One of the things that stuck out to me about this story is the weird adult behavior, such as his mother crying more about losing tapioca than her husband, the aunt's acceptance of the bribe (which is never explained), the mom throwing a party and still keeping a gate guard even though they are poor now, those things just don't really square with me. Some are explained, but it just seemed that from the brief glimpse we are given that the adults are not using the best of judgment. Well, I guess if I'm honest most people's behavior struck me as odd in this, like why blame the father for his own death. Excepting the criminal gang in the beginning who showed up at the funeral as a "power move", not much of the behavior made sense. In addition to odd behavior the story takes quite a while to actually get going, which made me loose a bit of interest.
That being said the writing is descriptive, the idea is intriguing, and the cover art is interesting. It just isn't resonating with me personally. But I think that for their target demographic this story would be a welcome addition.
That being said the writing is descriptive, the idea is intriguing, and the cover art is interesting. It just isn't resonating with me personally. But I think that for their target demographic this story would be a welcome addition.