I never would have imagined this book as the sequel to Dogs of War. I liked the first book plenty, but this book is what I actually expected reading Adrian Tchaikovsky. That said, the whiplash! The first book has dark themes, but it reads like YA fiction. This book has rape of the POV character in the second chapter.
It has a few elements of [b:Children of Memory|60850767|Children of Memory (Children of Time, #3)|Adrian Tchaikovsky|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1655929460l/60850767._SY75_.jpg|95966083] in it that I like and it's a lot more interesting and gripping than the first book. It's an improvement all around. I don't have notes, this was great.