Water Moon was an incredible 4.25 stars read for me. The world building that Samantha Sotto Yambao achieves in this novel is a speculative fiction reader's dream. Sometimes, her descriptions traced along my skin; other times, they nestled into my bones. I found myself basking in the beauty of so many sentences. I still have a lot of questions about the story's world, but they don't distract me from the momentum of the plot. I would love to read another book that takes place in Water Moon's world.

I have profoundly mixed feelings about the romantic component of this book. To avoid spoilers and talk about it in broad strokes, I think certain moments felt predictable and Hallmark cliché. These clichés tend to make me cringe. With that being said, maybe it was helpful to have the romantic element be predictable amid such a dynamic, unique, and unfamiliar world, something to anchor the reader's broader exploration. While I enjoyed the romance, I just wish it surprised me more.

Overall, I would recommend the Water Moon to anyone who enjoys navigating familiar questions in a whole new world.