still quite a bit to uncover. As Amanda Sun continues to delve deeper into the mythology, I also enjoyed how Katie continued to experience cultural faux-pas being a foreigner in Japan. Katie is really out of her depth in this world between the cultural differences and the mythological experiences, and the incidents in Rain truly demonstrate this.

Similarly to my feelings about Ink, I’m in the middle about my feelings about Rain. While I found the mythology aspect to be very interesting, the love triangle aspect took away from the story. I will finish out the trilogy reading Storm and hoping that the focus will be more on the mythology and less on the romance. I would like everything to be wrapped up nicely which I know might be asking alot from a young adult paranormal novel.

I loved Ink, but sadly, Rain did not live up to the same expectations. It was a disappointment in comparison to the first book in the series. I would not read the next book in the series.