…and it makes monsters of people who might have been something better in another life.

The second book in the Poppy War Trilogy is very good, but also almost entirely devoid of light. That, in my opinion, makes this an excellent military fantasy. Too many other stories in the genre glorify war—or, at least, the heroes who fight in war. The Dragon Republic doesn't do that. Our hero is a terrible weapon of war burdened with trauma after trauma, and she is never given the opportunity of a good choice. It's all brutal and awful, and it feels so real.

Don't look to this story to give you the kind of feel-good battle of good versus evil that you'll find in the likes of Harry Potter. That sort of thing is for children; this story is for adults who know that the world of humankind is often anything but kind.