Front Lines by Michael Grant
The Blurb On The Back:
Am I a coward?
Her face is wet but her mouth is dry. Her heart is beating heavy and slow. Her breaths are shallow. Soon no. Soon they will be there, wherever there is. It is a mission, it is a commando raid. It will almost certainly be combat.
It all leads to this.
Rio Richlin and her friends are going to war. But will they be strong enough to prove themselves on the front lines?
It’s 1942. Following a Supreme Court decision, women can be drafted into the armed forces. When 17-year-old Rio Richlin’s elder sister Rachel is killed in action, Rio and her best friend Jenou decide that rather than wait for the draft, they’ll volunteer for the army. 18-year-old Frangie Marr joins up for more practical reasons - the army pay check will support her family while her father (unemployed due to a back injury) tries to find work. None of these three young women are prepared for army training - the physical and emotional stress is bad enough, worse is the sexism (and in Frangie’s case, racism) that they get from the men they’re training with. 18-year-old Rainy Schulterman knows what they’re up against. She’s already been through army training with the marine corps and is about to start training with army intelligence. But even there, she encounters sexism and anti-semitism, despite her multi-lingual skills, gift for strategy and ability to keep her mouth shut.
All four women are soon pitched into combat next to men who for the most part, don’t think they’re up to it. Somehow they each have to find the strength to prove themselves on the front line - not for the men in their unit, but to save each other.
Michael Grant’s YA alternate history of World War II pitches women into the front line, integrating real battles (notably Kasserine Pass) with fictional events in a standard war tale that follows the characters from basic training to first campaign with the usual trauma and development inbetween. Grant’s great at incorporating research (there’s a good bibliography at the back) while keeping the action moving and he’s created four interesting characters, each with their own fascinating backstory (my favourite being Frangie who joins the army for pragmatic reasons but who has dreams of having the army fund a college education and her desire to be a doctor). However, while I enjoyed this book I don’t currently see what the AU premise adds to the period other than to point out the sexism and racism (which could equally be brought across in a straightforward period story). I also found the unknown narrator device to be a little too reminiscent of CODE NAME VERITY (which Grant name checks as an influence). That said there’s enough here to keep me reading on and I look forward to the next in this series.
The Verdict:
Michael Grant’s YA alternate history of World War II pitches women into the front line, integrating real battles (notably Kasserine Pass) with fictional events in a standard war tale that follows the characters from basic training to first campaign with the usual trauma and development inbetween. Grant’s great at incorporating research (there’s a good bibliography at the back) while keeping the action moving and he’s created four interesting characters, each with their own fascinating backstory (my favourite being Frangie who joins the army for pragmatic reasons but who has dreams of having the army fund a college education and her desire to be a doctor). However, while I enjoyed this book I don’t currently see what the AU premise adds to the period other than to point out the sexism and racism (which could equally be brought across in a straightforward period story). I also found the unknown narrator device to be a little too reminiscent of CODE NAME VERITY (which Grant name checks as an influence). That said there’s enough here to keep me reading on and I look forward to the next in this series.
BATTLE LINES will be released in the United Kingdom on 28th January 2016. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.
Am I a coward?
Her face is wet but her mouth is dry. Her heart is beating heavy and slow. Her breaths are shallow. Soon no. Soon they will be there, wherever there is. It is a mission, it is a commando raid. It will almost certainly be combat.
It all leads to this.
Rio Richlin and her friends are going to war. But will they be strong enough to prove themselves on the front lines?
It’s 1942. Following a Supreme Court decision, women can be drafted into the armed forces. When 17-year-old Rio Richlin’s elder sister Rachel is killed in action, Rio and her best friend Jenou decide that rather than wait for the draft, they’ll volunteer for the army. 18-year-old Frangie Marr joins up for more practical reasons - the army pay check will support her family while her father (unemployed due to a back injury) tries to find work. None of these three young women are prepared for army training - the physical and emotional stress is bad enough, worse is the sexism (and in Frangie’s case, racism) that they get from the men they’re training with. 18-year-old Rainy Schulterman knows what they’re up against. She’s already been through army training with the marine corps and is about to start training with army intelligence. But even there, she encounters sexism and anti-semitism, despite her multi-lingual skills, gift for strategy and ability to keep her mouth shut.
All four women are soon pitched into combat next to men who for the most part, don’t think they’re up to it. Somehow they each have to find the strength to prove themselves on the front line - not for the men in their unit, but to save each other.
Michael Grant’s YA alternate history of World War II pitches women into the front line, integrating real battles (notably Kasserine Pass) with fictional events in a standard war tale that follows the characters from basic training to first campaign with the usual trauma and development inbetween. Grant’s great at incorporating research (there’s a good bibliography at the back) while keeping the action moving and he’s created four interesting characters, each with their own fascinating backstory (my favourite being Frangie who joins the army for pragmatic reasons but who has dreams of having the army fund a college education and her desire to be a doctor). However, while I enjoyed this book I don’t currently see what the AU premise adds to the period other than to point out the sexism and racism (which could equally be brought across in a straightforward period story). I also found the unknown narrator device to be a little too reminiscent of CODE NAME VERITY (which Grant name checks as an influence). That said there’s enough here to keep me reading on and I look forward to the next in this series.
The Verdict:
Michael Grant’s YA alternate history of World War II pitches women into the front line, integrating real battles (notably Kasserine Pass) with fictional events in a standard war tale that follows the characters from basic training to first campaign with the usual trauma and development inbetween. Grant’s great at incorporating research (there’s a good bibliography at the back) while keeping the action moving and he’s created four interesting characters, each with their own fascinating backstory (my favourite being Frangie who joins the army for pragmatic reasons but who has dreams of having the army fund a college education and her desire to be a doctor). However, while I enjoyed this book I don’t currently see what the AU premise adds to the period other than to point out the sexism and racism (which could equally be brought across in a straightforward period story). I also found the unknown narrator device to be a little too reminiscent of CODE NAME VERITY (which Grant name checks as an influence). That said there’s enough here to keep me reading on and I look forward to the next in this series.
BATTLE LINES will be released in the United Kingdom on 28th January 2016. Thanks to the Amazon Vine Programme for the free copy of this book.