Before I get into my review of The Daughters’ War, I have to jump up and down, wave my hands, and scream it loudly - this is a very different book from The Blacktongue Thief. That book was a fun read that pushed back against the gloominess of grimdark and was full of gallows humor, leaving me grinning between grimaces. This . . . well, this is straight-up grimdark, violent and hopeless and sad, but it's not just grimdark. It's also a deeply thoughtful, philosophical read about what makes a soldier, what makes a hero, and what makes a woman.

I said in my review of the first book that, if I were to have one minor complaint, it would be that I’d liked to have gotten to know Galva better. Well, here she is - younger, greener, more innocent, and very much growing into the Galva we'll come to know and admire. You'd think that would make for a rather bland prequel, a story without edge, because we know she has to survive, but as we learn, outliving your sisters is not the same as surviving.

For lack of a better word, this was a grimdark tragedy. We know from the beginning it's not going to end well. Innocenta reminds us again and again that humanity is engaged in a war of attrition against the goblins, with her sister Raven Knights as expendable as they are experimental. It's a brutal story, with grotesque acts of violence that clearly establish the goblins as a terrifying force to be reckoned with. The story shocked me on more than one occasion, but Christopher Buehlman is to be commended for always giving that shock meaning and context. It's not so much about the horrors, but the hopelessness they breed.

On that note, goblins are not the only monsters in the book. As we see, especially in the later chapters, humans can be just as bad, especially since they choose to be horrible to one another, whereas goblins are just naturally that way. As seen through Galva's eyes, the betrayal of men, the acts of rape, theft, and abuse are far worse than the most grotesque examples of goblin feeding.

This is not all doom and gloom, however. The sisterhood and camaraderie of the Raven Knights is a wonderful thing to behold, especially where Innocenta is concerned, and the religion into which she introduces Galva, one that teaches them to love the face of death, is both poignant and beautiful. There's a strength in the bonds between the found family of women, just as there is between families into which we're born, and even the worst of her sisters and better than the worst of her brothers. When it comes to humanity, there is even justice to be found, and I dare you to find fault with vengeance when it's explored here.

The Daughters’ War started off very slowly, feeling dry and detached compared to the first book, but once it gets its hooks in you . . . once you begin to think, feel, and experience the world through Galva's eyes . . . the whole story shifts. It's so much deeper and darker than I expected, and unbelievably powerful for it. I won't say that I enjoyed it better than the first, but I appreciated it more, and for that reason I'm giving it an extra half-star.

LOVED IT! Buehlman is very quickly becoming a favourite author. I really like these characters and this world he's created. Fantastic stuff.

In this book, we see a different side to the world of The BlackTongue Thief. It's a prequel to that story and explores the events of the "Daughters' War", fought mostly by many widows and women soldiers. Galva (or Galvicha), the main character, is also female and from a noble background, and her viewpoint is a contrast to the first book's in many ways. We follow Galva and the army, as well as several other members of her family, as they move in several campaigns and looming battles.

There's a cynical tone in regards to the events she describes, and a message of the importance of telling the truth about what actually unfolded rather than how others have preferred to describe it afterwards. Despite a slow beginning, Galva's story of how her unit of magical bird warriors assists and redeems the war effort becomes a fulfilling tale of love, disappointment, humour, the importance of religion and courage in the face of traumatic events. At times, the author also lets shine the deftly sly or vulgar wit that he excels at, but in a more restrained way.

See my full blog post:
https://toomanyfantasybooks.blogspot.com/2024/02/review-daughters-war-by-christopher.html

Goodreads review:
https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/6252247981

(Also shared on Twitter.)

I fell in love with the worldbuilding Buehlamn put into The Blacktongue Thief and I was very excited to see another book in the series come out. It isn't the story I necessarily would have expected; as we jump back 20 something years (pretty sure) to detail a war referenced often in the first novel. I have the sneaking suspicion there isn't much character or plot development; it reads very slightly like a memoir. There is a remove. It isn't awful, but there are very few times I feel swept away. I liked it. It's not a better book than its predecessor, but enjoyable in what it offers.

I can’t remember the last time I read a book this fast and this enthusiastically. And I’ve read some fantastic books!

Every so often a book comes along that makes you think about it while you’re away from actually reading it and this is one of those books. I absolutely loved The Daughter’s War from start to finish and it’s hard to pinpoint one particular reason when everything just feels so polished, but I’ll try.

I actually haven’t read The Blacktongue Thief (the first book in the series) but since this is a prequel I didn’t think it would matter. Obviously this makes my reading experience a little different from those who’ve already read The Blacktongue Thief but it certainly didn’t negatively impact my enjoyment whatever the case. I asked myself why I hadn’t read it and I can vaguely remember being put off at the time by the reviews saying it was a humorous book. I’m not a fan of fantasy that tries to be funny and I’m pretty sure this is why I gave it a miss. Forgetting all about this and being pulled in by the stunning cover, I went ahead with the prequel. What I can say is the book has some funny parts, but only so much in that life is funny in parts. The author isn’t trying hard to force humour, but when it naturally occurs, it genuinely made me smile with amusement and provides sparse comic relief within a book that is actually extremely dark and gritty.

And this is something that stands out to me now having finished it; it made me feel such a wide range of emotions that it was immersive and real. I felt all of these emotions strongly. There was a scene I read before bed – one last chapter – that I actually screamed “No!” in as much of a whisper as I could manage at about 1:30 in the morning. I then lay in bed disbelieving the scene and feeling sad, angry and vengeful. Not at the author – but at how events had transpired and one of the characters in the book. Taking a step backwards, I realised how rare it is for a book to be able to provoke those sorts of emotions in me when I’m not even sat reading it and how immersed I must have been in the story to feel that way.

I felt the love and camaraderie between characters. I felt the despair, hope and wisdom. Speaking of which, there are many quotable words of wisdom in this book you’ll be tempted to highlight if you’re reading on ebook (or if you’re a monster who writes in the margins physical books). It all adds together in the witch’s cauldron to make the recipe; those essential ingredients that tell you the author has it together, that you can trust them to guide you through an amazing story, that they just know things.

The protagonist Galva I understand is a character other readers will be familiar with, but it was my first introduction and I actually think I enjoyed her development all the more not knowing anything about her beforehand. I love her character and the strength combined with humility she possesses. She’s deadly but also compassionate. She thinks about how other people might feel and what the right thing to do is but she’s also a trained killer. She’s a young adult finding her way in the world and there are certainly themes we might associate with New Adult subgenres on first glance; exploration of sexual experiences, identity and gender; Figuring out relationships – familial, platonic and romantic; starting out on an unfamiliar and dangerous path in a world of older and more experienced people. Yet this book is most certainly aimed at readers who are ready for horrifying, visceral Grimdark or those who already feel comfortable reading harrowing situations with at times quite nightmarish realities. It’s not for the faint hearted or unprepared. It’s actually pretty bleak most of the way through – but the moments of kindness, the clever humour and enjoyable world building keep your spirits up despite the carnage surrounding most of the story.

The bringers of said carnage are the Goblin horde – the biters. I’ve felt for a while that goblins are underused in fantasy – I don’t mean the type from the mines of Moria – I mean the goblins of European folklore, a group of pointy-nosed, sharp toothed malevolent humanoids that I’ve always been incredibly creeped out by. Whether this spoke to me personally or not, the horror elements are prevalent. I know the author has written a historical horror and his ability with these scary elements as well as obvious knowledge of historical battle tactics really adds extra layers of enjoyment to a book that already features a main character whose journey I loved to be on board with. The author is able to make you really hate the goblin foe with a passion while also making them terrifying. Rather than actually being sadistic for the sake of it, the goblins see humans – named kynd here – as little more than cattle. They treat humans as some humans treat animals in the real world. Hung up for meat, transported with the army in cages for food, bodies defiled after death. They make no attempt to talk or taunt – killing and eating is their main concern. To me, this makes them even more horrific.

I can’t mention all the other great stuff in this book without talking about the sentient war Corvids that have been bred to fight the goblins. Basically unruly giant ravens that are trained but still pretty unpredictable. Buehlman has expertly crafted their temperaments and traits to make them almost as important as the people, but not quite. To the rest of the army who don’t really understand them, they’re just simply beasts. To their bonded human sisters, they’re more than horses or dogs and these relationships play an important part in the story.

At 416 pages, it isn’t the longest fantasy standalone ever but there is enough substance to incorporate an awful lot of world building and depth. I enjoyed that some chapters were letters from other characters – something I usually dislike but thought worked excellently in this book. I thought the page count allowed the story to be concise; I’d have been more than happy to read this book again if it had double the number of pages and would look forward to all the extra battle tactics and character relationship development. 400 pages is my ideal page count, but I would have welcomed even more from this book because I enjoyed it so much. A very minor gripe is that there were a couple of characters whose stories were ended quite abruptly in the final chapter, years after the events of the main story. I get why their stories had to be closed quite finally, but I would have liked a little more explanation. However, this didn’t detract at all from my overall enjoyment.

What I am left replaying in my head is actually an incredible scene right towards the end of the book with some vengeance that is cold AF and left me open mouthed. So dark but so well written.

This is a book I wish I’d been part of a book club for and could sit around a table and chat about with others because I just keep thinking of it and wanting to talk about it! Will it be spoken about as a fantasy classic? I’m not saying that necessarily, but sometimes you just have to take a step back and think about your enjoyment of a book as a whole reading experience rather than critically assess each aspect and ask yourself how much you enjoyed it. This is one of my all time faves.

I read this digital arc in exchange for my honest review. Thankyou for the opportunity!