Based on a folk tale of a power-hungry general who wants to build the ultimate weapon (the Cherrywood Cannon), this is a grotesquely illustrated story which seems to aim to engage both younger and adult readers but, to my mind at least, fails to do either. The art is too surreal and weird and dark to appeal to younger readers (I may be wrong about this) and the story far too simplistic to engage older ones. Interesting but not engaging. ( )