Scan barcode
A review by miketea
86—EIGHTY-SIX, Vol. 5: Death, Be Not Proud by Asato Asato
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
What a fantastic series so far. Book 5 is probably the most dense, but not in a bad way.
Book 5 has the Eighty-Six Strike Package travel to the United Kingdom of Roa Garcia, to aide in fighting back against the Legion that are slowly pushing into their territory. There the group meets Prince Vika, who created a Legion-like group of robot soldiers called Sirens.. which leads to many different questions for the Eighty Six team. Sirens, like Legion, have a central processor that is controlled by the mind of a deceased soldier - the main difference being that the soldiers have to give permission for this to happen before they die.
Lena and Shin are going through the awkward not-fighting-but-kind-of-fighting phase throughout this book, due to Lena's comments at the end of Book 4. Lena and Shin's thoughts on the past, present, and future are pretty conflicting... and they both don't know how to talk it out with each other. Other characters make offhand comments about their relationship, but both protagonists are pretty oblivious to the teasing.
While Shin and Co. are fighting alongside the Sirens, Shin keeps getting bombarded with the thoughts in his own head about how he feels about the world and the future... does he care? Does it matter? Vika's siren, Lerche (there's so much to the Vika / Lerche relationship that I won't add in here, but it's pretty wild), confronts Shin with a sort of resentment to the fact that he still has the opportunity to hope, to have a future... while she does not.
Vika is an extremely interesting new character to add to the mix. His backstory of how Sirens were created and who Lerche is to him comes off as such a tragedy... there is a reason why one of his nicknames is "The King of Corpses". I'm looking forward to learning more about him and Lerche in the next book!
I also enjoyed the growth of some of the side characters here - the part with Anju and Dustin made me smile. Dustin is such a good guy!
Book 5 brought about so many questions for the Eighty Six and the reader. Should Sirens be treated like humans? Does the creation of Sirens make the United Kingdom the same as the Legion? After Lerche's outburst it's apparent Siren's can have their own thoughts and emotions, so is it okay to treat them like equipment instead of human?
Lena and Shin are going through the awkward not-fighting-but-kind-of-fighting phase throughout this book, due to Lena's comments at the end of Book 4. Lena and Shin's thoughts on the past, present, and future are pretty conflicting... and they both don't know how to talk it out with each other. Other characters make offhand comments about their relationship, but both protagonists are pretty oblivious to the teasing.
While Shin and Co. are fighting alongside the Sirens, Shin keeps getting bombarded with the thoughts in his own head about how he feels about the world and the future... does he care? Does it matter? Vika's siren, Lerche (there's so much to the Vika / Lerche relationship that I won't add in here, but it's pretty wild), confronts Shin with a sort of resentment to the fact that he still has the opportunity to hope, to have a future... while she does not.
Vika is an extremely interesting new character to add to the mix. His backstory of how Sirens were created and who Lerche is to him comes off as such a tragedy... there is a reason why one of his nicknames is "The King of Corpses". I'm looking forward to learning more about him and Lerche in the next book!
I also enjoyed the growth of some of the side characters here - the part with Anju and Dustin made me smile. Dustin is such a good guy!
Book 5 brought about so many questions for the Eighty Six and the reader. Should Sirens be treated like humans? Does the creation of Sirens make the United Kingdom the same as the Legion? After Lerche's outburst it's apparent Siren's can have their own thoughts and emotions, so is it okay to treat them like equipment instead of human?