Publishers Weekly
09/30/2024
Yambao (The Beginning of Always) delights with this gentle portal fantasy about a quaint mystical pawnshop from another realm that poses as a Tokyo ramen restaurant where customers can exchange their regrets for peace of mind. It’s Hana’s first day as the pawnshop’s new manager after her father, Toshio, retires. Instead of being excited for her new role, however, Hana awakens to find the pawnshop ransacked, the door open to the outside world, her father missing, and a regretted choice a customer pawned the day before stolen. Hana must track down the missing choice or face punishment from the Shiikuin, the mysterious entities who control her world. In the midst of this chaos, a physicist named Keishin walks in off the street looking for some ramen. He offers to help Hana hunt down the missing choice, leading them on a quest through a bizarre magical world. Yambao’s inventive setting pushes the limits of common fantasy tropes, and her thought-provoking exploration of regret, choice, and free will resonates. This whimsical tale will have readers riveted. (Jan.)
From the Publisher
What a bright, fresh voice Samantha Sotto Yambao has brought to the literary world. Water Moon is a novel for all the senses, but its true magic lies in being breathtakingly visual. You will be spirited away.”—Sarah Addison Allen, New York Times bestselling author of Other Birds
“Water Moon is unlike anything I’ve ever read, full of wonders and terrors . . . a haunting, half-remembered dream of a book.”—Gareth Brown, Sunday Times bestselling author of The Book of Doors
“Full of adventure and marvelous creativity, Water Moon surprises and delights with every turn of the page. I didn’t want to leave this fascinating world. Samantha Sotto Yambao has written an inventive, refreshing fantasy.”—Megan Bannen, bestselling author of The Undertaking of Hart and Mercy
“A spellbinding journey into a magical Ghibliesque world where regrets and memories can be bartered, where appearances are not what they seem, and where dreams, free will, and destiny are pitted against fate . . . Endlessly inventive, this haunting and enchanting tale is not to be missed.”—A. Y. Chao, author of Shanghai Immortal
“Water Moon is one of those rare, unique reads that stay with you long after you turn the final page. With its lyrical writing and philosophically poignant themes, Water Moon clings to your soul and renders it transformed.”—Rania Hanna, author of The Jinn Daughter
“Water Moon is a dreamy, ethereal fantasy, set in a fascinating fairy-tale world with appropriately dark corners. Fans of Hayao Miyazaki will love this one.”—Olivia Atwater, author of Half a Soul
Library Journal
★ 10/01/2024
Hana and Kei meet at the sole intersection of their disparate worlds: Hana's pawnshop in Tokyo, where the lost can sell their regrets. Hana is desperate to solve the mystery of her father's disappearance, and Kei can never resist a puzzle. He is a man of science, while Hana's anime-inspired fantasy world breaks all the rules by which he has lived his life. He can't resist the mystery of her, and she can't help but charm him into being part of her dangerous quest, even though she knows it will end in bitterness and betrayal—unless the magic has one last impossible gift to give them both. Hana and Kei can't help falling for each other in spite of the tangle of secrets and lies pulling them together and tearing them apart. VERDICT Readers who have been swept up in the cozy charm of Before the Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi and The Dallergut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee will fall hard for the mix of magical realism, fantasy mystery, and star-crossed romance in this novel from Sotto Yambao (The Beginning of Always). Highly recommended.—Marlene Harris
