Thoroughly enjoyed this novel set in WWII Russia. Aspiring women pilots and navigators face an all-male dominated branch of the military. With dedication and skill they make themselves valuable against the German invaders, harrying them from the air with small, agile aircraft. Well written and researched. Highly recommended.

Katya Ivanova is an ambitious young woman who is determined to fulfill her dreams and become a pilot in 1940s Russia. She faces discrimination, harassment, and dismissal from her male counterparts during her training. She perseveres and joins an all woman regiment, flying missions overnight to disrupt German bases.

The women become known as the Night Witches, for their overnight flying and tactics. The Russian Army is not prepared to deal with women in its ranks. They face injustice and indignities from being issued make underwear and uniforms to sexual assault. They must deal with a lack of respect they from many of their male counterparts, despite their incredible performance.

Katya struggles with courage, loss, and society's expectations. The book celebrates an incredible group of women who persisted despite the odds. I found it inspirational to read about these courageous women.

I received an ARC of this book Through NetGalley in exchange for my honest opinion.

This book is absolutely incredible! (Also, it has something like 1,080 reviews on Amazon. That's amazing.) Daughters of the Night Sky follows the story of Katya, a fighter pilot during WWII. Her strength of character pulled me in from the very beginning. The book does not shy away from portraying the realities of war, and I found my heart wrenched in several directions as I progressed through the story. Katya has to balance her desire for her role as a wife and daughter with her passion to pursue her role as a pilot, as well as doing all that she can to survive while dealing with men who resent her gender. A poignant, addicting read.

In the Soviet Union in 1941, Stalin has declared equal rights for women, but they still experience discrimination. Nevertheless, 20-year-old Katya manages to follow her childhood dream. She trains for her pilot’s wings at the Chelyabinsk Military Aviation School and flourishes despite the instructors’ preferential treatment of male cadets. While still learning to be a navigator, she befriends a pilot, Vanya, who teaches her to fly Polikarpovs—fragile biplanes more suitable for crop-dusting than dropping bombs. They fall in love and get married, but following the German invasion, they’re soon separated and assigned to different fronts. Katya joins the 588th Night Bomber Regiment. This air unit, comprising only of women, is so effective in harassing and destroying the German supply lines that they are nicknamed the “Night Witches.” While surviving the hardships of war, the night sorties, and the lack of decent accommodation and food, Katya dreams of reuniting with Vanya.

Aimie K. Runyan has based this historical novel on the relatively unknown stories of the USSR’s female fliers, who were highly decorated for their WWII service. The narrative in Katya’s first-person voice is not only atmospheric but also provides intimate details of the Russian people’s habits and living conditions during the wartime years. The secondary storylines of Katya’s sisters-in-arms present more fascinating details on their dedicated efforts, particularly when they improvise to increase their nightly sorties with their ill-equipped bombers and make do with ill-fitting uniforms and oversized shoes. While Katya’s determination and sacrifices are amply apparent, she shows one surprising moment of weakness, which also serves to demonstrate her human side. Somewhat like a classic Russian novel, the ending is compelling but seems a bit protracted. An enjoyable read.

This review first appeared in the HNR magazine Issue 83 (February 2018)

Great read! Well-researched and interesting even if you don't normally read historical fiction. I love how more and more women's histories are getting explored.

I love reading books based from events in WWII. I also love learning new things I didn't yet know about that time. I never knew there were women pilots in Russia that flew planes during the war. This is a story not just of how women became pilots, but what they had to sacrifice and endure to become a "Daughter of the Night Sky."

A beautiful story of respect, love and determination; as we enter in to the battle between Russia and Germany during World War II.
A group of women earn spots to become pilots after much dissension from the world regarding ladies fighting.on the front line.
Training is severe, but these women want to be equal and perfect in all ways.
This novel is not without sadness and loss, but this story tells a beautiful tale. The descriptions of flying in the night, the fear and exhilaration as they learn to respect, trust and let go as time goes on.
""Bound by duty, and honor."
I loved these ladies! Well done!

Really enjoyed this book. For my full review please see my blog www.creatingherstory.wordpress.com

I enjoyed this great novel about Russian women trained as pilots by Stalin to help defeat the Nazis. This novel is a timely novel in that women serving in the military today around the world perhaps do not get the same credit as their male counterpart. Katya is a likely hero, beautiful, strong and faithful to her cause, friends and loved ones. I really enjoyed this novel and recommend it to all historical fiction readers.

Thank you netgalley and Lake Union Publishing for the chance to read Daughters of the Night Sky! I love historical fiction, and loved reading about the Red Army of Russia during a difficult time in history, of the Second World War. Katya Ivanova displays such strength and determination when so many women would have been scared to accomplish what she does.

How is a novel about Russian women serving as combat pilots during WWII on the Eastern Front different from a novel about their male counterparts? Well, for one thing, this novel shows clearly that women had to work at least twice as hard, train at least twice as long, and suffer twice the consequences for any mistake. There is also much more camaraderie and empathy.

Aside from that, both groups endure the harshest weather and living conditions, lack of privacy and sleep, daily fear of being shot down, and utter loneliness.

I read this EARC courtesy of Net Galley and Lake Union. pub date 01/01/18

Thanks a million Netgalley and Bookouture for allowing me to read this book. A beautiful wartime story. So, so enjoyable. Lots of tears and laughter. I would highly recommend it.

My Review: 4 stars

Wow, Daughters Of The Night Sky is my first novel by Aimie K. Runyan and boy can she tell a tale. What I liked most about this historical fiction novel is that it’s based on the real Night Witches: a band of women that were trained and chosen by Stalin to fight against the Nazis in WW2.

The authors that bring little known stories about the heroics of women during wartime really appeal to me. It shows a different side of the war effort that was not ever taught in history books. Along with the fearless flying under horrific conditions with barely any sleep, these women put their lives on hold. Themes of pride, motherhood, marriage, love, sacrifice, equality, women’s rights and friendship are woven throughout the book.

This book is an easy read with a minor romantic subplot that may appeal to many readers. For me, it felt a bit sudden and unrealistic but didn’t take away from the story in any way.

Quotes I liked:

This was historical fiction at its best! Daughters of the Night Sky was a phenomenal story about Russian female pilots during World War II. It was entertaining, engaging, and informative.
Once you start reading this book, you will not want to put it down because you become so completely enthralled in their lives and well being. As each bombing mission was undertaken, I found myself reading at a faster pace hoping lives and loved ones would not be lost. But that, unfortunately, was not the case. The author realistically depicted the horrors of war and the loss of lives. As these brave aviators lost some of their sisters in arms, they became more determined to fight with bravery and resiliency knowing weakness was not an option.
This was a well written, thoroughly researched book and gave voice to a group of brave, dedicated women who rightfully deserve the same recognition in history textbooks as their male counterparts have been given.

As soon as I heard about this book, I knew I had to read it. Female pilots in the Red Army during WWII - that sort of satisfies everything I love in a book: strong women, Russian history, WWII setting.

For the most part, I loved this book. It drew me in immediately. The story is about a pilot, Katya, who was training to be a pilot before the war started. She then joins the Red Army and is part of group of women who became known by the Germans as "Night Witches" because they bombed German camps at night. I know nothing about piloting or navigating planes, but felt this story described the process well enough that I understood what was happening, without feeling overwhelmed with details.

One aspect of the book that I especially enjoyed was seeing how women were treated and how they handled finding themselves in what had previously been considered men's roles. Despite Stalin's support, they still had to deal with men not comfortable with seeing women being treated as equals. These were complex characters, with families and fears and ambitions, as well as insurmountable courage.

The action scenes are well written and exciting. Every time I picked this book up, I had a tough time putting it down. I was reading in the morning before work and during my lunch breaks, always dreading having to put the book away.

I read the entire last half in one sitting. And I continued to love the book, heartbreaking though parts of it were, up until near the end. As the story was progressing, the war was ending, and I was feeling hopeful for these characters, even after all the losses they'd suffered, and then something happened that upset me, that seemed unnecessary. I'm being vague because I don't want to spoil it for other readers - because even though I didn't like what happened, you all need to read this book.

Because this was based on true events, I thought at first that maybe the author had based this character on a real person so the author had no choice. But the author's note said the characters were fictional, and that she took liberties with the end, which was supposed to be a happy ending of sorts, but annoyed me. Sometimes, I think authors do things like this because they think it makes the story more serious or edgy. I don't know, maybe I just read too many books that have guaranteed happy endings. And as I said, this does have a happy ending, but not the one I had hoped for. The fact that I'm still so upset about this, two days after finishing the book, shows how well-developed these characters and this story was. I loved these characters and my heart is broken for them. I may as well admit, I cried through the last few chapters of this book, I felt that attached to this story.

Anyway, I think this is a really great book. I highly recommend it if you are interested in stories set during WWII, and/or stories about interesting, strong women.

I received a copy of this via Netgalley.

I loved this book. Historical fiction, especially about WWI & WWII, is my favorite genre to read because I end up learning a little something, and it was no exception with Daughters of the Night Sky. I knew nothing of what these brave female pilots did during WWII Russia. The sacrifices they made for their country was absolutely amazing. The writing by Aimie Runyan is so very well done. It had me so captivated from the very beginning that I was able to complete it in a couple of days. Lately that hasn't been something I've been able to do. I actually went and did some more reading online about the "Night Witches" as I was indeed fascinated by this piece of history. Thank you to Aimie Runyan for writing such a wonderful historical book! I liked it so much that after starting the ARC received from NetGalley, I ended up choosing it as my Amazon Kindle First selection for December. I highly recommend Daughters of the Night Sky.

I loved this book. This part of WW2 is not something I’ve read much about and I lived the experience with these women. Well written with well developed characters—loved them all. Highly recommend!
Advanced reader copy courtesy of the publishers at Netgalley for review.

I knew I wanted to read this book the first time that I heard about it. But what it ended up being was so much more than I would have ever imagined. There is the pacing that one would expect from a book about pilots during WWII, moments when the reader is forced to hold their breath because . . . because (spoiler free people), but in between, before and after, Runyan infuses the lives of these characters with loves and passions and doubts. We get to see a deep desire to break through the glass ceiling, and a desire to still claim their femininity while doing so. I couldn't read this book fast because I didn't WANT to read this book fast. The writing is lush, the descriptions full of life, and somehow, WWII Russia became a world I wanted to stay in a little longer. Brilliant.

Woman (Katinka/Katya) serves as Red Army Pilot/Navigator during WWII.

Ever since reading The Bronze Horseman series by Paullina Simons, I have been fascinated by life in Russia. This book was no exception and kept me enthralled from page one. Not only was it set in Russia, but it also featured a strong female character in a historical setting. Check, check, and check off my list of favorites!

This story spans the years of 1941-1945 while Russia fought to keep Germany from invading and follows Katya, who dreamed of becoming a pilot since she was a little girl. While in training, she meets Taisiya, a girl who shares her love of flying, and they become best friends.

For the first time in her life, Katya no longer feels like an outsider while living, training, and flying with like minded women. During the war, the women bomb the German camps at night earning the nickname "The Night Witches." This one earned a solid 4-star rating from me, and I would highly recommend it. Can't wait to read more from this author!

Thank you to the author, the publisher, the Great Thought's Ninja Review Team, and NetGalley for a free ARC of this book in exchange for my honest review! All opinions are my own.

Thank you, Aimie K. Runyan, for introducing me to another facet of history I knew nothing about. The Night Witches showed strength and bravery unthought of in women at the time. I'm definitely off to do further research.