The Daughters’ War by Christopher Buehlman – spoiler free review

The blurb

A standalone novel following young warrior Galva dom Braga on her journey from untested academy swordswoman to feared and bloodied veteran knight, set during the war-torn, goblin-infested years just before The Blacktongue Thief.

The goblins have killed all of our horses and most of our men. They have enslaved our cities, burned our fields, and inflicted a waking nightmare on the known world. Yet humanity persists, fighting back with all we have against the their bottomless hunger for human lands and human flesh.

Now it’s up to the daughters of Manreach to save what’s left of the human kingdoms. They’ll fight every weapon at hand, with fearsome gods at their backs and brutal monsters at their sides.

Galva – Galvicha to her three brothers, also under arms against the foe – has defied her family’s wishes and joined the army’s untested new unit, the Raven Knights, to serve at the side of women who, like her, have chosen the battlefield over the marriage bed. She and her sisters in arms march toward a once-beautiful city now overrun by the goblin horde, accompanied by scores of giant war corvids. Made with the darkest magics, these fearsome black birds may hold the key to stopping the goblins in their war to make cattle of mankind.

The road to victory is bloody and the stakes are high; the goblins are clever and merciless in their prosecution of this third war against us. The Raven Knights can take nothing for granted – not the bonds of family, nor the wisdom of their leaders, nor their own safety against the dangerous war birds at their side.

But some hopes are worth any risk.

The review

For my review of The Daughters’ War, I’m going to start with a quote from Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden.

‘At the temple there is a poem called ‘Loss’ carved into the stone.

It has three words, but the poet has scratched them out.

You cannot read loss, only feel it.’

Sometimes quotes stay with you forever. This is one such quote. Even in my late teens, I knew this to be a truth. Now that I’m nearly forty, I know it. 

Or at least, I thought I did. 

The Daughters’ War is an ode to loss, and I can now say that I’ve read what loss is. The poet was wrong, after all.

But come closer, let me explain. 

The Daughters’ War is the story of Galva. It is the same world as The Blacktongue Thief, but perspective is everything.

The Blacktongue Thief was the story of Kinch Na Shannock, a thief who is alive after the Daughter’s War. He is a boy who has grown to manhood in a spoiled and ruined world, yet one where kynd has won. His humour is dark, gallow-like, and at times I found myself crying with laughter amongst the gore.

But Galva is a warrior and survivor and fought in the Daughters’ War. There is little humour in her story. It is a tale of short lives and bloody hands. There is love, yes. For there to be deep sorrow, a deep love must have come first. And it is a fantastic story. Horrific. Destructive. Full of despair… but you will not be able to look away.

A beautiful cast of characters await you. Galva, my heart is hers. Amiel, I adore. Innocenta and Pol, too. The corvids are seriously my favourite new fantasy animal. Dalgatha and Bellu are magnificent, as was the whole corvid army.  

There are villains. Goblins being the most horrendous, but the worst of villains are always those closer to home. This storyline was perhaps my favourite.

But alas, I can tell you no more. I do not wish to spoiler you. I shall have to wait until the book is released to discuss all the things I want to.

For now, all you need to know is this – Christopher Buehlman has created two masterpieces. Both stories in this world I will read and read again.

And I shall leave you with a final thought…

Prepare yourself, dear readers. There will be tears. Many.

It is an ode to loss, after all.