This is a spoiler-free review of the first volume.

Should you read this novel? Sure, but I think there are better novels you could read. I don't regret the time I put into reading this novel and I actually enjoyed reading it!

The novel has many issues such as its pacing, its lack of a compelling antagonist, and mediocre world-building. That isn't to say that the story is bad though.

This story isn't balls to the walls packed with action (while there is it isn't the focus) but rather a story of atonement, goodbyes, and how apathy can lead to atrocities. What the story does well is that characters feel authentic in their setting. The emotional moments don't feel heavy-handed and the struggles and motivations that the characters have feel genuine which lead to a believable three-dimensional character you care about.

The story tackles discrimination and genocide in a mature manner that makes you reflect on true historical atrocities that were committed in the past. It's interesting in a way that makes you consider things you haven't considered before in your history class and how it can feel to be apart of the oppressed. It doesn't feel edgy or preachy or guilts you for being privileged but rather shows how if we remove these labels, if we ask for their names and actually take the time to get to know the people of voices we never hear we can slowly remove these prejudices and improve our relations and ultimately progress as a society.

As for the action sequences, I'll have to preface this by saying that I'm not a mecha fan so take what I say with a grain of salt. The detailed drawings of the mecha's look really cool but honestly I'm not that into mechas fighting so as for the action scenes I wasn't really that hooked. I was left confused most of the time about what was happening and couldn't remember what the purpose and abilities of each mecha were. It wasn't all that satisfying to read except for the last action scene at the end of the novel which raised the stakes further.

As a one-shot, the ending feels satisfying. It doesn't feel like they ass-pulled anything and most relevant characters had a satisfying completed character arc. The emotional moments made me tear up at times while reading towards the end and made me feel glad I finished it.

My biggest gripe with the story however is the pacing. The pacing at the start is incredibly slow with boring exposition that introduces characters that are either not fully-fleshed out or never visited again. It honestly felt like a chore reading through the first two chapters. However, it does pick up speed during its final act. The antagonist of the story is human nature or to be specific - the Republic of San Magnolia. The problem with this is that it feels too simple and uninspired. For a military drama, you'd expect political intrigue or in my case, I expected a high-ranking military official with complex motivations but instead, all we get is "the true enemy is human nature" which is a theme you'd hear from a middle school literature class.

The side characters introduced that are NOT the Eighty-Six are very scarce and don't feel as developed as the crew in the Eighty-Six. They feel boring and uninspired and you can pretty much guess what they're going to say next. Lastly, another glaring issue I found was the mediocre world-building. The world outside of the republic (perhaps intentionally) feels bleak and uninteresting. The novel does get into the origins of the Republic but does not go into very much detail about the Giadin Empire who you don't see mentioned again until the very end. As a result, it doesn't make me care much about the world outside of San Magnolia.

These concerns I have brought up may be addressed in further volumes since I believe the first volume was supposed to be a one-shot and the author left a thread hanging so he could later address these criticisms. It does feel unfair for having such high expectations of it and expecting it to meet all those criteria while also being at around 250 pages.

I don't think I'll be continuing with volume 2 immediately since I wasn't that hooked and apparently volume 2 isn't a direct continuation of the events in volume 1. Maybe I'll come back to it in the future but it's good enough for me to consider reading the rest of the series which is why I give it the following rating:

86 - Eighty-Six - gets a 7.5/10 from me.

Edit: Forgot to mention that there's an anime coming out soon for this so you may want to check that out.