REVIEW: Rise (Paper Gods #2.5) by Amanda Sun

Rise is FREE on Amazon, Kobo and Barnes and Noble!

Synopsis: A long, long time ago, before the world was as we know it, Izanami and Izanagi came into being. Two of the first of the ancient gods of Japan, they crafted the world from ink and their own imaginations. Izanagi wants, more than anything, to be with Izanami—but one moment of pride could tear them apart forever.

Yuki and Tanaka have been friends for as long as they can remember, but lately deeper feelings have been bubbling under the surface. How do they navigate the transition from friendship to true love without destroying the powerful bond between them?

Set a millennia apart, can these two couples, living parallel love stories, find their happily-ever-afters?

Review:

It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the Paper Gods series, a dark paranormal trilogy set in modern Japan. I devoured the first two novels (you can read my review of book two, Rain, here), and the prequel novella, Shadow. When I found out about Rise, I may or may not have squealed in undignified delight.

What’s better than a novella about two of my favorite characters to tide me over until the release of the final book? A free novella about two of my favorite characters!

Rise is actually two stories in one, woven together, alternating between chapters. Half the novella tells of the tragic romance of Izanagi and Izanami, as well as the origin of the ink. The other half is the modern story of Yuki and Tanaka. That’s the part I was really excited to read.

One of my favorite elements of the Paper Gods is the well-developed cast of secondary characters. Too often, secondary characters seem more like props than real people, placed strategically in the narrative to help or hinder the heroes at the appropriate moment. Best-friend characters, especially, seem to have nothing to do but lie around and wait for the protagonist to call.

In the Paper Gods series, however, I really get the sense that the secondary characters have rich inner lives. If you just turned the camera on them, you’d find that they have their own stories to tell and their own problems to navigate, even if those problems aren’t supernatural (at least, not yet). Amanda Sun takes care to include the little details that go a long way toward building a well-rounded character—like how Tanaka practices calligraphy and plays baseball, and how his favorite American TV series is Lost.

The secondary characters’ lives don’t revolve around the protagonists, Katie and Tomo; rather, their lives run parallel, connected but independent. Each character—Yuki, Tanaka, Myu, Shiori, my love and my darling Satoshi, who I desperately want to have his own short story or novella—is the protagonist of his or her own story. We just don’t see it all “on-screen.”

Except in Rise, we do! In this novella, the camera focuses on Yuki and Tanaka, and their awkward, adorable budding romance. The tension between them has been building steadily for two books now, and it was great to see all those shy glances and blushes finally come to fruition.

Their story is more than just romance, however: The modern-day chapters of Rise take place just after the end of Rain, and bridges some of the gap between Rain and the upcoming final book, Storm. For the first time, Yuki and Tanaka have a brush with the Kami. What’s more, the Kami are getting bolder, leaving menacing graffiti in public places… and adding to their body count. Something big is about to happen, I just know it—but I won’t find out just what until Storm comes out this summer.

I actually had to read Rise twice. The first time, I was so impatient to get to the parts about Yuki and Tanaka that I cheated a bit and skimmed the Izanami and Izanagi parts. (I know, I know, I’m bad! I just really love Tanaka, okay?) As soon as I was finished, though, I went back to the beginning and read the whole novella again, this time savoring the Kami chapters as much as the chapters about Yuki and Tanaka.

I don’t want to reveal too much about the Kami chapters, but I will say this: They’re dark, they’re fascinating, and they enrich the world of the Paper Gods. We finally learn about the origin of the Kami and the ink—and we even get glimpses of a few Kami who will be very, very important to Katie and Tomo’s story.

If you’re already a fan of the Paper Gods, then Rise is essential reading. On top of that, it’s free, so you’ve really got nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain.

If you haven’t started reading the Paper Gods series yet—what are you waiting for? This is one of my favorite paranormal series of the last few years; I really can’t recommend it enough. You’ve got two months to catch up before Storm comes out on June 30, so get cracking!

Connect with author Amanda Sun online:

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REVIEW: Rain (Paper Gods #2) by Amanda Sun

Rain on Goodreads

Amanda Sun’s debut novel, Ink, was one of my favorite reads of 2013. I hoped that Rain would be at least as good as its predecessor. It wasn’t.

Rain was even better.

I plowed through this book in two days flat. I just couldn’t set Rain down for long. Honestly, the novel was so tightly plotted that I had a hard time finding where I could stick my bookmark without feeling that I was abandoning the characters to their fate.

Rain transported me. Amanda Sun has a real gift for description. She masterfully slips in all kinds of sensory details that immerse the reader in her world. When it comes to creating setting, she has a light, artistic touch. It’s the little things that make the story come alive, woven smoothly into the narrative: the hum of vending machines, the smell of food at a festival, the bubbles fizzing in a glass of melon soda.

These descriptions were my favorite aspect of Rain—and they’re the reason why I’m currently rereading the book. I can’t get enough of Sun’s descriptive writing.

Speaking of Sun’s writing: I’m a hard sell when it comes to first-person narration. The YA market is flooded with novels that have no business in first-person, but are nonetheless.

To write successfully in the first person, the viewpoint character needs 1) a unique, believable voice and 2) a damned good reason to be present for every important event—because, of course, in a first-person novel, if she’s not there, the audience doesn’t get to see it.

Often, this results in a lot of protagonists “conveniently” overhearing important conversations or otherwise being shoehorned into unlikely situations because the plot demands it, dragged around by a very obvious authorial hand. Rain is one of the few, bright exceptions. Both Katie’s narration and her presence in the story are wonderfully organic.

Katie struggles in this book—and not just with the ancient supernatural forces gathering around her. Her Japanese isn’t up to scratch, and she’s in danger of having to transfer to an international (English-speaking) school, away from her only real friends and the boy she loves. She’s still grappling with Japanese social conventions.

And then there’s all that trouble with the yakuza, and the fact that her boyfriend is a kami with dangerous powers he can’t control.

Put it all together and you’ve got the makings of a fantastic book. Danger! Mythology! Culture! Romance! Kendo! A positive relationship between Katie and her aunt! Well-developed secondary characters! (SATOSHI, MY LOVE.) Rain has it all.

Honestly, my biggest complaint has nothing to do with the story. Many Japanese words and phrases appear throughout Rain, but you have to flip to the glossary in the very back of the book to find out what they mean. While the language adds texture and realism to the story, I was annoyed at having to interrupt my reading experience every few pages to visit the glossary. What’s more, there’s no indication (say, in the front-matter) that the book includes a glossary at all—so if you don’t know it’s there when you start reading, you’re going to be flummoxed and frustrated by Japanese phrases, only to kick yourself when you reach the end and discover that the translations have been right there all along.

Is it so hard to design the book with footnotes instead of a glossary in the back? Throw me a bone, here, Harlequin Teen!

To wrap things up, I’d like to share one of my favorite passages from Rain, from early in the book. It showcases a lot of what I love about Amanda Sun’s writing:

The flustered crowd swelled around us, elbows and shoulders prodding into me, squishing me until I felt a claustrophobic panic attack coming on. It reminded me of Mom’s funeral, the heat and sweat of all the bodies circling around me, too close. 

“Here,” Tomo said, pressing his hands against the wall on either side of me. The crowd continued to push toward us, but Tomohiro took the brunt of it, forced closer and closer toward me.  

“Thanks,” I said. He nodded once, bracing himself against the umbrellas and bags that jabbed into his arms and legs. We were pressed together like sardines; his breath was warm against my neck, and I could see the ribbons of badly healed scars trailing up his right arm. The biggest, where the painting of the kanji for sword had sliced him in elementary school, was mostly hidden under his soft wristband, but the edges of the scar trailed toward his palm and up his arm. 

He hunched over me, trying not to press his body against mine, trying to give me some kind of modest space. This was the kind of guy he was, I reminded myself. Not the one who could lurk in dark alleys and call up people-eating dragons just by sketching them on paper. 

But that was him, too. 

— Rain by Amanda Sun

Review: Cold Days

Summary (from Amazon)

HARRY DRESDEN LIVES!!!

After being murdered by a mystery assailant, navigating his way through the realm between life and death, and being brought back to the mortal world, Harry realizes that maybe death wasn’t all that bad. Because he is no longer Harry Dresden, Chicago’s only professional wizard.


He is now Harry Dresden, Winter Knight to Mab, the Queen of Air and Darkness. After Harry had no choice but to swear his fealty, Mab wasn’t about to let something as petty as death steal away the prize she had sought for so long. And now, her word is his command, no matter what she wants him to do, no matter where she wants him to go, and no matter who she wants him to kill.

Guess which Mab wants first?

Of course, it won’t be an ordinary, everyday assassination. Mab wants her newest minion to pull off the impossible: kill an immortal. No problem there, right? And to make matters worse, there exists a growing threat to an unfathomable source of magic that could land Harry in the sort of trouble that will make death look like a holiday.


Beset by enemies new and old, Harry must gather his friends and allies, prevent the annihilation of countless innocents, and find a way out of his eternal subservience before his newfound powers claim the only thing he has left to call his own…His soul.

-

As you guys may or may not know, I am a freak for the Dresden Files. I've been on this train since my freshman year of high school. I love these books the passion of a thousand suns. (In fact, I may or may be so passionate about the Dresden Files that I may or may not run a Dresden Files fanblog somewhere deep in the wilds of the Internet.)

That said, the previous installment in this serious, Ghost Story, broke me. It was beautiful and tragic and it had an ending that left me flailing and praying to any god that would listen that Jim Butcher would finish the next book soon. When my copy of Cold Days came in, I practically cheered.

Cold Days had everything I hoped it would: intense action, dramatic reveals, increased stakes, and scenes between characters that gave me feeeeeeelings. Cold Days is a game-changer that makes the previous installments (at least, the ones leading up to Changes) look like relaxing weekends.

As you might have guessed, I am passionate about faeries and faerie lore, which is why I was particularly excited to realize that the plot of Cold Days would revolve largely around the Winter Court. I absolutely adore Mab. (Did I mention I'm also a big fan of snowscapes? Because I am. Goodness, I do love a good snowscape.) Any readers of this series who have enjoyed our previous encounters with the Queen of Air and Darkness will love Cold Days.

Speaking of supernatural heavy-hitters, the various legendary characters who make appearances in Cold Days left me grinning from ear to ear. I'm hoping to see more of them in future books!

Cold Days contains my favorite action sequence in the whole series. It may be my favorite action sequence of ANY series. Highlight this paragraph to see spoilers! [SPOILER: The scene with Harry and Karrin running from the Wild Hunt on a motorcycle is perhaps the single most imaginative chase scene I have ever encountered in urban fantasy. I want Cold Days to be made into a movie just for that scene. END SPOILER.]

A few things left me scratching my head, however. First: the pop culture references. One of my favorite things about Jim Butcher is that he lets his nerd flag fly. Many of his readers are nerds themselves, and he knows it. Not only that, but he slips references to all kinds of geekery into his Dresden Files novels.

Those nods to pop culture have never failed to make me smile--but they used to be more subtle, woven smoothly into the narrative. In Cold Days, the references were much less subtle and much more frequent. I found them somewhat jarring, to the point that a single reference could pull me out of my "reader" frame of mind.

The second problem I had while reading was the dialogue. Is it just me, or are Butcher's characters dropping the F-bomb much more liberally than they used to? Don't get me wrong--I have no problem with harsh language, and I love a well-placed, perfectly-timed F-bomb as much as the next person. But the thing about words is that, the more you use them, the less meaningful they become. If you drop the F-bomb exactly once in your novel, for example, it's going to pack a punch. Even if you drop several, if they're well-placed, they'll have an effect on the readers.

It could be that I'm just not remembering the previous books very well, but I swear (pun wholly and unabashedly intended), Harry never used to cuss so much--at least not using the really heavy-hitting words.

The last issue I had with Cold Days is a big 'ol spoiler, so highlight this paragraph at your own risk: [SPOILER: The whole "Nemesis" thing felt a little tacked-on. It didn't seem cohesive with the rest of the series--sort of like Jim Butcher had this great idea for a new obstacle for Harry right before he started working on Cold Days. I'll certainly roll with it and keep reading, but I think that the Outsiders were more than sufficient to carry the plot of this book, and felt more natural in the grand scheme of things. Of course, Butcher has never let me down before, so I suspect that, after another book, I'll be fully on board with this new twist. END SPOILER.]

All told, Cold Days does not disappoint. True to form, Jim Butcher ups the ante with this installment, setting the stage for a story arc that will be, in a word, epic.