The War Game: Cherry Mission

I’ll be honest: *Cherry Mission* frustrated me at first. Aird denies you the catharsis of a clean win early on, and the opening acts feel deliberately messy—like being dropped into a firefight mid-magazine. But that’s the point. This is a story about the cost of being *useful* in a war that’s already lost, and the narration sells it. Rhys David’s Ash isn’t a brooding action hero; he’s a guy who’s *tired*, his sarcasm laced with the kind of gallows humor that only comes from watching too many friends die. June Aaron’s performance as the mission’s handlers, meanwhile, is chillingly detached—her voice could cut glass, and you’ll *hate* her for it. The standout sequence? A 20-minute ambush in a derelict mining tunnel where the audio design shines. The echo of boots on metal, the way Ash’s breathing gets ragged as the oxygen thins—it’s immersive in a way that makes you *feel* the weight of his armor. My gripes? The side characters sometimes blur together (a risk in any military SF), and the fantasy elements (yes, there’s magic, but it’s treated like another weapon system) take a backseat to the tactical slog. But if you want a space fantasy that’s more *Jarhead* than *Star Wars*—where the real enemy isn’t aliens but the machine that keeps sending you back—this’ll hit like a railgun round.