nika ⸆⸉’s Reviews > Scorched Earth > Status Update

spoilers
marcus and agrippa had a good talk! but marcus had another asthma episode, their entire lives marcus and felix were idiots and didn’t think anyone had it either and there was no treatment, except that many did and agrippa knew what to get to help. then marcus figured out who the rat was and stoned him. and though the 37th legion has no way to fall back, they have a way forward with a white flag and allies

oh my god. no.? agrippa went with a white flag to speak with marcus on the cusp of war to throw him off with surprise. agrippa who the 37th legion (and marcus still?) believes is their first and only deserter from 4yrs ago, who would get stoned to death for being a deserter (or even being suspected of it), who now certainly fights on the opposite side of the new beginning war, who marcus once respected and trusted.

marcus, get yourself together. fight the voices in your mind. i’m starting to hate you. your legion and the rest are starting to doubt you and hate you too. please fight for the good.

marcus, no no no…
i’m so deeply upset.

it’s frustrating that marcus and his legion treats the 51st legion like boys undeserving of respect or proper command, though he realizes that he himself was in that exact position when he was young. so i am proud of the 51st’s legatus for standing up to marcus and demanding respect for himself and his legion though indirectly, and stating that although they had idolized marcus before, he’s a disappointment.

marcus said “i wish agrippa were here” bc he believes he’s the only one who could lead as well as himself. i’ve hoped for this admission, not a revelation as he had always known it even after he and the legion believed him to be a deserter, and now he begun questioning that theory. when agrippa was bad mouthed, he defended him, “when he argued, he was usually right, he always got the job done”
i love them

i realize that marcus will somehow survive bc there’s the entire rest of the book left.
i hope that marcus tells his story and felix believes/forgives him and protects him from their legion in the case that they all don’t believe him. but it’ll probably be bc teriana and the young legion make it in time to save him as get gets beaten.
(ps. i don’t think my % of book read is accurate but it’s whatever)

spoiler: lydia being a powerful corrupter is so dark, ominous, and sad. i really feel for killian as he loves her sm. lydia is really a threat to killian, malahi, agrippa, and everybody else. and with the evil inside of her, she had confessed to agrippa that the 37th, his family, is on the southern continent, so that he would leave malahi undefended. i hope that he helps malahi and then goes “home” to his legion.

i like how this book began, and i’m really looking forward to learning the entire rest of the story.
teriana is currently in bardeen to make passage through the crystal to arinoquia along with the 51st legion made up of thirteen yr old legionaries. they informed her that the current rebel leader of bardeen is rumored to fight with a 37th legion’s gladius, so though not known to them by name, it is surely silvara