YMMV / In Our Shadow

• Archive Binge: At the end of Part 1, the story is 382 pages long, with the sequel already pushing it above 400 pages in total.
• Awesome Art: The pages are beautifully drawn.
• Catharsis Factor: After all the shit Quartz pulled, such as being a Fake Defector from the rats and stabbing Australia in the back, fatally shooting Bray and several other sympathetic characters in cold blood, and conspiring with Clover to usurp Schorl's rulership of the Rat Empire, it is beyond satisfying to see Queen Bushfire personally defeat the bastard, have him right in her hands and crush his skull under her fists as if she were squashing a bug, all while wearing a look of pure contempt.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • That unnamed rat lady with the grey and white fur. Enough for her to become an Ascended Extra, as shown here or (warning, big spoilers) here. She even gets a name: Scoria.
    Scoria: You two! Surrender! You're outmatched! Our power suits multiply our strength threefold!
    Bray (ready to kick their asses): Do you think that will be enough?
    (beat)
    Scoria (surrendering): Uh... I think maybe our ribs are broken, so... You got lucky this time, kangaroo...
  • Ms Granite the bear teacher and her students, who escape to Australia with Quartz's help.
  • Quartz (mistakenly called Halite by Schorl), for being the first rat after Amethyst shown to have a sympathetic side and who ultimately defects from the rat empire after Schorl crossed the Moral Event Horizon. This was instantly revoked when he turned out to be a Fake Defector.
• Heartwarming Moments:
  • Amethyst giving Pipa a pep talk after their mission on the Moon and helping her overcoming her Heroic BSoD after the deaths of Hookturn and most of the Lemurs.
  • Pipa and Briana reconciling a few pages after.
• Inferred Holocaust: At its peak, the Rat Empire had a population of over 90 billion, all entirely dependent on the energy produced by the pylons and the Artificial Gravity technology enabled by this immense power budget. At the climax of Part 1, all pylons are destroyed by the actions of Brianna and Amethyst. Aside from the immediate casualties (which would have been immense, as dozens of major population centers were effectively nuked), the rest of the population was then left to fend for itself in a world without the natural resources to sustain them, debris raining down from orbit and most of their technology no longer working due to lack of power. Post-timeskip, the rats are reduced to just one of several factions struggling for control of Europe, which implies a rather horrifying drop in population.
• Les Yay: Strong hints that Amethyst cares for Brianna as more than a student. Then Bri goes and kisses her, human movies making her think it was a way to snap one out of hysteria.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Schorl's decision to totally exterminate the lemur race, including the civilians and children, by wiping out Madagascar. It is even considered one In-Universe and directly or indirectly causes several rats to do a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Quartz murdering Bray, Ms Granite and most of the kangaroo leadership, trying to kill Lady Brushfire and Amethyst, and sentencing the kangaroos to the same fate as the Lemurs. It largely doesn't go to plan, but still.
• Tear Jerker:
  • The aftermath of the destruction of Madagascar and the death of Hookturn. Pipa is hit hard.
  • For those who Cry for the Devil, the flashback showing Lehna's death. Schorl can't stay with her, because he is unable to bear the sight of her withering away, and starts deluding himself with Replacement Goldfishes of her.
  • After they managed to escape the Rat Empire, Mrs Granite's students look at a list of the victims to see if their parents managed to escape the panicked Rats' death squads. No words are spoken, but their heartbroken reactions don't leave doubts about the fates of their parents.
  • The aftermath of Quartz's betrayal and slaughter of the leaders of the kangaroos. Ms Granite's students are seen weeping over her dead body. Bray is dead and Lady Brushfire doesn't even have the time to grieve for him, as the rat fleet is approaching and she has to protect her people.