Aug 19, 2022
Yeah, I'm not sure about these last two chapters.
It feels like playing catch-up with how intense things were before with Kiro's relationships. I imagine that is because there is more attachment to Kiro's friends rather than Maia's friends. Sally and Birch had a sidelined role, it felt like, up until recently. I don't really think they're quite developed enough at the moment to have such an intense impact on the reader and the plot as it is intended to and the last chapter and the start of this chapter is trying to catch up with that.
I find the hooded character rather peculiar, but I imagine this is someone we've seen before yet I'm still unclear on the motivation beyond the implied monetary gain. Sally and Birch's desire for the fighting ring is understandable as a cover against any retribution/ridicule, but I think that angle could have been worked a bit better. As it stands, Sally and Birch only seem to have a purely material relationship through the ring, though I imagine that behind the scene's some actual friendship could have been brought up (I, however, doubt it.).
Birch, specifically, is more unhinged than Sally, though I don't know quite how to put it into words on how she is. It's odd that she seems to like being punched/beaten up by Maia, like some kind of debauched individual that sees that as the only route to validation but I'm probably off on that.
Sally, I'm not so sure about. She seems to be pulled along with things much like Kiro is with his life, but not to such an extent. She seems to have a better interpretation of what is going on and how rough the future might be looking.
It's hard to draw conclusions of those two, at the moment. There hasn't really been much in the way of content put into them for a solid assessment.
There's certainly a good thread to tug at here, but it feels like all the substance to it has not been laid till recently.
Guess we'll see how the rest of it works out, I'm still interested to see what resolution, if there is one, lies at the end of this story.
