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A review by tsunni
The Daughters' War by Christopher Buehlman
dark
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
The tone and voice of Buehlman's The Blacktongue Thief had a certain stumbling rhythmic cadence that took me a while to get used to, but that I grew to love and found beautiful. It was a fantastic reflection of the humor and viewpoint of the protagonist of that book, and The Blacktongue Thief as a whole was a much more humorous and fun book to read.
Buehlman's writing here for The Daughters' War is dramatically different but no less amazing, and I'm in awe of Buehlman's ability to write different voices so well. Galva's dry, traumatized tone is a reflection of the story itself, which is much less offbeat and humorous than The Blacktongue Thief. This is grim dark to its fullest, focused on a brutal, terrible war against the most horrific depiction of goblins I've ever seen in any media; but unlike a lot of other grim dark I've read, Buehlman's characters have this level of deep emotional complexity both within themselves and in relation with each other, that never fails to feel honest and realistic. Galva's relationship with her birds Dalgatha and Bella, her relationship with the other raven soldiers, her deeply complex relationships with her brothers, are all written with consideration and care that I always felt was missing from other books of the same genre. Galva as a character never once loses focus as the story progresses, even as the plot moves on to depict the war against the goblins at a steady comfortable pace.
This was not an easy book to read, and it took me a lot longer to get through than usual. Part of it was the subject matter, which was about as gory, tragic, and depressing as any famous war movie depiction would get; there's certain dark imagery from the book that will stick with me for a while, I think. Part of it was Buehlman's writing, which managed to be so good that I wanted to slow down and savor every bit of it. I loved every single moment and as depressed as the book made me, I miss reading it and look forward to rereading this and The Blacktongue Thief again one day.
Buehlman's writing here for The Daughters' War is dramatically different but no less amazing, and I'm in awe of Buehlman's ability to write different voices so well. Galva's dry, traumatized tone is a reflection of the story itself, which is much less offbeat and humorous than The Blacktongue Thief. This is grim dark to its fullest, focused on a brutal, terrible war against the most horrific depiction of goblins I've ever seen in any media; but unlike a lot of other grim dark I've read, Buehlman's characters have this level of deep emotional complexity both within themselves and in relation with each other, that never fails to feel honest and realistic. Galva's relationship with her birds Dalgatha and Bella, her relationship with the other raven soldiers, her deeply complex relationships with her brothers, are all written with consideration and care that I always felt was missing from other books of the same genre. Galva as a character never once loses focus as the story progresses, even as the plot moves on to depict the war against the goblins at a steady comfortable pace.
This was not an easy book to read, and it took me a lot longer to get through than usual. Part of it was the subject matter, which was about as gory, tragic, and depressing as any famous war movie depiction would get; there's certain dark imagery from the book that will stick with me for a while, I think. Part of it was Buehlman's writing, which managed to be so good that I wanted to slow down and savor every bit of it. I loved every single moment and as depressed as the book made me, I miss reading it and look forward to rereading this and The Blacktongue Thief again one day.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore and Violence