I really like the dystopian setting (though I kind of have to leave my brain at the door like *why* would the East coast abandon everything east of the Mississippi in this scenario, they just do), and even though it is incredibly bleak, I like that it lets everyone be a messy character. I don't know if I'd seek out the continuation, but I wasn't bored while reading it. I do feel like I have an inkling about how this story will end once they find their mom, but that's not a bad thing. It's unique art and a unique setting and honestly that's all I needed. 

 I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Summary: This graphic novel is about what would happen if The Big One, the magnitude 7 or higher earthquake that will inevitably happen along the Cascadia Fault and devastate the Pacific Northwest, hits and how that would affect people living in those areas. This story focuses on Virginia (Ginny) Crane, a Vietnamese-American teen, eight years after The Big One Hits. Within those eight years, Ginny’s mother has left Ginny’s father, herself, and Ginny’s two younger brothers and has moved away to an undisclosed location. Since Ginny’s mother has left, Ginny has taken on much of her mother’s responsibilities; cooking, cleaning, child-rearing, etc. When Ginny gets a package for her upcoming 18th birthday from her mother, she sets out to find her estranged mother.

Thoughts: As someone who lives in San Francisco and thinks about The Big One on a semi-regular basis, I was interested in what this story had in store. I was curious about how the author thought things might go when (not if) The Big One hits. I wish this story had stayed closer to fiction than science fiction because this is something that will happen, and without the science fiction elements, it will be devastating and terrifying to live through.

Overall, I found this story to be compelling enough to finish but not so much that I think I would want to pick up the next book.

What I liked: The entire comic is done in black, white, and pink. I’ve heard before that pink is supposed to be a calming, non-threatening color. So to use that color in a graphic novel about a dystopian setting where, more often than not, the characters are in some kind of danger gives the story an eerie, unsettling feeling. It really worked in the story’s favor.

I also liked Ginny as a main character. When her mother left her family, Ginny became a mother somewhat to her siblings and a partner to her father. I think it made a lot of sense that as Ginny is reaching maturity and she’s been put in an adult’s role for so long that when she gets to this point in her life, she desperately just wants her mom.

The family dynamic with Ginny’s family also felt very real and relatable. Ginny’s father, who is doing his best as a single parent, feels frustrated about his kids longing for their mom. As someone who had divorced parents growing up I really felt for Ginny’s Dad when he says, “I know you all miss her and you want her to come back, but I’m still here!” because it felt like something I’ve heard my own parents say.

I wanted to put that I found the younger siblings to be annoying in the “What I Didn’t Like” section, but I’m putting it in this section because that’s how I think the author intended the reader to feel. As an adult with adult siblings, I forget how annoyed I was with my own siblings when I was growing up. Those feelings went away for the most part around the time that I was Ginny’s age. So Ginny feeling the way she does at this point makes a lot of sense to me.

What I didn’t like: I felt like the pacing was off. It felt like the story took a while to start and when it finally did it felt like things were moving really quickly.
The world building also felt a little random at times. About 50% of the way through, aside from jinx root, there doesn’t seem to be any otherworldly changes to the world as we know it. In the later half of the book, there were a lot of science fiction elements introduced that felt a bit forced. 

I really loved this story of 3 siblings trying to find their mother in a post-apocalyptic Pacific Northwest. I enjoyed the colors and illustrations, and I hope there is another volume soon!

The art was really cool!! It caught my attention with the two toned colour scheme.  Though it was a bit chaotic at times (like too much packed into one frame), though it was cool to see all the details.

The premise of the story was interesting, but it could have been developed way more, whether it be the back story of the disaster, or the journey itself. It felt like I jumped straight into the story too fast, yet the plot was quite short (though it’s a series). 

I also think the story telling could have been more selective and efficient, as the story felt too linear (don’t know if that’s the right description) and short compared to the book length.

The book was mainly told through dialogue, but I wish it was balanced out by thoughts or something. I also didn’t love the dialogue that much. 

One last thing: I didn’t expect

that frame of the dead bodies hanging by  nooses

which was a bit disturbing. 

i loved the two tone coloring of the book as a whole, especially with the use of a light pink rather than any other color. i liked the apocalyptic setting and the characters. it was a simple comic that i enjoyed. 

Not bad for a middle-grade graphic novel, but, for some reason, I was expecting something more mature. I don't know why, maybe I was thrown off because it wasn't in the kids section of the bookstore, and instead in a separate graphic novel section right next to the adult fantasy.
It seemed too fast-paced for me, which might be a side-effect of it being a middle-grade book; 10-14 year-olds don't have the best attention span, so it should be fast paced, but as an "adult", I think it got in the way of a good story. There were some moments that should've lasted longer to give them the proper weight, and it was so fast there was no room for foreshadowing. For example,

the kids meet Four Dollars, a guy with a boat and criminal ties, on page 145, and get scammed by him twice in the remaining 17 pages of the chapter. That's not too bad, right? Well, they hand Four Dollars a map of where they need to go on page 170, and he realizes he knows who they're looking for. He decides to scam them again by page 173, and the kids begrudgingly agree 2 pages later just in time for Four Dollars to look longingly out the window on page 177 (this is the only foreshadowing for what is revealed later, but this trope is so played out that you probably already know what the twist is). Page 179, Four Dollars leaves to look for the person the kids are paying him to look for, and comes back for the next 3 days (and 3 pages) increasingly drunk. On the 3rd night when he falls unconscious onto the floor, the kids find a note in his pocket that reveals that gasp Four Dollars is the uncle they hired him to look for (page 185)! But they don't discuss this huge revelation much before going to sleep. Uncle Four Dollars wakes up the next day and they all have an argument about stuff, Four Dollars goes out again on page 188, and the kids immediately follow him on 189. The kids get attacked by zombies or something on 192, Four Dollars saves them on the 193, and all is forgiven on 197. 
I know it's a bit harsh to criticize it like that, listing the page numbers and all, but I do think it would've been better to have more than just 48 pages to sow distrust in Four Dollars, and only 12 pages to sit in their anger at his lie before it all goes away! And, remember, these are 6-9 panels per page, and 1-2 bubbles per panel, so it takes a lot of  pages to get stuff done, but you go through the pages really quick. 
Maybe, instead of having TK randomly pick up the kids in the beginning and hand them off to Four Dollars in the middle, it should've been Four Dollars from the start. Maybe he wanted to find and make up with Odessa after he left the Gogu and was too shocked by running into the kids to say anything (or, if TK needs to be there because she's gonna pay off in the sequel, have Four Dollars travelling with her as his guide). That way we have more time to get to know him, properly foreshadow the big mid-book twist that he's their uncle, and make it hit harder when he dies at the end.

With that said, I think I did like this book just enough to keep my eye open for the sequel. It's got some good worldbuilding, an interesting story, and fun, diverse characters to take you through it.