The Daughter's War is a fantastic work of military fantasy which shares a setting and a character with The Blacktongue Thief, but stands entirely independently.  Galva dom Braga is the daughter of a powerful noble who has chosen the path of the warrior, first training in the traditional arts of the sword, and then joining the ranks of the Ravens Knights, an experimental unit of women and human-sized war corvids bred to utterly destroy goblins. Her story takes her through the heart of all consuming war, a tale of terror and danger perfectly balanced against the bonds of familial and romantic love.

Human relationships make up the heart of any story, and though Galva is a stoic killer, she's bound deeply to her fellow Raven Knights and her two birds Bellu and Dolgatha, her three brothers who are also part of the army, and eventually to Queen Mireia (my best guess at the spelling, I listened to the audiobook).

This book triumphs in its description of combat, and the escalating threat that the goblin's pose. Buehlman's goblins are true monsters, man-eaters who conquer to fill their bellies and to reduce human beings to the status of cattle, as kin are kept in the goblin cities. Goblins are completely indifferent to human suffering, except as it is tactically useful. They're living weapons who bite off fingers in battle, fire poison bolts that kill with a scratch, deploy psychosis causing mushroom spores as a weapon, and use human skin, hair, and faces to decorate their standards and ships. Dead goblins don't even have the decency to rot.  The goblin's war aims are simple: kin are food, and food should stop fighting back.

The action escalations with perfect tension: First the aftermath of a sea battle, then witnessing a sea battle, then a skirmish, a field battle, the fall of a great city, and a desperate last stand. Each battle is unique, truly horrifying, written without cliches about honor and glory.  This war is about survival.  Death cannot be prevented, but it can be put off for a bit.

Between the battles, Galva finds time to meet refugees and learn a little about what civilians go through in this kind of war, fall in love with a Queen, become a devotee of the Goddess of Death, experience the wonder of magic, discover the true worth of her brothers, and learn how there are some men worse than goblins.

 The Blacktongue Thief was funny, and this book is not funny. It's horrifying, romantic, and flat out grim. For all that, it is wonderfully written, just masterfully crafted on every level.  I read the audiobook version, which was perfectly narrated by Spanish musician and voice actor Nikki Garcia, but any way you read this book is good. Paper will let you know how everything is spelled.