Rain (The Paper Gods, #2)

by Amanda Sun

Katie tries to help Tomohiro uncover the truth about his dark ancestry after his power to bring drawings to life starts to spiral out of control.

In order to save themselves, Katie and Tomo must unravel the truth about Tomo's dark ancestry, as well as Katie's, and confront one of the darkest gods in Japanese legend. The plot contains profanity, sexual references, and graphic violence. Book #2

• ISBN10: 0373211112
• ISBN13: 9780373211111
• Publish Date: 24 June 2014 (first published 1 January 2014)
• Publish Status: Out of Stock
• Publish Country: CA
• Imprint: Harlequin Teen
• Edition: Original ed.
• Format: Paperback (US Trade)
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[jeannamichel]

Can I make that 4 1/2 stars? I love this book. But there's something about the ups and downs of the characters that make me hesitate in giving it 5 stars. It certainly does not suffer from sequel syndrome, I can tell you that.

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In Ink, the first of the Paper Gods series, Katie chose to stay in Japan. She felt a connection there that she would not feel anywhere else. However, her decision to stay may have not been the wisest one. Ink no longer stays on the page, seeming to have a mind of its own when it starts raining, bleeding, and biting ink. Katie and Tomohiro need to figure out how to stop the ink from destroying them and their relationship.

Rain is the sequel to the fantastic book, Ink. With sequels, most readers shy away from reading them right away because expectations fly high. Most sequels are known to be letdowns—not as good as the first. However, Rain is definitely not one of those sequels. It does not suffer from sequel syndrome.

Amanda Sun is able to bring the intricacies of what comes with a traveler in a foreign country. She tackles issues like understanding another culture’s language, as well as its traditions. As foreign as Japan’s culture may be to some readers, she makes the characters quite relatable in discussing issues like bullying, jealousy, and more.

Unfortunately, not all of the characters win your heart. Even in the first book, I felt it was difficult to warm up to the male lead, Tomohiro. I constantly questioned the romance between Katie and him because something didn’t add up. Why does Katie like him so much? As much as their romance isn’t explained, except for the experiences they have shared, the two characters continue to be madly in love. To be fair, Ink deserves a reread before any more judgment upon their relationship. I just never found myself routing for Tomohiro. Ever since the instance in Ink involving the love hotel occurred, Jun seemed like a much better candidate for Katie’s love interest. In Rain, the certain love hotel scene [from Ink] is mentioned several times, brought up by Tomohiro, usually making some joke about “that one time” but I didn’t like it then and I don’t like it now. I still haven’t gotten quite over it yet. Despite my character preferences, I enjoyed reading Rain.

Amanda Sun certainly has a gorgeous series here that I wish was given more attention. Not only is the premise captivating and beautiful, but Sun pairs the story with water paint sketches that take your breath away. Also, it is set in Japan. Think a culture seeping with beauty. Think history that goes deeper than most realize. Think awesome.

It is the perfect continuation to the series. Rain is an extremely fast read, so fast that if you blink, you may miss the whole book. Sadly, the book was over to0 quickly but I look forward to reading the next in the coming weeks.

[Linda]

*I received a free ARC of Rain from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review*

This and all my other reviews are originally posted on my blog (un)Conventional Bookviews

[Angie]

I received an ARC through NetGalley.

I am quite disappointed in Rain. It does have some good stuff going on, but overall, I just don't like the direction the series has taken. Katie has, of course, decided to stay in Japan, but it's been two weeks since she's seen Tomohiro. Finally, she catches him at a festival, and things seem to be okay, until the fireworks turn into ink. The news brushes it off as a prank, but she knows it means Tomo is not in control of his powers. Katie is desperate to help him, so she turns to the only other powerful kami she knows, Jun. This causes some tension between her and Tomo, but it also reveals a lot about the nature of his abilities.

I continued to enjoy learning about Japanese culture, but I grew increasingly annoyed with Rain as Katie continues to point out how she's so much different than everyone else. We get it, you're blonde and American in a country full of Japanese people! She seriously acted like she was the only American in the whole country, and she blamed everything on her being blonde. In the very first chapter she actually says she's the "wrong shape" for a Kimono, because she's tall and blonde. Blonde is not a shape! I was also irritated that a lot of the dialogue is essentially written twice. Of course, it's written in English with the understanding that they're actually speaking Japanese. However, random words are replaced with their Japanese equivalent and then Katie's inner monologue translates for us, or the speaking character says it again "in English." This is okay when there isn't an English word/phrase, but the way it was done was just awkward. Plus, there's a glossary in the back (with links in the Kindle version).

As for the plot, Rain focuses more on the relationships between Katie, Tomohiro, and Jun instead of the whole Yakuza issue. They're still there, but it's not the focus. Katie is repeatedly told that she's making Tomo's powers act up in dangerous ways and witnesses it happen, but she refuses to give him space! She might go away for a couple of hours, in which she seeks out Jun to find out how she can help (hint: go away!), making Tomo even more upset and unstable. Then there's the whole issue of Jun figuring out why Katie is linked to the ink and I was not happy at all. There's a "reasonable" explanation, which is fine, but she's a lot more connected than was thought in Ink. This whole situation just made me mad.

Rain simply was not for me. I don't think it suffers from Middle Book Syndrome, as a lot is revealed and the plot moves forward. But I am just not happy with how Katie is turning out to be connected to everything. She's always making such a huge deal about being blonde, American, and not fitting in. I liked the idea of her being a kind of amplifier for kami powers, instead of being kami. She didn't need to be more special and unique, so I think her having ink too is a huge mistake.

Read more of my reviews at Pinkindle Reads & Reviews.