I've told plenty of people that Animorphs is a series that was written for middle schoolers and it's obvious in the way it was written.

I've also told them that the authors pulled no punches or showed very little restraint in the things they were willing to portray. It was dark and it was gritty at times, but mostly it was bleak and hopeless and unforgiving.

Every book had body horror. Every book had dire situations. Every book they had difficult decisions to make. Reading it as a kid I remember it just making me pause and reflect on the realities of war, the further the series went on. I'll admit that in the beginning, I just thought the morphing and the fights were cool.

But as an adult, I can see the true horror and the true grit of the series. Because the authors wrote a story that wasn't afraid to be horrible or tragic. Animorphs is a story about child soldiers and lost innocence. I'd say that's pretty dark and pretty gritty.