Jurjen

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Jurjen is Currently Reading

Jurjen is currently reading

The Daughters' War (Blacktongue, #0)

by Christopher Buehlman (Goodreads Author)

bookshelves: currently-reading

Reading for the 2nd time

read in July 2024

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Jurjen said: " Whereas The Blacktongue Thief was a fun, palate cleansing action-adventure with some dark undertones, The Daughter's War is a melancholic story about a gruesome war, fully leaning into how dark the world is.

The sombre atmosphere with its horror eleme Whereas The Blacktongue Thief was a fun, palate cleansing action-adventure with some dark undertones, The Daughter's War is a melancholic story about a gruesome war, fully leaning into how dark the world is.

The sombre atmosphere with its horror elements complements the worldbuilding well. A world that could be read as goofy (it partially was in the blacktongue thief), instead feels brutal. The depiction of goblins especially reads as disturbing, where they're usually silly creatures in most other books.

In addition to the world, the story shines most in hitting the emotional beats, which it nails every time. The plot is solid, although the pacing is a bit odd, partially due to the narrative voice of the story, which I wasn't a huge fan of.

The story is told by the main character (whom I loved) as it happened to her in the past, and she tells it to an unknown audience, with letters of a side character spread throughout (which were great). At the start of the book, the main character tells of a bunch of bad stuff that have happened to her, so throughout the book you find out how it happened. It didn't work for me entirely, as it pulled me out of the story a couple of times. It also made it feel like it was constantly building up to events because you *know* they'll happen at some point, but the payoff didn't necessarily work out flawlessly. The narrative voice kind of undermined the plot several times, as we hear the protagonist go “this current situation was bad, but oh boy it was about to get much worse”, which again kinda took me out of it at times.

I wouldn't say that the ending is anticlimactic, that would be underselling how well Buehlman nails the emotional beats (especially in the last few chapters), but it does peter out rather than end on a bombastic note, which probably fits the story.

Giant war corvids are fucking sick. Some great action set pieces. Chain of dogs-esque retreat. A lot of good stuff. Didn't expect to give this book a 5 star rating, but man i'm a sucker for well executed emotional endings, and I dish em’ out like it's candy anyway so fuck it. It's def one of the more flawed 5 star reads though.

A pretty great book, a solid improvement over The Blacktongue Thief, and i'm excited to read more stories in this world. ...more "

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(72%)
"Despite my issues with the voice of the narrative, this is a pretty great book" — Jul 06, 2024 04:05PM

Jul 07, 2024 02:49PM · see review

Jurjen’s Quotes

“Knives,’ muttered Calder, ‘and threats, and bribes, and war?’

Bayaz’ eyes shone with the lamplight. ‘Yes?’

‘What kind of a fucking wizard are you?’

‘The kind you obey.”
― Joe Abercrombie, The Heroes

107 likes

“The Tiste Edur studied the bonecaster for a long moment, as the tears ran down his gaunt cheeks. 'I weep, Monok Ochem, because he cannot.'
The bonecaster faced Onrack once more. 'Broken one, there are a lot of things you deserve ... but this mortal is not among them”
― Steven Erikson, House of Chains

tags: sorrow

1 likes

“When I began this journey, I was young. I believed in one thing. I believed in glory. I know now, 'Siballe, that glory is nothing. Nothing. This is what I now understand.'
'What else do you now understand, Karsa Orlong?'
'Not much. Just one other thing. The same cannot be said for mercy.”
― steven erikson, House of Chains

tags: glory, mercy

35 likes