Shadow by Amanda Sun

Shadow (The Paper Gods, #0.5)

by Amanda Sun

I looked down at the paper, still touching the tip of my shoe.

I reached for it, flipping the page over to look. Scrawls of ink outlined a drawing of a girl lying on a bench. A sick feeling started to twist in my stomach, like motion sickness. And then the girl in the drawing turned her head, and her inky eyes glared straight into mine.

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn't know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can't seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building. Then there's gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school's kendo team.

How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn't prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there's no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets. Katie never wanted to move to Japan-now she may not make it out of the country alive.

Reviewed by funstm on

2 of 5 stars

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I think this would probably be more enjoyable if I'd have read Ink prior to this. But I wanted a taste and didn't want to dish out money for something I was unsure about. This didn't really grab my interest. I don't feel like it explained anything but then novellas mostly don't - they just give greater insight to the characters, so I probably can't really hold that against the story. The Japanese English translations were annoying. It would work better if there was a link to the glossary with each word so the story doesn't seem so a.) repetitive and b.) jarring. I didn't really like either of the main characters either. I'm interested in Japanese mythology but I don't believe I will be continuing with the rest of the series.

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  • 5 May, 2018: Reviewed