"[2] Maggie Reagan, writing for Booklist, noted, "Modern political issues are woven into the story, never didactically but with an urgency that lends substantial weight.

"[1] On behalf of Shelf Awareness, Clarissa Hadge also highlighted how "the plot [is] full of arresting events that mirror current political and racial divides".

[2] Booklist's Reagan wrote, "Where the first volume was subtlety and shadows, this is emotion and adrenaline, and it will carry readers through to an ending that feels entirely earned.

[4] Shelf Awareness's Clarissa Hadge also noted that "Mejia writes an utterly captivating and thoroughly satisfying ending for the two young women, while leaving the world of Medio open for a potential return.

Although they often refer to We Set the Dark on Fire as a "better and more queer" Handmaid's Tale, Brown notes that with We Unleash the Merciless Storm, it's clear that "Tehlor Kay Mejia is interested in bigger, more intersectional issues than Margaret Atwood ever was.