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. 

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.