Shadow (Prequel to Ink), Read: August 14, 2013
Ink, Read: August 20, 2013
Summary: Ink and its prequel, Shadow, is told from Katie Greene’s point of view. With the passing of her mother, Katie, an American teenager, moves to Japan to live with her aunt. As Katie isn’t Japanese and is unfamiliar with the customs and language, she feels alone and lost.
In the process of acclimatizing to the culture, Katie meets Tomohiro. Mysterious and strange things happen in the presence of Tomohiro and this intrigues Katie. Katie begins to uncover the truth and discovers the dangers that are entwined with Tomohiro’s connections to Japanese mythological beings.
My thoughts: Both books were well written. The storyline captured how I would imagine being a non-Japanese person in Japan and the culture shock of living in an Asian country. It’s a good introduction for young adults to be exposed to a culture that is different and fascinating. For a young adult book, it was appealing and well written for me reading it as an adult. With this book being the first in a trilogy series, I’m looking forward to how the storyline plays out.
