EN | MY

Sarawak State Library

Read.Innovate.Excel

Watermoon

image description
Call no.
: 823.92/SOT
Author
: Samantha Sotto Yambao
Contributor
: Rozana Octovia Anak Raymond Umpu
Summary
Water Moon by Samantha Sotto Yambao is a whimsical, Ghibli-esque fantasy set in a hidden Tokyo pawnshop where people trade not possessions but their most life-altering choices and regrets. When 21-year-old Hana Ishikawa inherits the shop, she wakes to find it ransacked, her father missing, and a stolen “choice” that must be recovered. Teaming up with Keishin, a stranger with a scientist’s mind, she embarks on a dreamlike journey through magical landscapes—singing forests, paper cranes, puddle-portals, and night markets in the clouds—blurring the lines between reality and the surreal. The novel’s strength lies in its richly imaginative world-building and cozy, poetic tone, with packaging as creative as its content (its dust jacket folds into an origami boat). Critics and readers praise its inventiveness, emotional resonance, and visual beauty, though some note that character development is thin, dialogue occasionally awkward, and pacing so fast that certain arcs feel rushed. Still, for fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Studio Ghibli, or lyrical magical realism, it offers a quick, enchanting escape into a world where regrets can be bartered and destiny can be rewritten.