YMMV / Battle for the Wastelands

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Who is the lesser evil, Grendel who has put an end to centuries of strife at the price of despotism or the more overtly moral Alonzo Merrill, who risks bringing it all down to save his own skin and avenge his murdered family?
• Diagnosed by the Audience: David Court, who fixates on cooking food, flaps his arms when excited, doesn't know when to shut up, and deals with sensory overload by drinking heavily. Asperger's Syndrome in a world where the concept doesn't exist?
• Les Yay: In the second book Serpent Sword, Grendel's youngest concubine Jessamine Keith suggests she and Catalina join forces against the scheming of Grendel's older concubine Lenora Starr, who intends for her son to succeed Grendel (and presumably kill their own younger children). She does this by getting rather touchy-feely with Catalina in Grendel's harem pool, something Catalina tolerates because people will assume that's all it is.
• Rooting for the Empire: At least one member of the author's critique group has advocated in defense of Grendel's despotism.