Title: The Daughters’ War
Author: Christopher Buehlman
Publication Date: June 25, 2024 by Tor Books
Genres: Fantasy
Protagonist Gender: Female
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.
Rating: ♀ ♀ ♀ ♀ 1/2
My sincere thanks to the publisher for sending me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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