I thank the author for giving me a free ARC! I am trying to avoid spoilers as much as possible in my review, but be warned there could be some light ones.

Since this is an SPFBO finalist that won its slot from a very slim margin (its fallen competitor was deemed an equally good read but DotB has a more original plot which steered the judge's decision), I will be giving it a more critical review than I usually do for indie books.

Is this book good? Yes, without a doubt, it deserves to have earn a spot in the finals. The story is entertaining, a lot of characters are memorable and I never disliked the protagonist, Zyntael Fairwinter. I also give the author huge props for not feeling shy about the main character's first period while living among gigantic female wolf beasts that don't know much about bare-skin bodies. I think the way Zyntael's adoptive mother Kharthak offers her suggestions to make the experience more tolerable was extremely well handlled.

In fact, one of the big thumbs up for this book is the odd mother/captor relationship with her adoptive daughter/captive. At first it is characterized by brutality to slowly break Zyntael's spirit, and then later on becomes very nuturing and supportive when the protagonist accepts her lot in life and becomes another member of her tribe. It was very refreshing to experience a book starring an extremely matriarchal society where their female warriors head out into the battlefield pregnant and bisexuality is the norm.

Among the supporting characters, my favorites were Star-Star, Mazgar, Namod (uhh.. I think I spelled his name wrong) and the goblin governor's son named Anra. Even though he only appears in a few scenes, the Kimora blacksmith Feldspar was also memorable. Certainly, the book has a very diverse cast of characters. I also enjoyed the freshness of the sisterhood Zyntael forms with her fellow teenage Vulkar training partners. And I think the way this sisterhood dynamic makes a lot of sense because this is a matriarchal society where women are not socially conditioned to be catty because they are physically the strongest and have no need to engage in backstabbing behavior because it would ensure a dishonorable death. Their greatest goal in life is glory in the battlefield. Zyntael's initial moral qualms about her siblings' values and later on acceptance within this new culture is also the great high points of this novel.

Now, here comes the bad. If I have to hear the word "stuff" one more time in this book, I am going to throw my kindle against the wall. Ok, not really, but stuff seems to be the author's odd writing tic favorite word for describing everything. The author writes using New Zealand English, so I was mentally prepared to see a weird hodgepodge of American slang with British spelling dabbled everywhere. What I didn't expect is to see ultra modern words in the dialogue like: dunno, alien, meteorite combined with ye olde English types of phrases such as "you are with child." Metorite struck me as quite odd coming from Kharthak because she is essentially illiterate with very little interest in learning foreign languages or blending in. She is an intelligent military tactician, but she only cares about her own Vulkar culture, bad singing, spirituality and getting drunk every night.

In fact, I found it very weird that Zyntael never learns how to read even the most basic things during the entire novel. Especially since her birth father was a middle class merchant from an important city (the book hints Zyntael's father knows how to read). It makes sense she never had a chance to learn during her stint in the Hobgoblin city because her caretaker Janos was a common criminal turned servant. But it never made sense she didn't learn the written Vulkar language when their sacred temple has some kind of script on the walls. This is further compounded because there is one scene where their male assistant Namod is scribbling a list of food supplies he needs. That section of the book is filled with peaceful waiting in a military fortress where Zyntael would have had ample free time to learn at least the basics from not one, but 3 different male characters (I won't spoil who). While I do believe it is important not to create a Mary Sue protagonist, Zyntael's 5 foot tall body that is devoid of the claws and strength of her Vulkar allies along with her moral values is more than sufficient in my opinion. I would have also wanted Zyntael to have helped her peers birth a Vulkar pup. Given the way their social structure works, such an event would have been very normal for a bonded sisterhood. Pregnant Vulkars just "vanish" and then come back and that is it. Setting Zyntael aside like that when everyone accepts her as one of their people confused me a lot.

One recurring theme in the book is how Zyntael curbs her own path. But there is one problem: she is essentially a prisoner of fearsome beasts with heightened speed, strength, stamina and senses. She only initially tries to obey Kharthak's demands in the hopes they let their guard down and dreams to return home. I felt this aspect of the book clearly fell short. Sure, it is difficult to create a story where the prisoner has choices, but there are ways to make it easier. I would have liked a chapter where Kharthak tests Zyntael by letting her go in the middle of nowhere with minimal supplies as a test. And then Zyntael struggles to decide if she really wants to leave and somehow reaches the Vulkar pup temple and performs her initiation. In contrast, the way the initiation is done in the book felt very awfully anticlimatic to me.

In a nutshell, the book is entertaining despite the qualms I had. I would like to read the sequel sometime. ( )

The Vyshivka of the trilogy title calls to mind (presumably deliberately) vyshyvanka, the embroidered shirts that are part of the national dress of Ukraine and Belarus, and whose patterns carry local or personal meaning. Daughter of the Beast is in six parts, each one a ‘stitch’ in the story of Zyntael Fairwinter, from her capture by the Vulkari to her meeting with the reality of a prophetic dream. In between these points, she does a great deal of travelling and undergoes a radical change, finding new strengths, new loyalties, and new family.

It is a well-plotted and engagingly told adventure. The large number of characters is handled well, and the individual scenes—battles, complex social interactions, new locations—are strong and evocative. It is also very funny in places, and there is a humorous touch throughout.

What is less clear is the overarching world. The individual locations, for example, all work very well, but getting a picture of the overall world is trickier, especially as Zyntael and her new crew seem to travel in a circle. Similarly, though there are plenty of raids and fights, and talk of loyalties and political shenanigans, the overall background of political realities and their consequences are harder to fix upon. The author’s own description notes that Zyntael is negotiating a world that is ‘built by men, and built for men’; it seems a shame that in her coming-of-age story, she is cast so quickly into a pretty traditional ‘feminine’ role.

These points notwithstanding, this is a very enjoyable, reasonably well-written book—if slightly over-long—that, even for a reader not much here for coming-of-age stories or battle scenes, has enough good stuff to encourage moving on to the second instalment, Sister of the Dead.