The problem with reading a book I’ve never read before is that I can’t guarantee I’m going to finish it. In fact, the last book I tried is a Did Not Finish in my reading journal. So it’s no surprise that I opened my latest library book with a touch of trepidation. I reserved Water Moon: A Novel by Samantha Sotto Yambao at the library before it was even released because it was described as a fantasy worthy of a Studio Ghibli movie. Would Water Moon fair better than the last book I tried to read?
Since I bribe myself to exercise by reading on the stationary bike at the gym, I took Water Moon with me. I was captivated from the first page. Afterwards, I told my husband all about the book, or at least the first forty pages. I raved about it. I don’t just like this book, I love it.
Then he asked the killer question: why?
Unable to put my finger on what made it successful, I was suddenly asking myself questions.
How did Yambao hook me in just a couple of paragraphs? Was it the premise? The characters? The mysteries? The language? Some combination of the above?
I was getting ready to roll up my sleeves and take the first pages of this book apart — I’m a novelist, I want to know how books work — when I suddenly thought an analysis could wait. Possibly forever.
Everyone discusses my art and pretends to understand, as if it were necessary to understand, when it is simply necessary to love. ~Claude Monet
There is magic in true art. We can discuss and analyze all we want, but we can’t distill down ingredients and generate a sure-fire recipe for an engrossing fantasy novel, much as we might like to.
I’m fairly confident the author knows what she doing and this book will be a gem right up to the end. Right now, the only thing I need to understand is that I love this book.
Have you ever fallen in love with a book right from the start?
