Water Moon
ISBN: 9781804993323
Description
On a backstreet in Tokyo lies a pawnshop, but not everyone can find it. Most will see only a cosy ramen restaurant. And just the chosen ones – those who are lost – will find a place to pawn their life choices and deepest regrets. Hana Ishikawa wakes on her first morning as the pawnshop's new owner to find it ransacked, the shop’s most precious acquisition stolen and her father missing. And then into the shop stumbles a charming stranger, quite unlike other customers. For he offers help, instead of seeking it.
Reviewed on 6th December 2025
I bought this after seeing the subsequent book by the author advertised as coming soon, and being intrigued by the cover and blurb. So to some extent maybe went into this one unprepared.
This is the story of Hana, who inherits a special pawnshop from her father, where customers pawn choices from their past that they have always wondered about, to stop them weighing on their minds.
The cover quotes repeatedly describe this book as Studio Ghibli-esque, and that I can strongly agree with. The problem for me is that I'm not particularly a fan of those films, and equally the book didn't really work for me.
It's a journey of metaphysical wonder through a fantasy world that's built short chapter by short chapter, but this means it feels like we're flicking around from concept to concept at such a rate that it's hard to take in any of the characterisation or believe in the relationships between the characters.
I can quite imagine that other readers will love it, but it's not for me, and so I've decided not to pursue the other book by the author that had originally caught my attention.