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.*

Possible Triggers:
Death | Graphic Gore | Rape

Summary:
This is the prequel novel to “The Blacktongue Thief”. Set in the same world, a few years before, following Galva’s stint during the Daughter’s War.

Audiobook Narration:
Holy heck I love this audiobook. Not only did the narrator have a beautiful voice and make sure to speak in different ways to denote changes of characters. SHE SANG! I always skim over the songs or poems that are included in fantasy books because I can't even imagine a tune for the song. What a beautiful addition to the story. Really made the culture of the book come alive.

Characters:
The story was told predominantly from Galva’s point of view, occasionally having readings from her brother's PoV of writing he had sent her.

I LOVED (underscore, bold, italics, all of the exclamations) Galva and her younger brother. I loved their bond, their love, their dedication and loyalty to each other.

Positives:
+ So much more info on the badassitude that is war Corvids! Their conception. How they trained, battled, and fed them. The bond between their handlers and the corvids themselves. So many awesome details.
+ I loved the expanded information we got on how magic works for different mages in the world. We learned a lot in the first (next?) book but it was more noticeable really following along behind the mage in this story.
+ Do you like your books to move you to tears?

Final Thoughts:
I really loved this addition to the series. It was a much appreciated deep dive into the history of wars and the evolution of war tactics . I loved the expansion of culture, the main focus on the war corvids (the good, bad, and ugly), the in-depth horror of warfare with goblins (doesn’t seem so bad as a surface thought, after reading the book though, hard nope, give me a dragon. I would rather be incinerated in .05 seconds flat). You like your characters to FEEL like they are real and experience life through them; here you go.

The despair, the love, the hatred, the HOPELESSNESS. So many feelings were brought to the surface listening to this book. I wept in my car listening to Galva’s grief and loss. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t an abandon all hope, there is only bad news. It was, however, a very emotional book. There is SO very much loss in the book, but you never question for a moment that there wasn’t also great love. I guess I should warn if you have experienced great loss perhaps this book will dredge up those feelings of love and loss, and really jerk on those heartstrings.

10 of 10 would recommend it and I will absolutely be rereading it in the future. I already have it tucked away on my shelf along with the next.

Now I'm going to have to reread “The Blacktongue Thief” again to see where exactly all the new and interesting things I learned in this prequel are applied. *Shakes fist* curse my mind like a sieve; on the flip side, it’ll be all new and exciting and EVEN MORE INFORMED about Galva’s backstory as we go in.

“To love some well is to know their small noises and to hear home in them.”  👩‍🍳💋

I would like to thank NetGalley & Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC.

I am genuinely amused and find myself loving how Buehlman writes women. Which feels like a weird thing to mention immediately, but I know some of my female friends will see this cover, or read the blurb, and turn away from it.

Is it gritty and 💩-filled? Yes. But is it also oddly tender with bad a$$ female characters? Also yes. It’s emotional whiplash, but I adored it. Especially watching the FMC’s relationship with her brothers unfold- I love sibling plots.

My long term memory is failing me on how would compare this to Blacktongue Thief, but this makes me want to reread it now that I feel so close to Galva. This prequel feels like reads from her personal journal.

I would recommend to my Nevernight & The Locked Tomb friends. But you need to have the patience as if you were reading a much more intense/insane/bloody Piranesi. 😅 Meaning, the world building sometimes felt heavier/more memorable in the day-to-day/little details/small moments vs the huge battle scenes/action.

I’m still laughing at the absurdity Buehlman had with the magic systems. I.E. The invisibility drink/spying scenes.

I want to give props to the narrator, Nikki Garcia, not only for adding emotional depth but for having the prettiest singing voice! 😍

This book is so good. Such great characters going through a hellish war against an enemy that will eat you after they have captured or killed you.
Join Galva, a platoon of female warriors, and their new weapon of mostly trained war corvids. This unit of Raven Knights sets out as a last hope against an overwhelming goblin army.
Feel the pride and determination as these women march towards their death and laugh along with them in their struggles.

“One thousand flatterers are not worth one person who is willing to wipe your ass”

I literally cannot say enough good things about Christopher Buehlman. I have not read something of his that I haven't adored, and this is no exception. For all the laughter that I had in The Blacktongue Thief, I had equal parts emotion in The Daughters' War. I wasn't expecting the same humor in this book, but the way Buehlman completely chameleons into a character is nothing short of miraculous. The entire book was Galva, so deeply that I almost can't believe the same person wrote as Kinch. The narrator did an amazing job bringing the characters to life, but Buehlman really gave Galva her voice. This was a triumph and will be one of my top recommends this year!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the AudioARC of this book!

Interesting choice for the accent for Galva, but I thought overall it was great. There were so many tense moments I may need meds after this book, kidding, but it is tense. So different from other books, but that is the author’s speciality. So good and so different.

The Daughter’s War is highly enjoyable but doesn’t quite live up to the Blacktongue Thief, mostly because of the less outrageous protagonist. We get lots of world building, goblins, and giant corvids, but far less humour.

The audiobook narrator, Nikki Garcia, is excellent and is also an extremely talented singer. I usually skip through songs in audiobooks, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that here. I will keep an eye out for more of her work.

This is my second Buehlman book and part of me wonders if I should when read The Blacktongue Thief first because I was pretty confused. However, I did really enjoy Galva as a character. I liked how this story included flashbacks and written letters. I think it added a lot of nuance to a very world-building heavy book. I wanted to love this but it felt a little repetitive and maybe could have been a bit shorter because it dragged a bit in the middle for me. The writing was well done, though. Buehlman writes some really great action scenes!

Thank you to NetGalley for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

As much as I wanted to, it really wasn't for me. I just find the audio where the language is so coarse and heavy with accent to be dificult to follow.

The Daughters’ War is a prequel to The Blacktongue Thief, one of my favorite all-time books.

Galva is a Duke’s daughter and is a soldier in a new untested unit, using giant war corvids, deadly birds trained to fight and kill. The war against the goblins is becoming hopeless and Galva and her sister warriors may be the last gasp of the border kingdoms.

Buehlman is such a skilled author, and this book is an intimate and passionate story of a brutal war with a terrifying enemy. We know Galva, we feel her emotions as she faces love, friendship, betrayal, grief, obsession and fury. Galva learns about real enemies and real comrades as she fights the goblin horde.

I hope there are many books within Galva and Kinch’s world of goblins and giants, witches and queens, I will go anywhere Buehlman takes me.

I love Galva and I was so glad to get to know her better, but this is very different than The Blacktongue Thief (TBT). If you go into this book expecting the sarcasm, witty insults, & humor of TBT, you will be disappointed. If that's what you're looking for, this book ain't it: go read TBT again or Kings of the Wyld.

There is humor, but it's subtler and not as in your face.

I literally couldn't put this book down, but it's not a very happy book: it's about war and suffering and grief. The book is beautifully written with a subtler, more understated sense of humor and a very different "voice" than TBT. Galva is a blunt, brutally honest woman who loves deeply & cares passionately about her war birds and her friends & family. It's a thought provoking, emotional book that won't leave me very soon, if at all.

Highly recommended for fans of grim dark.

Ok, this wasn’t bad, just not my cup of tea. It had a lot of war talk and descriptions of strategy that I was confused and honestly a little bored throughout the whole thing. I didn’t really understand what happened or what the ending truly was supposed to be like (ie if it was a happy ending or a sad/bad one). I think this appeals to a very niche set of people, and I’m just not a part of that group unfortunately!

I've only read a couple of books by Christopher Buehlman at this point but he's one of the writers that leaves me wondering how he does it. Every book drags you into a whole other world, even the ones that take place technically in our world. I could tell by the description that this book was going to be violent, with the goblins killing a lot. But even though, this seems like another world, there is so much emotion and fear with all the action. The narrator does an amazing job telling the story in a way that feels like you're listening to a friend tell the story after battle. Thanks to NetGalley for letting me listen to this.

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. It just wasn't my jam. I just had a hard time connecting to the characters or getting invested in the story. It was well-written, but for whatever reason, I just couldn't get into it.

First, I need to say that the narrator hit Galva’s serious no-nonsense tone perfectly! It was a little disconcerting at first, but it suits her character so well that it just works for this one.

Secondly, if you’re expecting the excitement and adventure of the Blacktongue Thief, this one isn’t it. The Daughters’ War is primarily a war memoir by Galva (who I know we all loved in the Blacktongue Thief). Sure, it’s dark and pretty high stakes, but it reads as it’s meant to: an older woman recounting her early adulthood at war. In tone, it is entirely different, and I find that to be masterful on the part of the author, given how different Galva is as a pov character. It wouldn’t make sense for it to read the same.

That said, I really enjoyed the history and backstory given in this book as much as - if not more than - I loved the plot. I was engrossed and immediately compelled to reread TBT when I finished. To me, that’s the mark of a good prequel. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the advance listen of this audiobook. All opinions here are my own.

Thank you to Tor and NetGalley for the free physical and audiobook advanced reader copies of The Daughters War.

After the five star read, that was The Blacktongue Thief by the same author I was really excited to read this next installment. This is a prequel to the Black tongue thief that follows Galva through her experience in the goblin wars. And I was definitely was not disappointed in the brutality and war that I got throughout this novel. Galva is a very interesting and much more serious main character than Kinch from the black tongue thief. This lent and overall more serious and ominous field to this Book versus the other. The humor is definitely taken down several notches, but definitely not at the expensive novel. I found it to be very interesting and intriguing and I really enjoyed the family between the raven nights as well as a relationship between the handlers and their Corvid.

We get some very interesting political intrigue throughout this novel as well, that bleeds into family dynamics involving Galva and her siblings. I definitely did not know who to trust and definitely had some hatred toward a few of the characters which was well-deserved. I was a little disappointed that we didn't see more of the Tattoo magic found in the first novel. But overall, that was a very small issue for me.

This book is definitely gross gruesome, and contains the opinions of war. Be aware for such triggers, as well as triggers of animal, death and starvation/poverty of the kingdom. It was all done very well, and I don't have any issue. Any of it was represented. It felt really organic to the plot and served great purpose and setting the tone for the book.

The only problem that I found throughout the book were definitely personal problems and issues. I am not much of one for a random songs throughout a novel, and even though the narration for these songs were done really really well with the audiobook I found it hard not to just skip over them. I also did not love the repeated way the author Infodumped letters between siblings. I felt like it was very hard to keep focus when the story was constantly being broken up by the reading of letters to give the reader information. Again, all this is personal preference and might be some others enjoy.

Overall, this was an absolute solid read that I super loved. Please be aware the pacing is a little slow as they do do a lot of traveling throughout the kingdom in this novel. But the moments of high action are absolutely worth the slower pacing to get to them.

{Book Review} The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman

The Black Tongue Thief by Christopher Buehlman was one of my favorite fantasy books a few years ago when it came out and I’ve been obsessively checking Goodreads waiting for another book in the series. THE DAUGHTERS’ WAR is a prequel and tells Galva’s story in the war against the goblins. Thank you @torbooks and @macmillan.audio for the review copy!

This world is so morbidly fascinating and I was so interested to read about how the humans eventually overcame the insurmountable threat of the goblins. Their Corvins that are like massive ravens helped the cause in a surprising way. The plot remains brutal, the battles horrific, the familial ties loose yet so strong.

The pacing was slow and this read more like a memoir/war fantasy and it was excellent for that. It wasn’t my expectation of what I wanted the book to be but that’s on me not the book. I wanted an epic fantasy similar to the the first book and that’s not what this is, so temper expectations. I think this is an incredibly well-thought out and well-written book. It’s so great at walking you through when I can only minimally imagine war and battle would be like.

The narration was fantastic and the hint of an accent was perfect for Galva’s character and in a fantasy novel in general in my opinion. I was particularly impressed with the singing when songs were being discussed/sung. It was incredible!

If you love sedately paced, more detailed oriented exposition style fantasy novels, you’ll definitely want to check this out!

I finished the ARC of The Daughters War by Christopher Buehlman. This is my first book by this author and I have to say that I did really like this grim, military fantasy. This book is a prequel to The Blacktongue Thief. The main character in the Daughters War, is a secondary character in the Blacktongue Thief. So, this is set in the same world only 20 years earlier. If you’ve read that book – it more epic fantasy, and this book is definitely military fantasy and much, much darker. We follow Galva primarily, and she is narrating this story as if she is looking back at this time in her life and the events that happened during the Goblin War. Galva joins the Raven Knights and untested group who are flying Corvids – enhanced birds that I imagine to be horse sized ravens. The corvids have been magically enhanced by a magician, Fulvir, who is also in The Blacktongue Thief. In the Raven Knights each woman has two giant ravens bred specifically to kill the goblins. Garva loves her ravens, and you know the other women do as well as they are bereft when harm comes to one of their ravens. There is loss in this book – so much loss. Bad behavior on the part of many not just the vicious goblins. It’s hard to say I enjoyed this read because it is so dark, but it is a good read but be prepared for a harrowing battle filled read. I gave this story 4 stars and I want to thank Net Galley #Net Galley for my advance reader copy and I want to thank Macmillan audio for my advance listener copy!

Short life, bloody hands. Clip those bitters.
Christopher Buehlman's "The Daughter's War" is out today. Folks might remember that I love "The Blacktongue Thief" and this is the prequel. The backstory of Galva and her skinny lady. Knowing the bones of a story is one thing, but she really went through it.

I don't want to spoil anything, yes it is a prequel, yes you know where things are going. But how we get there is important. Buehlman has a crafted a threat that is so vile that the idea of mercy for them makes me sick. But in the muck and death there is such poetic stories and characterizations to enjoy. You will laugh, you might cry, you will smile, but you will not give a goblin a chance.

Narrated by Nikki Garcia, phenomenal work, I got lost in the prose and shattered by the sudden violence in your delivery.

Reasons to read:
-Murder birds
-If you didn't already hate the goblins, you better
-The pettiness of lesser sons
-The kindness of people over mutual grief
-Deeper understanding of some characters we have met and the world they live in

Cons:
-I asked a friend for a reset book, had to inject some fun into my brain afterwards because I was a mix of enjoying a good ending and being broken because of it

The Daughters’ War

I was immediately captivated by the immaculate writing style and atmosphere of *The Daughters’ War*. It is the kind of book that had me sending quotes to my friends—spectacular and poetic prose all the way through.

Unfortunately, about halfway through, I started to realize I wasn’t following the plot. It felt like reading about the gritty details of war without a lot of momentum pulling it forward. I believe a significant portion of my struggle came from not having read The Blacktongue Thief first. The Daughters’ War is a prequel to TBT. I was hoping it wouldn’t impact my experience, but I honestly think it absolutely did.

I am wildly hopeful that I will be more invested in *The Blacktongue Thief*, because Buehlman’s writing is absolutely worth the investment.

Thank you Christopher Buehlman, Macmillan Audio, and NetGalley for my advance review copy. My opinions are my own.

The Daughters’ War is out today!

Plot - 2
Writing and Editing - 5
Character Development - 4
Narration - 5
Personal Bias - 3
Final Score - 3.8