“When her sleepy village is raided by the Vulkari, the fearsome warrior women of the Ancient Wilds, only Zyntael Fairwinter is taken.
Claimed as a daughter by their infamous matriarch, Zyntael is trained to hunt, to fight, and to kill—all for a purpose, which remains ever out of her grasp.
In the company of their unruly young, she might find sisterhood. In their unique customs and beliefs, she might find beauty. And in the violence of their raids, she might even find glory.
But it is the reason for her capture that Zyntael truly seeks. It is a truth that must be earned from the very Spirits of the dead; a future paid for in the blood of those Zyntael once called her own. It is a purpose that promises the liberation of not just she, but of all the Ancient Wilds, from an evil far greater than any marauding warrior women.
Warrior or no, however, the Vulkari are not like other women. The Vulkari are monsters.
And sometimes, only the truly monstrous have what it takes to save the world.
Steeped in Slavic Myth, and appealing to adult and young adult readers alike, Daughter of the Beast is a rich and unique fantasy coming-of-age story. It is the first in an exciting debut trilogy by E C Greaves, which blends action and adventure, with themes of belonging, identity, destiny, and a girl’s place in a harsh and uncaring world—built by men, and built for men.”
Title: Daughter of the Beast
Series: The Vyshivka Trilogy #1
Author: E.C. Greaves
Page Count: 374
Genre: Fantasy
Rating: 4.0/5.0
Date Read: March 10th, 2024
| Daughter of the Beast by E.C. Greaves was our read for March within our Buddy Read group. This one has been long overdue for me. I had hoped to join a buddy read of this back when Dom’s discord server was reading it but I just couldn’t fit it into my current reads at that time. Again there was a possibility of reading this with another bookish friend of mine as we both had this on our want to read list and everything finally aligned for the month of March that we got to read it with some other friends as well. The pacing for Daughter of the Beast seemed smooth and actually a fairly steady pace. It might lean slightly to the fast side of things at times but I felt it was well balanced in that regards. I’ll get to the world building next but I’ll say the potential to have some very odd names of locations and characters were very high. As anyone knows that is something that can often trip me up and have me struggling to remain within a flow of reading. I’m happy to say the author kept things tame as it relates to this. The chapters also seemed fairly consistent throughout the read. There are some slight fluctuations with a bit shorter and a bit longer but I didn’t feel they were very drastic. Again this is something that can help me enjoy a read as I love picking up a book and just knocking out a chapter or two before I have to put it down again. It drives me crazy when I have to put down a book within a chapter not finished. The world building was really fun and unique. I was taking some notes early on as we have several different mythological or folklore races in this story. I don’t mean just supporting characters either. The entire story is based around these races which seemed really intriguing. We also have some magic if the majority of what we witness seems to be more martial type of combat. The magic is there and becomes a bit more front and center as the story progresses. The geographical aspects to the world were also well done. I even mentioned within our buddy read channel that the author begins to hint that even though the world we’ve witnessed so far seems rather large, it’s just scratched the surface by the end of book one. The character development was also nicely done. Our protagonist Zyntael goes through a wild twisting and turning arc in book one and I’m guessing that path isn’t any straighter in the next book at this rate. The amount of events that she goes through makes one realize just how strong willed she is. It was also interesting to see how so many characters she has relationships with change over the course of the read as well. There are some amazing characters within this story and a couple of my favorites had to be Garok/Star-Star and of course Phobos Lend. But so many of Zyntael’s sisters were great additions to her progression and the story arc in general. I honestly didn’t have much knowledge on what to expect with this read other than the name and cover were very intriguing to me. I’m glad that I finally got a chance to read it and now I need to find time yet this year to work in book two and carry on with this story. I’d recommend Daughter of the Beast to readers who are fans of fantasy especially looking for something difference. As I mentioned this world is built around races other than more traditional human characters and I was and am here for it! World Building 4/5 Pacing 4/5 Character Development 4/5 |
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