Thanks to NetGalley for the Audio ARC!

Christopher Buehlman is an inventive, wacky, insane writer....and I love his books because of it. They have grit and will make your stomach churn one moment but make you gasp and laugh and smile the next. It's such a unique combination I've not encountered anywhere else.

Granted, The Daughters' War has far fewer laughs than The Blacktongue Thief, but it was still full of charm and wonderful characters and tid bits when not full of gore and darkness. I absolutely loved Galva in Book 1 so I was thrilled to get more about her in Book 0. While her story is riddled with pain and grief, it was also full of hope and desire, self-discovery and love and resilience. It was such a different voice than the first, which further displays Buehlman's ability as an author.

I can't quite think of anything to compare this to, but if you are on the hunt for something different, unique, fun, dark, gritty, bloody....look no further. This is a truly wonderful series!

This book includes:
- war and destruction
- complex family dynamics
- LGBT
- the impact of terror and war

"The Daughters' War" is beautifully written. The prose and style of narration feels intimate, almost as if the story is being shared in hushed tones by someone you love, perhaps by a campfire under the cover of dark. Moreover, the vivid way in which the war and trauma are described, made me feel like I was experiencing the horrors myself. The war felt personal: raw and horrible.

Additionally, I listened to this book on audio and the narrator was extremely talented. They had a tone that was soothing, even while expertly bringing the world alive.

Despite the strong storycrafting, excellent world building, and masterful narration, I found the pacing of this book to be a bit slow and the foreshadowing often made this book a bit of a stressful experience for me. I should say, I think the feelings of anxiety I felt were purposefully crafted by the author to make the readers feel the same visceral dread that the characters do. I admire this artistic execution and respect the inclusion of this element, but the stress was to much for my little heart. Unfortunately I had to DNF this book around the 40% mark. Still, I cannot stress enough that this is a very well written book and should be added to your TBR if you have the stomach for realistic depictions of war.

I received this audiobook as an ARC in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to NetGalley, Christopher Buehlman, and Macmillan Audio
for the opportunity to review this book. This review has been posted to GoodReads check out my profile https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/62314863

I finished The Daughters’ War for the second time over the weekend, but I was so deeply into the story, the characters and simply the world between the pages that I had to sit on even attempting to write a review for a bit – to let the SQUEE calm down some. But I also felt compelled to reread the first book set in this world, The Blacktongue Thief – which I did. Which didn’t tone the SQUEE down AT ALL.

The book hangover was huge after my first read of Blacktongue, and after my first read of The Daughters’ War earlier this year for Library Journal, but this time I listened to the thing – and the book hangover is absolutely epic.

Now let me attempt an explanation – which is still going to have a LOT of SQUEE in it. Because damn I loved this book – and I fell hard into Blacktongue again, too. So hard.

The title of this book immediately tells the reader just how badly this world is totally wrecked. You see, the first war between humans and goblins was the Knights’ War, because the noble Knights beat the goblins back on their swift and equally noble horses. So the goblin mages created a poison, a bioweapon, that killed all the horses. The second war, not even a decade later, was the Threshers’ War, because the goblins cut the untrained farm boys sent to fight it like they were threshing wheat. This war is the Daughters’ War because that’s pretty much all that’s left to fight this time around, less than a decade after the end of the Threshers’.

This is one of the rarest of rare cases where the old saying that “There never was a good war or a bad peace” doesn’t feel strictly true. Because the goblins USED those brief years of peace while the humans WASTED them.

Readers of The Blacktongue Thief will remember Galva as she will be, as in that story she’s 30 years old, a hard-bitten, cynical, heart-sore veteran of the Daughters’ War, on a mad quest to save her queen, her country, and quite possibly her whole entire species from the idiocy of the so-called powers that be who seem to be wasting yet another peace.

The story of this book, The Daughters’ War, is the story of how this Galva got to be that Galva. How the 20 year old swordswoman and newly fledged Corvid (read that as war-raven or murder-bird) knight came of age, lost her innocence and her naiveté, as well as her faith in pretty much everything she once believed, including her family and her country – or at least the king who usurped its throne.

So this is Galva’s story, which means it’s a story about the cost of war and the price of peace, and the question of which one is higher than the other and whether either will prevent the actual extinction of the human race. Because it’s also a story about the damage a small man can do to shield himself from the knowledge that he is truly small and the way that power and privilege can blind a whole society to the destruction that is happening all around them because they rather maintain their power than save everyone’s future – including their own.

And over and under and through all of that, The Daughters’ War is a poignant, lyrical, heartbreaking paean to times and places that are no more, told by someone who develops a truly cynical perspective on command and control and the lack thereof and the high price that may be paid because humans are gonna human even if it kills them all.

Escape Rating A++: I don’t give A++ ratings often as that’s kind of the point of the thing, but The Daughters’ War absolutely earned one – as did The Blacktongue Thief three years ago. My one and only disappointment with this book is that I can’t seem to find any information on whether or not the author will be returning to this world – but that was also true after Blacktongue so I still have hope.

After all, Galva’s – and Kinch’s – world is so FUBAR’d that there are plenty of possibilities for more stories where these two came from. And I want them. BAD. Seriously BAD.

Ahem…

I keep talking about the two books, The Daughters’ War and The Blacktongue Thief, as though they are intertwined. Only because they are. Blacktongue was published first, but Daughters’ War comes first in the internal chronology. So it doesn’t matter which one you read first. Whichever one you can get first will be fine – especially if you like your epic fantasy with more than a bit of grimdark – because their world is very grim – and both Galva and Kinch are VERY cynically aware of that grimness.

Although I have friends who don’t like grimdark who STILL enjoyed Blacktongue, that I think I’ve convinced to read Daughters’ War. The author does such an excellent job of getting inside his characters’ heads to let the reader – or especially listener – see the world from their point of view that he carries the reader through the grimdark exceedingly well. I fully admit, however, that I got so into the characters and their perspectives that both books made me cry more than once each.

The stories are a bit different in tone, as Kinch is an extremely unreliable narrator and Galva is the exact opposite. She hates lies, lying and liars, while he can’t stop any of the above – sometimes not even to himself. He’s also a bit of an optimist in spite of his circumstances, while she’s definitely a pessimist.

Both stories are told in the first-person singular, so we spend the entire story inside each of their heads. Which does serve as a kind of a hint that they each survive their own adventures. It’s the audiobook that really got me in both cases, not just that we see the world from their perspectives, but that excellent choices were made for narration in both cases (the author chose himself for Kinch which says something about several somethings but absolutely worked). So if you like audiobooks these are excellent and Nikki Garcia did every single bit as fantastic a job “being” Galva as the author did Kinch.

I have to conclude this review and I honestly don’t want to. I simply do not want to be done with this world and these characters. I hope that this review and my general, overall squee about the marvels of this series will convince you to give it a try as well. Because both books are seriously awesome and well worth a read – or even better – a listen.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for an advanced listening copy in exchange for an honest review!

I really enjoyed this prequel, though I was surprised at how different in tone and style it was to The Blacktongue Thief. I had been expecting something infused with humor, though I suppose based on the synopsis, it makes sense that Galva’s story is a lot more… bleak. It’s been quite a long time and a lot of books since I read the first installment in this series, and I think that ultimately benefited me because I had forgotten a lot of things or only had vague impressions of them. I was able to read The Daughters’ War without being influenced too much and I do feel like it’s best to approach the two books differently.

I did feel like at times the narrative (or memoir, I suppose?) meandered and I didn’t fully know where we were heading. That’s okay, though, especially because I really like Buehlman’s writing. Ultimately, I had fun (or… as much fun as one can have in a story like this) and Galva’s story was compelling (also I think she’s a great character). The Daughters’ War complements The Blacktongue Thief well, and while I’m glad I took different approaches to reading them, I think it makes the world feel richer.

Nikki Garcia did a wonderful job narrating, and if audiobooks work for you I highly recommend this one!

This is the second book I have listened to by this author, and I knew nothing about him to begin with. Apparently he is a comedian who started performing as Christophe the Insultor at renaissance fairs, and turned that into a career as an author and playwright. His sense of humor is very witty and fun to listen to, so I recommend listening to the audiobook.

An excellent addition to the series, sets up the world from book 1. Excellent character building, the end of the story is a little anticlimactic but with book 1 setting up this ending, it makes sense to focus on the characters.

https://onereadingnurse.com/2024/07/20/book-review-the-daughters-war-by-christopher-buehlman/

https://www.instagram.com/p/C9fY9XvgAvL/?igsh=cTExY2Rwcm5pbnRo

A QUICK NOTE ABOUT THE AUDIO
I originally received an advanced listening copy of The Daughters’ War and while I usually am on time with reviews, the audio was a DNF for me. I just could not listen as the speed options didn’t work well for the narrator and I had trouble with her thickly accented reading.

Nikki Garcia has a great voice for Galva AND there is real music and singing when called for, which is amazing, but I had trouble at the speed options given. My apologies to the publisher for this ultra late feedback while taking time to read the hardcover.

SO HERE’S THE BOOK REVIEW
Anyway, I bought the hardcover at the release day party (woo!) and finally finished it

The main thing about The Daughters’ War is that it’s shockingly different from The Blacktongue Thief. Buehlman is an absolutely phenomenal writer and storyteller and still gets ALL the stars, but it’s otherwise difficult to compare the two books.

Galva’s story during this Goblin war is … Dark. She has a vastly different personality and narrative style than Kinch (obviously) and takes on a much more somber tone as she tells of the horrors during the war.

What could go wrong with giant starving war corvids and an army of little bitey fuckers that hate anything symmetrical? Well, lots.

It was difficult to read more than a few chapters at once just due to the gravity and sometimes horror of the story. It’s not Grimdark or horror but has elements of it and is just generally dark. The author also does an amazing job capturing the mix of rage and grief when siblings split apart.

That all said, it’s hilarious at times and some of the same humor comes through, such as when the powerful mage pranks his apprentice into doing something slightly naughty😂. The lighter parts are well placed and unexpected so don’t worry, there’s some love and light and victory in there too to balance the scales of darkness on this book. But if you read The Blacktongue Thief first and expect the book to read in the same light – don’t expect that.

Either way, it doesn’t matter which book you read first. I live and die by publication order so I’d recommend TBT first, then coming back to learn Galva’s story. On that note, it was pretty cool to go hear the author read from the book and answer questions about the world. One of my favorite aspects of the book is now alien the goblins are, and I loved his explanation of how they hate symmetry and just thrive on going around fucking things up.

I’d definitely recommend the Blacktongue series if you like sharply written fantasy that reads on the dark and dark humor-y side. I can’t wait to see what comes next in the series!

This is an excellent prequel story. Very dark and serious and superbly narrated. Highly recommend the audiobook.

This audiobook was absolutely amazing! The narrator's style mixed with the storyline were chefs kiss. The audiobook gave such a unique and amazing experience to the story. I really enjoyed the plot and for this being a prequel I don't feel like it took away from the other book. It fit perfectly into book 1 in it's own way.

I like jumping into prequels before reading a series because I'm a stickler for starting a story at the start. I'm glad I started here. Christopher Buehlman writes a gritty and dark horror book that kept me on the edge of my seat from the first chapter. Told primarily from Galva, a girl who has ignored her parents and joined the Raven Knights. Learning the intricoes of their unit was really cool, but also really gory. The goblin war is a messy business and the horrors of war are found throughout the entire story. The world building was solid, and I could feel myself there. Narrator Nikki Garcia did a great job, especially when voicing non-human entities. Loved it!

Thank you Macmillan Audio for the gifted ALC.

3.5 Stars (rounded up)
Firstly, the world is very dark, gritty and real. The imagery, sights, sounds and smells really bring this world to life. The writing itself is good and its a classic fantasy style book. Galva is a badass and complex character who feels emotionally real, there is great character depth there.
With all that said, I personally found this book to be too dark and bordering on horror for my personal taste. The author does a great job of making the horrors of war so incredibly real, and while the author did an excellent job on that, it just isn't my personal preference for things I enjoy reading about. The narrator did a great job with the voice acting for the characters, making each one distinct. She also voiced the character sound effects well, and there was even actual singing for the songs! 10/10 for the voice actor's skill and singing ability.

If you like really gritty, dark, slightly morbid books that get really heavy depicting war horrors while having a well-rounded character than you will enjoy this book. I just personally didn't because it is too dark for me, but that is nothing against the author or the book!

absolutely not. I could absolutely tell that this 'daughter' was written by a man. I didn't even make it 2 chapters. she was poorly written, ill planned, and completely unlikeable. you can have an unlikeable character at first, but you need to write her well so the reader feels compelled to continue reading. This was a poorly thought out girl character conceived of by a man.

Unfortunately I don't find myself connecting to this one. It's a lot more politics and people standing around and talking than I wanted, and I miss the sense of humor and sarcasm of the first book in the series.

But I LOVE the narrator. I immediately was aware of her accent and cadence and looked into her catalog (she hasn't narrated many books in English yet, but I think she has a promising career ahead of her). I probably would have DNFd early if not for her. She gets all the stars.

This is a very dark & necessary prequel.

There isn’t much humor this time around. Understatement!

Most of the story is told by Galva who defies her parents & joins a unit called the Raven Knights. They are an interesting group!

Interspersed are bits of a memoir written by Galva’s brother Amiel.

Galva & Ameil were my favorite characters!!

The focus of the story seems to be on these Goblins that want to make cattle of us all. Blood, guts, gore & warfare is prevalent! The true horror of the Goblin horde!! It’s Goblin goblin alien goblin all day long and they love to EAT! Us. So dark!

The world of The Black Tongue Thief is expanded here. As I listened it felt as if I was right there with Galva which I found frightening. These goblins were so horrid!! Hence … the horror tag! If you read The Black Tongue Thief you know what happens to Galva & her brothers. I look forward to the next book! Will humor return?

Thank you Net Galley & Macmillan Audio! This was a great audio! Such a different book from TBTT!!

So damn good! Different from book 1 but Christopher wrote a compelling story with a great female protagonist. I was on the edge of my seat the whole book. Highly recommend and I can't wait for the next one!!

TW: Extreme Goblin Hate

This work is a grimdark fantasy, with a focus on war, battles, and the death that goes with it. The fighting scenes were well written, and I enjoyed the depiction of the goblins – the author was quite descriptive of them and it certainly helped with the immersion. There was also quite a bit of good lore and worldbuilding included throughout.

I think I would have liked this one much more if the writing style and approach had been different. The way this was set up was mostly the narrator telling the reader things and describing current and past events. While this was a good way to learn about many different things in a nonlinear fashion, it wasn’t great at creating a connection to the character or the plot. And because of this style, it was written with way more telling than showing. While this wasn’t a completely bad thing, it generally made the work feel emotionless. The author also used many foreshadowing phrases throughout, and while not always a bad thing, they were used in a way that kept there from being any tension even in the most seemingly hopeless moments.

This didn’t read like many fantasies written these days, and it certainly won’t be for everyone. But if you’re a fan of grimdark fantasy, you may love this one. The audiobook narrator did a wonderful job, including even singing a few parts, and I certainly recommend listening to this one if you decide to check it out. My thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for allowing me to read and review this work. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own.

The audiobook of this was good, but this suffers from prequelitius- we know Galva survives, and none of the other characters are interesting. I also think there's a distinct lack of humor, which is fine except it makes the whole book kindof a slog. The goblins are still terrifying though.

Have you ever sped up an audiobook because you literally can't get enough of the story but also constantly pausing because you don't want it to be over? Well, that was me listening to The Daughter's War!

If you enjoyed The Blacktongue Thief you will surly love this. I can't wait to pick up a physical copy to put in all of my annotations! i'm really excited to read more from this author in the future.
4.5 rounded up

This book is very gruesome, Buehlman does not shy away from gore and at times I found myself disgusted by some of the descriptions. There were lighter moments sprinkled in throughout but as our main character Galva is telling this story after already having lived through it, I found that there was usually still a tinge of melancholy about what is yet to come.

I loved following Galva, she was an amazing character in The Blacktongue Thief and I’m really glad to have a book from her point of view. I would 1000% read another that is just the events of The Blacktongue Thief but from her POV, or any other stories from her POV for that matter. I loved getting a closer look at her relationship with the war corvids, as well as with her brothers. She also has a surprisingly lovely romance.

The narrator Nikki García’s performance was amazing, she brought so much emotion to the story, the audiobook as a whole is very well done.

Overall, I think if you liked The Blacktongue Thief then you will probably also like this prequel.

At first, I was a bit disappointed to learn that Christopher Buehlman himself was not narrating this. I loved his performance of The Blacktongue Thief, and I was looking forward to hearing that accent again. Once I got over that and started listening though, I felt myself being pulled in by Galva's narrative.

Instead of being a sequel, this is a prequel. Galva, the battle weary tattooed woman from the first book, takes over the storytelling and boy is her story a grim one. There are quite a few differences between this book and the first. Number one for me being the nearly total lack of humor. Kinch Na Shannack's POV from Blacktongue was often funny and off kilter. I loved it! But this story is from Galva's POV and she has very little to laugh about.

The second big difference is that Kinch's tale was unknown to us, while Galva's is not. We already know what happens, if in only a somewhat vague way. Now, all the details of Galva's history are revealed through her eyes. It is a grim history, filled with heartache, death, family betrayals, and a lost love. One thing I really love about her is that she never gives up. Another thing I love is <i>her</i> love of her war corvid. The female army and their platoon of giant war corvids is such a sight to imagine! Mr. Buehlman brings it to life and as I listened, it all unfolded like a film in my brain.

I felt Galva's pain and I wanted to give her a big hug so many times. I also felt her love and her heartbreak and her doggedness to keep on keeping on. Galva has become one of my favorite characters of all time.

The audio of this was narrated by Nikki Garcia and she was marvelous! Her intonations conveyed sadness, hatred and humor, (though little of that there was), and inspired me to cheer for and cry with Galva. She imbued her narration with a slight accent and now this will forever be the voice of Galva to me. BRAVO to Ms. Garcia!

Once I got over the absence of Kinch, I relaxed and let Galva's story unfold before me. I loved it and have come away with a much deeper understanding of her character and why she is like she is. I am now ready and eager to continue the story of them both, but to be honest? I need Kinch to return now and lift me from the darkness that is Galva's history.

My highest recommendation! 4.5/5 stars!

*Audio ARC from publisher.*