Buehlman, C: Daughters' War

A standalone novel following young warrior Galva dom Braga on her journey from untested academy swordswoman to feared and bloodied veteran knight, set during the war-torn, goblin-infested years just before The Blacktongue Thief . The goblins have killed all of our horses and most of our men. They have enslaved our cities, burned our fields, and inflicted a waking nightmare on the known world. Yet humanity persists, fighting back with all we have against their bottomless hunger for human lands and human flesh. Now it's up to the daughters of Manreach to save what's left of the human kingdoms; they'll fight with every weapon at hand, with fearsome gods at their backs and brutal monsters at their sides. Galva - Galvicha to her three brothers, also under arms against the foe - has defied her family's wishes and joined the army's untested new unit, the Raven Knights, to serve at the side of women who, like her, have chosen the battlefield over the marriage bed. She and her sisters in arms march toward a once-beautiful city now overrun by the goblin horde, accompanied by scores of giant war corvids - made with the darkest magics, these fearsome black birds may hold the key to stopping the goblins in their war to make cattle of mankind. The road to victory is bloody and the stakes are high; the goblins are clever and merciless in their prosecution of this third war against us. The Raven Knights can take nothing for granted - not the bonds of family, nor the wisdom of their leaders, nor their own safety against the dangerous war birds at their side. But some hopes are worth any risk.