Hoo boy, I get distracted by life for a bit and a whole slew of chapters get posted. Well, to business then. First off, I've already waxed poetic about your music choices before, but the song for chapter 22 is amazing! It's so evocative and elicits a sense of hope as the oasis of the Silver Rebellion capital is revealed in the middle of a desert and a foreboding red sky. It gave me a sense that these were a people worth fighting for, even before truly meeting them. Another touch that I enjoyed was how the naming conventions in the Silver Rebellion tend to follow a pattern of consonant-vowel-consonant with two vowels being the norm. It was an interesting cultural thing to notice.

I have a few questions that occurred to me as I was reading though. They have a statue of Juno and Blazewing that references the Silver Rebellion. How long ago was the divine prophecy made? How long has this rebellion been going on that they had the time to craft a statue? Was the prophecy made before the rebellion, that is, was the rebellion inspired by the prophecy or vice-versa? How long has Zander been here in Kivistal? All of these thoughts flashed through my mind in a few seconds. I don't expect, or even desire, answers too much, but it's just something to keep in mind.

From the second that they start describing it, I fell in love with Macomb all over again. Macomb's description is such beauty for such horrors, both in the briefing, and when they finally arrive at the city-cum-prison-cum-weapons factory. Although the training process is given more time and development so that it seems less like Juno is miraculously being thrown into situations and living, it is still horrifying that a middle schooler is going off to wage war.

All of the details on the weapons and technology was much appreciated. I'm currently reading Ghost Fleet, which is a hypothetical description of what World War III might look like, and there are a lot of similarities to how you handle the technical aspects of warfare with how the authors of that work do. A lot less Pokemon and a lot more naval warfare in Ghost Fleet though.

The squad was very well characterized, with the Croconaw getting a bit of a short stick, but nonetheless. This band of brothers started off looking like a fun time, but the mission quickly turned horrifying as people started dying. This is Juno's first real time commanding anyone and already half of his squad is dead. Again, he is a middle schooler having to deal with causing the death not only of his enemies, but of his allies, indirect as the latter may be. On a lighter note, it was funny to me that Blazewing really didn't like it when other members of the squad tried to make jokes. That's her schtick I guess, and she's a bit territorial. To be fair, Lahanas is a really good example of why you should vet people who volunteer for a suicide mission though.

As always, it's a delight reading this and I look forward to the next chapters!