Book Review: Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao

5 ✨

Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao was such a unique read. A magical realism that starts in a pawnshop where you sell your regrets. Hana, the daughter of the pawnshop owner, has lived a life that was written on her skin since she was born. When her father retires, leaving the pawnshop to her, but disappears the morning she is meant to take over, she must begin making choices she never felt she could make. Her first client Keishin, a scientist, comes into a seemingly ransacked pawnshop and finds himself drawn to this other world that appears in place of a Ramen restaurant.

The two of them embark on a journey through ponds, into temples where prayers live in smoke, traveling through songs and rumors, a museum of paper cranes that hold memories, and so many more incredibly profound ideas. Yambao takes seemingly ordinary concepts and spins them into fantastical elements that left me mystified at each turn of the page. Time, choices, regrets, life and death, fate and destiny; this novel gives you a new perspective on all of it. The writing was breathtaking. I found myself slowing down just to be able to take it all in.

I was in awe by the way the story unfolded and right up until the last page I was on the edge of my seat. Yambao’s writing was so captivating, I don’t think I’ve read anything like it. This book will sit with me for a while, but no regrets from me having read it!

I highly recommend this to everyone. My largest take away is that everything is interlinked from a passing conversation to a simple choice we make. If we are only guaranteed two things in life: choices and death; what will you choose to do with the time you are given?

Thank you NetGalley for the e-arc in exchange for an honest review.