Darkling Plain

I just finished reading "A Darkling Plain" by Philip Reeve, book four in the Hungry City chronicles. Well, actually I finished reading it about a half-hour ago and only just finished crying. Read all four of these books in order to find out why. Mr. Shrike (or Grike in the North American books) has got to be the most tragic hero since Macbeth. From the very beginning I thought he was such a sad character even though he was a killing machine. I've always had a soft spot for engineered soldiers (a purely science-fiction concept) What are they expected to do when the fighting is over? And then when the other side get some engineered super-soldiers themselves... well then what is the point of fighting when the only ones left will be sad tragic figures like Mr. Shrike. I'm gonna go cry some more.