Daughters of the Night Sky

Honestly, I would give it a 3.5, but you know how GoodReads is about half stars.

This book is a well-crafted novel in terms of characters and story; even knowing how things went in WWII, you still felt the suspense of the sorties and the life-and-death stakes that these characters dealt with. However, the author allowed these characters - Katya particularly - a little too much freedom to say and do things that would definitely have gotten them booted from the army or shot for insubordination. Once, MAYBE twice, might have worked in the right context, but this protagonist's sharp tongue became a little unbelievable over the course of the novel.

I also felt that the story would have been just as powerful entirely without the romantic subplot with Vanya. While he was an interesting character, their pairing felt very rushed and unnecessary, and it would have been fine enough for Katya to spend all of her worries about her loved ones on her mother, who was a far more powerful character connection for her from the beginning.

Overall, I did enjoy this novel, and I really am glad to see someone has taken the time to write about the Night Witches, because they are a fascinating part of WWII history.