Based on eARC. 
 On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. She doesn't know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can't seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building. 
 Then there's gorgeous Tomohiro, star of the school's kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn't prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there's no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets. 
 When I first heard about Ink I was really excited to read it. To be honest, I expected to enjoy this book. I did not. The concept really appealed to me. A fantasy novel set in Japan, count me in. Unfortunately the execution didn't work for me. 
 The Glossary: 
 I didn't find out about it until I finished the book. Now, I don't know about you, but I don't always check the back of a book. Either put it in the front or make a note early on that there is one. To make matters worse, I read this on an e-reader. To me, it is completely impractical to go through the menu to switch to the back of the book to view this glossary. Even had I known about it, I probably wouldn't have bothered with it. 
 In the summary, it says that Katie doesn't know Japanese. You would think that if the dialogue included the language, that the characters would go on to explain it to Katie since she doesn't speak it. That doesn't happen, hence the glossary. But what about Katie? She doesn't get a glossary. To me this inconsistency didn't work. Also, looking at the glossary some of the words are completely unnecessary. ie: Um, An American, Hey. It felt like any time that word could be substituted with a Japanese word it was. This felt like a gimmick. More on that in the next point. 
 The sketches: Honestly, the just weren't enough of them. I love reading novels with sketches or illustrations in them. When they're done right. I just never felt like the sketches in Ink added anything to story and since there aren't too many, it too felt like a gimmick. I did read an eARC so this may change with the finished copy. 
 The cliches: Aside from being set in modern Japan, this book still manages to throw the ever present cliches in YA books. The outcast heroine, the bad boy, one dimensional secondary characters, silly villains, insta-love followed by the obvious denial of feelings. 
 Ink had been one of my more anticipated novels but it ended up being a disappointment of 2013. The negatives just outweigh the positives. The characters didn't hold my attention and the mythology wasn't strong enough to make up for that. In the end, Ink was filled with too many cliches to make me stick around for the sequel. 
 *eARC was provided by NetGalley*