Dangerous Women 2

Dangerous Women #2

by George R.R. Martin (Editor), Gardner Dozois (Editor/Introduction), Lev Grossman (Contributor)

Dangerous Women Vol. 2 includes stories by Lev Grossman, Sharon Kay Penman, S. M. Stirling, Sam Sykes, Caroline Spector, and Nancy Kress, and features an entirely new 28,000-word "Outlander" novella by New York Times bestselling author Diana Gabaldon. All stories were first published in December 2013 Dangerous Women anthology.

Table of contents:

“The Girl in the Mirror” by Lev Grossman (Magicians)
“A Queen in Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman
“Pronouncing Doom” by S. M. Stirling (Emberverse)
“Name the Beast” by Sam Sykes
"Lies My Mother Told Me" by Caroline Spector (Wild Cards)
“Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress
Novella: "Virgins" by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander)

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Anthologies, Fiction, Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction, Dystopia

403 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 23, 2014

About the author

George Raymond Richard "R.R." Martin was born September 20, 1948, in Bayonne, New Jersey. His father was Raymond Collins Martin, a longshoreman, and his mother was Margaret Brady Martin. He has two sisters, Darleen Martin Lapinski and Janet Martin Patten.

Martin attended Mary Jane Donohoe School and Marist High School. He began writing very young, selling monster stories to other neighborhood children for pennies, dramatic readings included. Later he became a comic book fan and collector in high school, and began to write fiction for comic fanzines (amateur fan magazines). Martin's first professional sale was made in 1970 at age 21: The Hero, sold to Galaxy, published in February, 1971 issue. Other sales followed.

In 1970 Martin received a B.S. in Journalism from Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, graduating summa cum laude. He went on to complete a M.S. in Journalism in 1971, also from Northwestern.

As a conscientious objector, Martin did alternative service 1972-1974 with VISTA, attached to Cook County Legal Assistance Foundation. He also directed chess tournaments for the Continental Chess Association from 1973-1976, and was a Journalism instructor at Clarke College, Dubuque, Iowa, from 1976-1978. He wrote part-time throughout the 1970s while working as a VISTA Volunteer, chess director, and teacher.

In 1975 he married Gale Burnick. They divorced in 1979, with no children. Martin became a full-time writer in 1979. He was writer-in-residence at Clarke College from 1978-79.

Moving on to Hollywood, Martin signed on as a story editor for Twilight Zone at CBS Television in 1986. In 1987 Martin became an Executive Story Consultant for Beauty and the Beast at CBS. In 1988 he became a Producer for Beauty and the Beast, then in 1989 moved up to Co-Supervising Producer. He was Executive Producer for Doorways, a pilot which he wrote for Columbia Pictures Television, which was filmed during 1992-93.

Martin's present home is Santa Fe, New Mexico. He is a member of Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America (he was South-Central Regional Director 1977-1979, and Vice President 1996-1998), and of Writers' Guild of America, West.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/george...

Reviews

[Roxana Chirilă · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've read this in Romanian, but I'm too tired to write a review in Ro. This volume contained 9 stories.

"Second Arabesque, Very Slowly" by Nancy Kress

A post-apocalyptic tale. Women are good for breeding and, maybe, medicine. Not badly written, but not my cup of tea. (Incidentally, it reminded me a lot of Huxley's "Ape and Essence", possibly because I've just finished that one. They're both post-apocalyptic, with women as mating material and a reproduction fetish.)

"City Lazarus" by Diana Rowland

The river in New Orleans moved, plunging the city into economic disaster and crime. It contains the usual corrupt city setting, complete with strippers, whores and noir atmosphere. Not bad, but not particularly memorable.

"Pronouncing Doom" by S. M. Stirling

More post-apocalyptic stuff! This time, Wiccans create a society of their own after disaster strikes. Interesting, emphasizing characters and psychology in a world in which justice can't afford to be kind.

"Virgins" by Diana Gabaldon

I'm not a huge fan of "Outlander" (and this story is in that universe), but "Virgins" was alright. Pain-magnet Jamie, after getting whipped a lot in Scotland, goes to France to become a mercenary and gets hurt some more. Complete with Jews practicing medicine. It's fun.

"Hell Hath No Fury" by Sherrilyn Kenyon

A bunch of people go into a territory haunted by a Native American who cursed white men for being horrid to her! Strikingly cliched. Negative stars.

"Name the Beast" by Sam Sykes

A weird story about some sentient creatures hunting other sentient creatures. Odd. Maybe there was something to it. I don't know. It was confusing.

"Caretakers" by Pat Cadigan

With their mother being admitted to an asylum because of Alzheimer's, so the younger sister volunteers as a nurse. Soon, she starts feeling there's something not quite right going on - but is it just her imagination? I kind of liked the story, but not the ending. The final paragraphs were probably meant to be meaningful, but something got lost in translation.

"Lies My Mother Told Me" by Caroline Spector

A fun story about not-quite-superheroes battling it out. A woman who controls zombies. Another one makes bubble-bombs. This is palpably part of a larger universe, but it was quite fun to read.

"The Princess and the Queen, or, the Blacks and the Greens" by George R. R. Martin

A story set in Westeros. Dragons still roam the lands, mostly with Targaryen riders. Blood is spilled over succession. The story is told by a maester, and I kind of lost track of who's who (too many Aegons and Aemons and Daemons and Daerons or whatever), but it was enjoyable. Lots of blood and dragons, as you might expect.

[Susie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overall rating: ★★★☆☆ - Sort of liked/OK. Each story is reviewed individually below.


1/7: The Girl in the Mirror by Lev Grossman
★★★★☆ - Really liked

Now this one was right up my alley and I really liked it! I've since read that The Magicians series (of which this was a tale taken out of that world) has been likened to Harry Potter, so a more adult-orientated version, but based on this story I wouldn't necessarily agree (although it does have some direct HP references nestled inside it). You have all the magical goings on, done, perhaps, in a more "grown-up" style, yet I wouldn't directly liken it to any other series I've read. It's done in a very individual way. The writer's style is quite unique too, which takes a little bit of getting used to. In some ways I would say it was more like the writing of Tom Holt or Terry Pratchett, but not completely so. I guess, in a way, you could say it's more realistic, by using "everyday" language. But however anyone else would like to describe it, I'd just describe it as this: "fun"! It is definitely enough for me to want to check out the main works from The Magicians series.


2/7: A Queen in Exile by Sharon Kay Penman
★★★★★ - Loved it/couldn't put it down

What a wonderful story! It is the first I've read of any of SKP's works, but I had already added a couple of her works to my eventual "to read" list. I can say that, based on reading this story, that it is unlikely that I will be disappointed.

The story focusses around a point in history that I am not familiar with, the battle for the throne of Sicily and the daring of Constance de Hauteville, an aging woman married to the heir to the Holy Roman Empire who's yet to fall pregnant in a time that's not at all friendly for women. Her bravery and courage turn circumstances that could have been disastrous for her into ones that help to secure both her future and the future of her beloved Sicily itself.

Whilst slow to start, it gradually gathered pace into a tremendous finish, by which time I had full sympathy for Constance and her plight. Thus it wins the first full five stars of any of the DW stories I've read so far.


3/7: Pronouncing Doom by S.M. Stirling
★★★☆☆ - Sort of liked/OK

Now I must admit that my opinion of Mr. Stirling is a bit coloured thanks to a collaboration I read of his with Raymond E. Feist, Jimmy the Hand. Now the story felt lose and I felt it could have been a lot better, but apparently Stirling messed up, had written something else than what had been agreed upon and handed it all in late with only two weeks to finalise (see this review for info). So therefore not the best introduction to Stirling, albeit from the part of a collaboration.

So I went into reading this story a bit sceptically, expecting it to not be up to par, especially after the wonderful stories I'd read before this one. And, I have to say... Well, it didn't fall short of my expectations, but failed to fully impress me and change my already dented opinion of the author's work.

Overall I would say that it wasn't a bad story, but there are some fluffed-up bits that irritated me somewhat, so I feel that it's unlikely I'll be able to fully enjoy the main works from this universe. Some of the ideas certainly good ones, and gave a suggestion how man would adapt to survive in a sort of post-apocalyptic world. But the way he draws in the characters and presents them is a bit too ridiculous. And one thing I can't stand in books that are trying to be serious is overly written-out pronunciations. No doubt written for an American audience to describe how the one English guy in the book, of West Country descent, would sound like. Just makes reading it even more ridiculous.

The only thing that keeps it at three stars rather than lower is the fact that the whole seemed to hold together and, once the story was moving, it wasn't hard to imagine or get a feel for the characters.


4/7: Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector
★☆☆☆☆ - Really disliked/hated/DNF

Eurgh. After my first five star out of all the DW stories, here comes the first one star.

Well, first of all, it's hard to pack a story with multiple POVs into a few pages. But that's what Spector tried to do. And failed. I mean, when you've got less than a page spent on one viewpoint, unless you yourself are a superhero, it makes it incredibly hard to follow.

What probably doesn't help me is that I've never read any of the Wild Cards books. So it may have helped me gain a sympathy for the universe if I had. Yet the way Spector writes her heroes, it just wasn't that believable at all. It made it all sound stupid and ridiculous. It's fantasy, so of course there will be parts that would be unbelievable to our world. Yet the nature of fantasy writing is to make these fantastical ideas believable to the world they're set in. I just didn't get that at all.

As for sympathy for the characters... Well, that was extremely hard to achieve with the too-quick perspective shifting. Plus there wasn't enough in each perspective to really build the characters up into anything more than one-dimensional penny pieces.

And lastly, that ending... I deliberately kept reading, despite my anger and distaste throughout, hoping something that would come along that would redeem the author and the story for me. But with the poor editing, revealing more grammatical errors than any other story I've read thus far, then the pretty stupid ending, I was just glad to have gotten it over and done with. I mean, they killed the guy, Mr Jones, who said he was working for someone else, with a triumphant "we won" reaction. Yet, if he is working for someone else, one battle doesn't win the war. WTF did they gain?!

So, I did my part, I tried my best, I gave the story every chance I could. But ultimately I feel stupid for having carried on with the story when I could have skipped. The only positive is that I now know to avoid this author's works.


5/7: Name the Beast by Sam Sykes
★★★☆☆ - Sort of liked/OK

This was a bizarre story and I wasn't too sure what to make of it. There were two viewpoints that were like two sides of a coin, slowly coming together to complete the story, one side learning from the other. That in and of itself was obvious in parts, each side calling the other "beast" in their fervour to be done with the other.

Yet I guess the bizarreness was to do with the "foreign" nature of the unknown creature's thinking, the species described so individually well yet with so little time to expand upon it.

Overall not a bad story with a warm ending. I guess, once I get used to Syke's style, I could come to like his writing. This story certainly hasn't put me off of trying out this young author's other works.


6/7: Second Arabesque, Very Slowly by Nancy Kress
★★★☆☆ - Sort of liked/OK

Another post-apocalyptic story, except with completely different reasons and consequences. It was interesting, but at the same time quite frustrating.

For one thing, she spends far too much time describing what things were like or why they happened or why things are as they are. The most complicated part about this is that there's a section where she slips from her past-tense narrative into present tense. It makes that section feel awkward and out of place.

The story itself was vaguely interesting. There were times when I was happily following along. But it just could have been written so much better.


7/7: Virgins by Diana Gabaldon
★★★☆☆ - Sort of liked/OK

So, here we go, the final story, the story which many people only picked up this second book part to read...

I have read varying reviews about Gabaldon in the past, mostly scathing, via friends whose opinion I trust. But, I decided, here was my chance to give the author a go, try it all out for myself, being as I was in the process of reading all the other Dangerous Women stories (and, to my credit, I haven't yet skipped one).

And what confronted me was a mixed bag. First of all, you have a historical adventure story, of which I have no idea how accurate it is. The French were allied to Scotland, so perhaps it's not so surprising to see our Scottish "heroes" wind up there. But here's the bit that bothers me - it is one thing, writing out how they are pronouncing words when they are speaking in English. It's quite another when they are speaking in French or even Hebrew or their own tongue. Jamie is supposed to be able to speak French with a flawless Parisian accent. Now, assuming when he speaks to these people time and again, after it already having been noted that he'd spoken to them in French the first time around, what the hell is he doing further along the line speaking French with a Scottish brogue?!

The violence seemed par for the course and not quite to the levels I've heard it appears in some of her other stories. The story itself was readable, made sense, to a degree (I don't see how they'd be assigned to lone escort duty), and it wasn't too hard to gain sympathy for our "heroes". I can understand why many fall for their charms. But, hmmm... I somewhat enjoyed it, but nowhere near enough.

[Mervi · Rating 3 out of 5]

About half of the stories are set in the writer’s larger universe and one is a shared world. I had no trouble understanding the stories but unfortunately, I didn’t feel that they were very compelling, either. Most of the women are politically or socially dangerous.

Lev Grossman: The Girl in the Mirror: set in his Magicians world, the story follows Plum. She’s the leader of a secret society of students, the League, in a magical university. One student has stepped over the line and the League must discipline him.

Sharon Kay Penman: A Queen in Exile: 1189 Germany. Constance de Hauteville hears that her nephew has died. That means that Constance will be Queen of Sicily and her cold and ruthless husband the Holy Roman Emperor will also be King of Sicily. But a bitter battle for the crown must be won first.

S. M. Sterling: Pronouncing Doom: Machines don’t work anymore and society has fragmented. In this town, Wiccans rule. It’s the heavy duty of Juniper Mackenzie to sentence an evildoer.

Caroline Spector: Lies My Mother Told Me: Set in the Wild Cards universe, the main character Michelle Pond is a major superhero called Bubbles. She and her adoptive daughter Adesina are in a Mardi Gras parade when zombies attack. Michelle knows that her friend Joey, the Hoodoo Mama, is the one who controls zombies but why would Joey attack the parade and her? Turns out someone stole Joey’s power. And that’s just the beginning.

Sam Sykes: Name the Beast: Kalindris’ people are silent, watchful. They hear the Howling. But her daughter is nothing like that. Kalindris has grown to resent the man who sired the child and she also resents her daughter. When it’s time for the child to kill a beast and blood her hands, Kalindris goes with her because she’s sure that the child isn’t up to the task. The other POV is Senny. Senny’s Mother and Father are arguing. A beast killed Senny’s older sibling and the family is on the run.

Nancy Kress: Second Arabesque, Very Slowly: In a world, where a virus made 99% of women infertile, civilization has fallen. In Northern USA, people are either hunter-gatherer packs or farmer communities. The first-person POV main character Nurse is in a hunter-gatherer pack. She’s already past 60 and knows that when she can’t keep up anymore, she will be shot. But for now, she does her best to nurse the women and men of the pack. The women are valued for their fertility or if they have special skills.

Diana Gabaldon: Virgins: A novella set in her Oulander setting but before the books. Jamie Fraiser has just fled Scotland and joins a mercenary group where his best friend Ian is a member. Because Jamie and Ian understand Hebrew, they are entrusted with a mission to bring a Jewish girl, her maid, and a priceless dowry to Paris for her wedding. Of course, things go wrong.

[Alexander · Rating 3 out of 5]

So, I finished the second installment of the Dangerous Women anthology! And I'll review every short story individually again, and then take the final rating out of the average of all the ratings. Here we go!

Megan Lindholm - Neighbors - 3/5
I've never read a Robin Hobb-story before, so this was certainly an interesting start. Sadly, I wasn't super impressed. As the story progressed, I had a harder and harder time understanding what was going on exactly and I don't understand the ending one bit. Also, I don't really understand what this story was doing in the anthology - the main character's a woman, but she doesn't really fit the picture of a 'dangerous woman' to me. Shame.

Lev Grossman - Girl in the Mirror - 4/5
I have also never read a Lev Grossman-story before, but this story has made me see the error of my ways. The whole thing was a lot of fun to read and the characters were believable. It was nice to have a fun story in between the rest. The only thing that bothered me was that the dangerous woman felt a bit shoehorned in the story. Otherwise it was good.

Sharon Kay Penman - A Queen in Exile - 2/5
I can't say I ever really cared much for politics in fiction and this story felt rife with it - and historical fiction wasn't really my thing either. However, my biggest qualm with this story was how the dangerous woman was very dangerous... off-screen. On-screen, there was nothing convincing me of the danger. The author added a note telling me exactly why the protagonist was dangerous and her needing that note explains my rating sufficiently, I hope.

S.M. Stirling - Pronouncing Doom - 3/5
I had troubles seeing the point of this story. Where was the dangerous woman? There was a dangerous man standing on trial, certainly. But what about the woman? What was this story doing here? I had a lot of fun seeing the world built and the Celtic rituals this story was based on, but it felt unfinished, and when it was done, all I could do was shrug.

Caroline Spector - Lies My Mother Told Me - 4/5
This was a fun story to read! The dangerous woman was crystal clear, the idea was a lot of fun and it was just nice in general. However, it was clear that Spector tried to fit a superhero story the length of a novel into a short story, as it moved at a breakneck speed, and I didn't really like the antagonist. He felt like a stereotype of gamers, a really bad one, and as a gamer myself it was hard not to take offence. Nonetheless, this was fun.

Sam Sykes - Name The Beast - 2/5
I would really like to leave a comprehensive review for this, but in order to do that, I'd have to comprehend the story and to be really honest, I had no idea what was going on while I read it. Maybe because of the steep learning curve, maybe because of something else, I don't know. I liked the scary mood, though, which is why it doesn't have one star.

Diana Gabaldon - Virgins - 5/5
This was also a fun story to read! Again, I don't care much for historical fiction, but this was a pleasant read all the way. The friendship between Jamie and Ian was heartwarming and the dangerous woman was clearly there. There was enough in there for a novel, but the pacing never bothered me. Certainly one of the best of the anthology yet.

All these little ratings average to a rating of 3.2, aka three stars.
I do want to say that I really like how wide this anthology is, there was stuff pulled from all genres - but the concept of dangerous women, so far, has been so wide that basically all women apply to it if you stretch it enough, and I feel it's been really stretched in this anthology and used as an excuse for some writers to finally get that short story they had lying around somewhere published. I'm all for feminism, but I expected more so far. Maybe I'll get that in part three.
But I'll be honest, I doubt it. Nonetheless, I'll see you guys there :)

[Nicky · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume had more fantasy/SF than the first one, with just one story that wasn’t — and that was historical fiction, which often has the same sort of social structures and so on, and thus feels somewhat akin to fantasy. It’s a bit of a stronger collection than the first part, to my mind; I enjoyed it a bit more.

‘Neighbours’, by Megan Lindholm — Quite fun; I kinda called it before the end, but it still worked. I found the stuff with the elderly woman and her kids a bit harrowing, honestly; the trouble is, when someone gets to that point where everything seems to be going wrong, they’re no longer making clear decisions… what do you do? The kids in this book didn’t handle it great, of course, but they’re not wrong that at some point you need to take responsibility.

‘The Girl in the Mirror’, by Lev Grossman — I hoped this was unrelated to The Magicians and its sequels; I didn’t enjoy the first book that much, and didn’t read the others. Unfortunately it was, and given that Quentin appeared, I’m guessing it had some relevance to those stories? Eh.

‘A Queen in Exile’, by Sharon Kay Penman — Felt a little bit like a summary or a historical biography at times, but I enjoyed it; it’s nice to see a dangerous woman of history celebrated.

‘Pronouncing Doom’, by S.M. Stirling — Honestly… I get that modern Wicca is a thing, but the tangle of Irish words and Welsh mythology and modern Earth Mother stuff left me pretty cold.

‘Lies My Mother Told Me’, by Caroline Spector — This is from G.R.R. Martin’s Wildcards ‘verse, if I’m not mistaken; it’s pretty clear what’s going on, even if you haven’t read those. I liked it; weird powers and all.

‘Name the Beast’, by Sam Sykes — I’m… honestly not sure what was going on through half of this. Not a fan.

I didn’t read ‘Virgins’, by Diana Gabaldon; it’s set in her Outlander world, in which I have no interest.

Reviewed for The Bibliophibian.

[Frank · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read the first two stories and did not like either. Started the third and it was much the same so I gave up on it. Glad I burrowed it from the liabrary instead of buying it.

[Ioana · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*
Înfrâng răul sau întruchipează răul. Pot fi îngeri sau demoni. Și îngeri și demoni în același timp. Vrăjitoare ori justițiare ale dreptății, hoțomane și criminale cu sânge rece, fete bune ori femei fatale. Femeile nu au fost niciodată mai puternice, în nicio altă carte nu veți întâlni atât de multe femei dispuse să dea totul pe o carte, să trăiască și să moară asumat.
Recenzia completa: http://twistinmysobriety-alexa.blogsp...

[katnick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I expected to feel empowered by this anthology - or at least less pissed off about the portrayal of women in speculative fiction - but I was underwhelmed. Like all anthologies, it was a mixed bag. All of the stories were at least decent, but none of them really struck me as anything special.

Lev Grossman's The Girl in the Mirror follows the leader of a secret club at a magic university as she pulls an elaborate prank on the school's wine steward. It's part of a larger series, though not in an obvious way. It's good, except for the part where the female protagonist is rescued by a male teacher. This story comes directly after an introduction that claims women in modern spec fic don't need to be rescued anymore, which I consider a major failure of editing. 2.5 stars.

Sharon K. Penman's A Queen in Exile is a historical tale of a Sicilian queen in the 1100s who tries to win her kingdom back from a bastard usurper and her jerk husband by birthing a male heir. It's well written and researched but the queen's obsession with having a boy is annoying and she doesn't do anything that I would really call 'dangerous' until the postscript. Why wasn't the bulk of the story about that part of her life? 2.5 stars.

S.M. Stirling's Pronouncing Doom features a Scottish-revival clan chieftain who passes judgement on a rapist in a post-apocalyptic American farming community. This story is really interesting. It delves into the inadequacy of the modern legal system in a feudal world and how human rights and the roles/responsibilities of community members have to adapt. The only drawback is that it's obviously part of a larger story universe and some of the references to said universe are confusing. 3.5 stars.

Caroline Spector's Lies My Mother Told Me is a superhero universe story about a woman who creates exploding fat bubbles, a zombie puppetmaster, and a telepathic insect-girl who fight back against a shadowy organization that can steal their powers. This story has a bit of everything – crazily inventive superpowers, character development, action, and not everybody is straight, white, and thin. It does drop hints about the larger Wild Card universe, but not so many that it gets confusing. My favourite of the bunch. 4 stars.

Sam Sykes' Name the Beast follows a hunter who is forced to take her unwanted daughter along on a ritual hunt. I just didn't get this one. I had so many unanswered questions that I couldn't enjoy it. Who are these beings? What do they look like? Are they representative of their species? What's up with her husband? What's up with her daughter? Why are they hunting the beasts? What makes her change her mind? And so on. 2 stars.

Nancy Kress' Second Arabesque, Very Slowly is another post-apocalyptic tale. An infertile nurse in a nomadic, male-dominated society tries to crush the dreams of two pack members who discover music and dancing in order to protect them from the leader's wrath. I liked it, even though the main character doesn't really seem to be driving the plot and the world was what I think of as the 'post-apocalypse standard.' 3 stars.

Diana Gabaldon's Virgins is an add-on tale to her Outlander historical series, though even people who haven't read the books should be able to follow the story. An outlaw Scot joins a band of French mercenaries with his childhood friend and is hired to escort the daughter of a prosperous Jew to Paris. While there's no doubt the woman they cross is dangerous, the story isn't really about her. It's about the two guys and their struggles with trauma and doing the right thing. An engaging read, but not what I was looking for from this anthology. 3.5 stars.

[Arun Divakar · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second book in this collection featuring dangerous women turned out to be a chore to get through.

Neighbors by Megan Lindholm

Rating : 2/5

In Summary : The whole idea is to have stories of women who are dangerous. While it is really appreciated that we need to spare a thought for the old and feeble, this story really has no place in this anthology. It is a fact that Megan Lindholm captures the frailty of being old and senile and the utter tragedy of watching life fall apart around you. But my dear editors, the idea behind your book was not this ! A book with the title art of a knuckle knife does not do justice to this story of how unfair life is to people who are at the sunset of their lives. This is a criminally misplaced tale !The rating of 2 is for the story alone and not its place in this collection.

The Girl In The Mirror by Lev Grossman

Rating : 3/5

In Summary : A prank set in a centuries old school of magic that has some unforeseen consequences. Grossman’s creation of atmosphere is brilliant and he captures all the charms of an ancient school and its quirky students. It is just that the ending is rather unsatisfying. Or I can rather put it is as the ending came a bit too fast for my liking. That said, this is one of the better stories in the whole collection.

A Queen In Exile by Sharon Kay Penman

Rating : 4/5

In Summary : The best of the lot. This is one of the two stories in the collection where the woman is a truly formidable one to behold. It tells the story of Constance de Hauteville of Florence, wife to Heinrich von Hohenstaufen, King of Germany and daughter-in-law of the legendary Fredrick Barbarossa. Trapped in an unhappy marriage, she goes through a lot many defining experiences that serves to make her stronger to face the life ahead. This little story is an ode to how much will power plays a part in forming a person’s future. Constance truly is a dangerous woman !

Pronouncing Doom by S.M. Stirling

Rating : 2/5

In Summary : Yet another post-apocalyptic tale but this one is a matriarchal society where the cult of the goddess has returned to take root. The contention I had with this tale was that it was overwritten. There is too much prose cluttering an otherwise good tale.

Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector

Rating : 3/5

In Summary : A fun romp through the world of superheroes, zombies and creepy government agents. It’s a comic book story written in a short story format. A fun read and this is also the only other story in the collection where the women are dangerous.

Name The Beast by Sam Sykes

Rating : WTF !/5

In Summary : I have no frigging idea what this story was supposed to mean !

Virgins by Diana Gabaldon

Rating : Unrated/5

In Summary : I gave up after ten pages. A group of mercenaries drink and joke and play war…do I care ? No, I certainly don’t !

The collection as a whole was a let-down. There is one more book left in the collection but now I am wary.

[Tim Hicks · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't work for me.

Lev Grossman's The Girl in the Mirror - not bad, moderately entertaining school-of-magic story.

Sharon K. Penman's A Queen in Exile - boring history lesson, and I don't dislike history

S.M. Stirling's Pronouncing Doom - OK

Caroline Spector's Lies My Mother Told Me - a woman who fights by creating explosive fat bubbles - no, sorry, you lost me there. A Joker Too Far.

Sam Sykes' Name the Beast - classic example of baffle-the-reader-for-pages-then-just-stop.

Nancy Kress' Second Arabesque, Very Slowly - a post-apocalyptic world I couldn't believe in. It seemed to have been created solely to set up the unsubtle politics of the story.

Diana Gabaldon's Virgins - Ah cannae stand the Outlanders series, an' Ah didnae read it.

[Iris Schechter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had great hopes for this book. As I said in my review of book 1, I read it in French, and they rearranged the novels to have 1 book with only male writers, and 1 book with female writers (this one). So being a girl, a couldn't help but hope this second volume would be better. Well, some were really good, but there was also really bad work in there. I put the blame (partly) on selection, as for example I read three novels which were basically the same, so of course comparison was harder on the worst one.
Anyway, here's a quick word on each novel. Sorry for disorder.

My Heart is Either Broken - Megan Abbott - 4 ⭐

Uneasy story of a woman, who I couldn't make up my mind about. Is she heartless, mean, or just normal ?
My feelings for her evolved along the short pages. It's definitely not the kind of novel I was looking for, not really the kind that I like, this unease clinging to me, but I have to recognize the mastery of the writer.

Nora's song - Cécilia Holland - 1 ⭐

This is the kind of "slice of life" story that I hate, because I just don't get it. Nothing really happens, there is no moral lesson (that I could detect). I was all the more so disappointed that the first few paragraphs had seduced me. But I reached the end with a sense of emptiness. This piece of work was closer to a chapter in a full book than a stand-alone story.
Also, who was the dangerous woman there ? All I could see was a sad queen, turned violent by desperation and fear, and a petulant child.

The Hands That Are Not There - Melinda Snodgrass - 5 ⭐

This one is the exact opposite of Nora's Song. The introduction didn't appeal much to me, and I took the story for a bad Star Trek or Star Wars rip off. It was not. As soon as the story started, I was drawn into it and couldn't close the book until I finished this novel. I might have knocked a few people on the street and in the subway on my way to work that morning...
Beside the appeal of the story, which is always subjective, I liked the writing and storytelling very much : light and precise, balanced, with enough strength in the words to convey the characters' emotions, but not so much that the sentence would become heavy and redundant (unlike that one...). I will look up this writer, I want more of her books !

Raisa Stepanova - Carrie Vaughn - 5 ⭐

That one took me by surprise. Considering the theme of the novel, I expected to be very detached, but ended up feeling very close to the heroine, her fight and her strength - purely through the skill of the writer, if that needed to be said.
I was once again impressed by the quality of writing and storytelling.

Neighbors - Megan Lindholm - 5 ⭐

Is magic real because you believe in it, or must you believe in it because it's real ? Make up your own mind in this well written fantastic story.

A Queen in Exile - Sharon Kay Penman - 3 ⭐

* mild SPOILERS considering this is based on Historical facts*

This novel is totally out of subject. This is the story, correctly written if a bit heavy, of a courageous woman, not a dangerous one.
The author herself says so in an after-note. She then goes on to say that years later, Constance conspired against her husband, evicting him at the profit of her son. In the anthology, I would rather have read about that later part of the story.

Second Arabesque, Very Slowly - Nancy Kress - 3 ⭐

First I didn't like the title much. It's loo long, and even after finishing reading the story, I still didn't get it.
then I found the writing mediocre, and I didn't like the way people talked.
But the last few paragraphs somehow lift it all up. It's a good, sober story about hope and determination.

City Lazarus - Diana Rowland - 1 ⭐

*spoilers*
Absolutely terrible. First, the writing was appalling. Why do some authors think that the only way to convey a low-life mob character is to infuse the whole novel with vulgarity ?
But it was not only unnecessarily boorish, it was also plain badly written, which made it a drag to read, and totally impossible to immerse into the story.
I barely prevailed, and finally reached the last page, where the dangerous woman is unveiled. This end twist could have earned the novel a additional star, except for bad luck : I already read two similar stories in this anthology, and both were much better written (“I Know How to Pick ’Em” by Lawrence Block , and “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass).

Virgins - Diana Gabaldon - 3 ⭐

The writing is not highly qualitative, but comfortably easy to read, though sometimes the dialogues are a bit confusing. In any case, it's not a hindrance to getting into the story, which was quite catching.

Though I wouldn't say it was a great novel (mostly because of the writing - I realize I've become quite demanding on the matter), I did plunge into the story and went to sleep late because I wanted to finish it.

Hell Hath No Fury - Sherrilyn Kenyon - 3 ⭐

The writing is ok, though unfortunately hampered by a poor translation job.
The story being very short it's hard for me to judge... but I'll still do it ! : I found it way to moralizing. I don't know if that was the author's intent, or if she just wanted to stuff as many old sayings as she could in 20 pages (to show off all the research she did ?), but it annoyed me.
Also the end was way to vanilla for this type of story. But that goes with the moralization I guess.

Caretakers - Pat Cadigan - 3 ⭐

I don't see where the dangerous woman is, but appart from that the story is ok. the plot holds, it's not too obvious. The writing is not bad.
I prefer Sci-Fi/fantasy so I had little interest for this novel, but I can imagine the appeal others would find to it, which accounts for 1 of the 3 stars I give it.

Lies My Mother Told Me - Caroline Spector - 3 ⭐

That one also gets a star for the universe behind that I don't know, and which probably makes it more interesting for the fans.
As for me, I was once again put off by a writing that I came to define as slouched. It's not terrible, but it's not elegant either. Much like everyday talk rather than writing endeavour. This effect is reinforced by the intensive cursing of the protagonists. I understand that it is intentional, but as it leaks into the surrounding text it become less mastered, and more amateur writing.

[Jaden-marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
I found all of them at least of an okay quality, some of the ones I liked best were-
A Queen in Exile
Lies My Mother Told Me
Virgins
I would probably give the others a pass, Neighbors better but still not highest quality.

[Mara Corduneanu · Rating 4 out of 5]

### 📚 Recenzie – *Femei periculoase* vol. 2
✍️ Editor: **George R.R. Martin** & **Gardner Dozois**
📗 Format: Paperback | Antologie de povestiri fantasy, SF, mister și crime

---

**„Femei periculoase” Volumul 2** este partea a doua dintr-o antologie ambițioasă coordonată de **George R.R. Martin** (autorul seriei *Urzeala tronurilor*) și **Gardner Dozois**, reunind proze scurte semnate de autori de top din literatura contemporană de gen. Tema comună? Femeia ca forță de temut: nu neapărat malefică, dar întotdeauna puternică, complexă și imposibil de ignorat.

Acest volum aduce o serie de povești în care femeile nu sunt doar eroine sau victime – ci ființe multidimensionale, capabile de iubire, cruzime, inteligență strategică sau răzbunare sângeroasă.

---

### 🌪️ **Ce găsim în acest volum?**

Volumul 2 conține o selecție variată de povestiri semnate de autori ca:
- **Diana Rowland**,
- **Caroline Spector**,
- **Megan Abbott**,
- **Lev Grossman**,
- și alții.

Genurile se întrepătrund: de la fantasy întunecat și SF, până la noir contemporan sau thriller psihologic, fiecare poveste explorează o latură diferită a ideii de „femeie periculoasă” – fie în sens fizic, psihologic sau simbolic.

---

### 🗡️ **Teme centrale**

✔ **Puterea feminină sub diverse forme** – fizică, sexuală, intelectuală, mistică
✔ **Răzbunarea și justiția personală**
✔ **Moralitate ambiguă** – personajele nu sunt alb-negru, ci profund umane
✔ **Femeia ca agent al schimbării**, nu ca accesoriu în povestea altcuiva

---

### 🖋️ **Stilul și varietatea**

Antologia impresionează prin **diversitatea vocii literare**: fiecare autor aduce un stil propriu, un univers bine definit și o viziune personală asupra feminității. Unele texte sunt lirice, altele brutale. Unele explorează magie și mit, altele realismul crud.

Este o antologie care cere răbdare și disponibilitate pentru a trece prin lumi foarte diferite, dar care recompensează din plin.

---

### ✅ **Puncte forte**

✔ Varietate mare de stiluri și teme
✔ Personaje feminine puternice și memorabile
✔ Perspective neobișnuite și inovatoare asupra arhetipurilor
✔ Ideal pentru fanii genurilor speculative (fantasy, SF, thriller)

---

### ⚠️ **Puncte mai slabe**

➖ Calitatea povestirilor nu este uniformă – unele pot părea mai slabe sau mai puțin memorabile
➖ Necesită răbdare – nu este o lectură „ușoară”, ci mai degrabă densă și complexă
➖ Lipsa unui fir narativ unitar poate descuraja cititorii care preferă coerența unei singure povești

---

### 👑 **Concluzie**

*Femei periculoase vol. 2* este o antologie care reușește să redefinească ideea de „feminitate periculoasă” într-o manieră matură și provocatoare. Departe de clișeele femme fatale, aceste personaje sunt **reale, violente, visătoare, crude sau tragice** – dar întotdeauna demne de respect și fascinație.

🔹 **Recomandat pentru:** fanii lui George R.R. Martin, cititorii pasionați de fantasy, SF și literatură de gen cu personaje feminine complexe
🔹 **Nu este pentru:** cei care caută o lectură liniară sau exclusiv „romantică”

📖 **Verdict:** O colecție provocatoare, variată și puternică – o sărbătoare a personajului feminin în toată complexitatea lui.

[Storm · Rating 3 out of 5]

The second of 3 paperbacks with stories already in the full anthology Dangerous Women. Brief reviews here with links to full story reviews as they some are quite lengthy.

The Girl in the Mirror [The Magicians Series] - Lev Grossman - 3½⭐
Just the usual shenanigans at Brakebills when Plum, over achieving genius and her friends decide to prank the wine dispensing student for short pouring their wine portions at dinner! He clearly needs to learn how to do a PROPER Pour, like this!


A Queen in Exile - Sharon Kay Penman - 3⭐
Constance de Hauteville seems like a meek wife, which she is anything but. With grace, mettle and steady use of brains she becomes Constance, Queen of Sicily, willing to do anything and endure any indignity to turn public opinion in favor of herself and her offspring. Shows that a woman doesn't have to be a virago to be a feminist.

Pronouncing Doom [Emberverse] - S.M. Stirling - 5⭐
In a post apocalyptic dystopia where technology doesn't work, some of humanity has banded into clans to work together for survival. A high priestess has to sentence a rapist whose guilt is not in question, for the good of their Clan collective. IMO the punishment was fitting for the situation / crime. Very very well written, I would read more stories set in this world.


Name the Beast - Sam Sykes - 1⭐
A trained hunter / killer has to contend with her child not being good at killing. It was grimdark, the writing was boring and the story felt needless and pointless.

Lies My Mother Told Me [Wild Cards] - Caroline Spector - 4⭐
Superheroine Bubbles builds fat when injured and can throw bubbles of fat at her opponents after! Her city is under attack from someone who can "steal" powers, especially from her friend, a Voodoo Witch who can raise the dead. Lots of swearing and trauma but overall a great read.

Second Arabesque, Very Slowly - Nancy Kress - 3⭐
In a dystopian post-apocalyptic world women are treated as sex slaves to be used for breeding purposes by multiple men as soon as they come of age. Nurse (person and profession) discovers 2 of the young under her care want to be ballet dancers after watching a performance and reading old books. They start training in secret, but things go awry. The situation was depressing but the ending where the Nurse finally grows a spine was very good.

Virgins [Outlander #0.5] - Diana Gabaldon - 3⭐
Shortly after Jamie's torture and whipping at the hands of the evil Randall, an event witnessed by his father who dies of a stroke, Jamie escapes to France with his best friend Ian Murray taking work as mercenaries, where they both decide to fix their virgin status. The temptation is almost too much to bear in when they get an assignment to deliver a Torah and a Rabbi's very beautiful virgin daughter to her future husband.

[James Grasham · Rating 3 out of 5]

After reading the first instalment in the Dangerous Women series, I had to read the second and see if there were any gems in the collection. Like the first, I found it a mixed bag.

Neighbors by Megan Lindholm is the tale of an elderly lady living on her own who has watched most of her friends from her own generation move on or pass away. She isn't sure if the strange goings on in her street are the work of her decaying mind, or if it's something more sinister. I really liked the protagonist in the story and could sympathise with her situation after personal experiences around family members, however I found the story a little slow for my taste.

The Girl in the Mirror by Lev Grossman told the tale of a group of friends in a school of magic who were pulling a prank on one of their fellow students. Very much gave me the feel of Harry Potter, with a slightly darker sheen. Entertaining enough, but didn't really pull up any trees for me.

A Queen in Exile by Sharon Kay Penman was probably the most enjoyable story of the book for me. Set in medieval Europe, the tale of a Queen and her desire to get a throne she felt was hers was well written and the characters really came alive. There was a Game of Thrones vibe to this which really struck a chord with me. I understand the story is based on true events, however my lack of knowledge of the time period in that area means it was all a new experience for me.

Pronouncing Doom by S. M. Stirling is set in a dystopian future after all machines and electricity cease to work. New settlements and civilisations have begun to spring up out of the ashes. In this story a man is put on trial for crimes against women in one such settlement. The story and conclusion felt satisfying, but no more.

Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector was my first incursion into the Wild Cards Universe. The characters in this piece were well developed and written but I couldn't seem to stay on track with the story and the abilities seemed a bit forced and way out. Nothing wrong with this, just not to my taste.

Name the Beast by Sam Sykes tells the story of an initiation ritual involving hunting. I must confess, after reading this particular story I just had the thoughts of "What was all that about?" In all honesty, I was grateful to move on to the next story.

Virgins by Diana Gabaldon was also a contender for my favourite story in the book. A story about a group of mercenaries hired to escort a lady in medieval France, whilst running from their own problems. Exceptionally well written and a believable and heartwarming camaraderie between the characters. Really had me hooked and I feel like I am missing if I fail to read any more of Gabaldon's work.

Overall, I would say this anthology is worth reading for two or three of the stories. But even so, most really missed the mark of writing about "Dangerous Women".

[Jarezal · Rating 4 out of 5]

Otra buena selección de relatos aunque hay que tener cuidado y no mezclar ediciones ya que no son equivalentes y el volumen 2 de Tor tiene uno de los relatos del volumen 1 de Harper.

The Girl in the Mirror – Lev Grossman: Uno de los dos más entretenidos del volumen para mi gusto. Un colegio de magos muy a lo Hogwarts pero con estudiantes más cercanos a lo que podrías encontrarte en la vida real. Un grupo secreto compuesto únicamente de chicas decide planear una broma pesada para vengarse por un motivo completamente justificado. No les sirven suficiente vino en las comidas.

A Queen in Exile – Sharon Kay Penman: Relato histórico acerca de una reina de Sicilia y su lucha por los derechos que le corresponden.

Pronouncing Doom – S. M. Stirling: En un mundo postapocalíptico las antiguas leyes y juicios no tienen cabida. Ante una ofensa imperdonable, ¿cómo decidimos si alguien es culpable y administramos el castigo?

Lies My Mother Told Me – Carolina Spector: Una historia ambientada en la saga Wild Cards. No es necesario conocerla para disfrutar del relato ya que básicamente son historias de personas con poderes. Una protagonista absolutamente genial y mucho humor. Uno de los dos mejores relatos del volumen.

Name the Beast – Sam Sykes: Relato confuso para mi gusto. Típico de los que están escritos de tal forma que no te quede muy claro lo que está pasando, si esto fue antes o después o ni siquiera qué son los protagonistas. Va sobre lobos, o gente que se comporta como lobos o algo así. El que menos me ha gustado de la colección.

Second Arabesque, Very Slowly – Nancy Kress: Un mundo postapocalíptico con pequeños grupos sobreviviendo por su cuenta y un problema de fertilidad. Las mujeres en cuanto llegan a la pubertad son probadas a ver si pueden tener hijos pero… ¿quizás no todas quieran que ese sea su único objetivo en la vida? Historia ya incluida en el primer volumen de la edición Harper.

Virgins – Diana Gabaldon: Una historia ambientada en el universo de Outlander que se disfruta más si conoces a los personajes. Protagonizada por Jamie y su amigo Ian poco después de que el primero recibiera los famosos latigazos. Dos pipiolos inexpertos en busca de aventuras. El único pero es que no me encaja muy bien con el tono de la colección ya que está protagonizado por dos hombres, todo el peso de la trama la llevan ellos, y varias veces sus entrepiernas, y por mucho que salga una mujer que tiene iniciativa no recibe la atención suficiente en la historia.

[Brigitte Alouqua · Rating 5 out of 5]

J’avais déjà aimé le premier tome qui renfermait des nouvelles écrites par des plumes masculine, j’étais curieuse de savoir quelles plumes féminines nous proposerait ce second tome. Cette fois encore, j’en connaissais certaines pour les avoir déjà découverte lors de précédentes lectures, d’autres je ne les connaissais que de nom, et pour les autres eh bien je ne les connaissais pas du tout. Ce second opus est pour moi une très belle découverte car je n’avais pas encore découvert la plupart des auteures présentes. Ce fut l’occasion pour moi de les découvrir et ainsi voir quelles auteures j’ai envie de retrouver prochainement.
Voici les auteurs de ce recueil :
Megan Abbott
Cecilia Holland
Melinda Snodgrass
Carrie Vaughn
Megan Lindholm
Sharon Kay Penman
Nancy Kress
Diana Rowland
Diana Gabaldon
Sherrilyn Kenyon
Pat Cadigan
Caroline Spector
Je ne vous cache pas que je n’en connaissais que deux via d’autres lectures que j’ai eu. Comme vous le constatez, deux parmi tant d’auteures cela fait peu ! Je peux vous dire que pour la plupart des auteures, eh bien j’ai aimé leurs styles, me voilà donc avec pas mal de livres à découvrir en prévisions. Je ne sais pas qi vous de votre côté vous en connaissez plus que moi, mais si c’est le cas, je serai ravie de savoir ce que vous pensez de leurs livres pour me faire une idée plus précise de ce que je découvrirai dans le futur.
Si je dois donner mes préférences, les voici : Megan Abbott / Carrie Vaughn / Diana Gabaldon / Pat Cadigan. Les autres nouvelles sont très bien également, je ne dirai pas le contraire, mais celles des quatre auteures que je viens de citer ont eu ma préférence. Leurs héroïnes m’ont plus touchée que les autres. Je ne sais pas pour vous, mais c’est justement ce que j’aime dans ce genre de livres, nous avons la possibilité de faire connaissance avec des univers que nous ne connaissons pas, des plumes qui nous sont inconnues, bon ok ce n’est pas bon pour nos PAL parce que du coup elle se voit rallongée avec les livres de ces auteurs, mais il faut avouer que en tant que lectrice totalement addict, nous avons toutes des PAL énormes et nous ne pouvons nous empêcher de les allonger encore et encore !
Pourquoi pas vous laisser tenter par ces deux recueils comme lectures de vacances ? Ce qui est certain, c’est que je vous les recommande sans hésiter, moi, je les ai dévoré !

[M]

Fiindcă voiam să citesc în română și „outside my sci-fi comfort zone” (adică queer-feminist), am zis, ia să citesc aceasta carte care-mi adună praf în bibliotecă. Și, am citit-o, mostly. Adică n-am terminat-o, fiindcă nu reușeam să îmi pese de personaje, penultima poveste mi s-a părut necitibila în română (suna a engleză cuvât cu cuvânt) și cea a lui George R R Martin, care stă la baza House of Dragons, mi s-a părut fușerită - sigur, se întâmplau 100 de lucruri, trădări, morți și războaie, dar îmi păsa de vreun personaj? Nu. De nimeni.

Nu mai zic că personajele„feminine” din întreaga antologie nu erau atât de interesante (uneori nici nu erau personajele principale) și de obicei, erau lipsite total de poziționări feministe.

Majoritatea povestirilor mi s-au părut, din păcate, forgetabble. Până și cu limbajul a fost greu să mă obișnuiesc, ori poate traducerea era prea mot-a-mot, dar parcă nu era română. De amintit, îmi amintesc:

Al doilea arabesc, foarte încet - Nancy Kress. Pentru că are totuși niște imagini pătrunzătoare despre căutarea frumuseții într-o lume a dezastrului și violenței post-apocalipsă.
Îngrijitoarele - Pat Cadigan. Pentru contextul interesant al poveștii.

[Alicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

DANGEROUS WOMEN 1
Gardner Dozois’s introduction
George R. R. Martin, ‘The Princess and the Queen’
Carrie Vaughn, ‘Raisa Stepanova’
Nancy Kress,’“Second Arabesque, Very Slowly’
Lawrence Block, ‘I Know How to Pick ‘Em’
Megan Abbott, ‘My Heart Is Either Broken’
Joe R. Lansdale, ‘Wrestling Jesus’
Brandon Sanderson, ‘Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell’

DANGEROUS WOMEN 2
Gardner Dozois’s introduction
Megan Lindholm, ‘Neighbors’
Lev Grossman, ‘The Girl in the Mirror’
Sharon Kay Penman, ‘A Queen in Exile’
S. M. Stirling, ‘Pronouncing Doom’
Caroline Spector, ‘Lies My Mother Told Me’
Sam Sykes, ‘Name the Beast’
Diana Gabaldon, ‘Virgins’

DANGEROUS WOMEN 3
Gardner Dozois’s introduction
Joe Abercrombie, ‘Some Desperado’
Diana Rowland, ‘City Lazarus’
Sherlynn Kenyon, ‘Hell Hath No Fury’
Melinda Snodgrass, ‘The Hands That Are Not There’
Pat Cadigan, ‘Caretakers’
Cecelia Holland, ‘Nora’s Song’
Jim Butcher, ‘Bombshells’

[Michael Havens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of the seven stories in this anthology had premises that I took issue with. Social structures which I found problematic. However, three out of the seven stories, Sam Sykes, "Name The Beast" , Nancy Kress' "Second Arabesque, Very Slowly", and the novella from Diana Galbadon, "Virgins" all were provocative and while each were disturbing in their own way, they still allowed some intellectual food for thought about human endeavors and the conflicts involved in such endeavors.
So, in this case, what impressed me about these three stories was not so much about "Dangerous Women", but about consequences, which was much more satisfying than simply propping up women in sterile and overoptimistic tones.
I will read the other two volumes to see what they offer.

[Leila P · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to finish the book, because I read one short story every now and then. This contained seven stories, and some I liked a lot and some I found somewhat boring.

Nancy Kress didn't let me down this time either. Her story "Second Arabesque, Very Slowly" was very good and haunting. "Lies My Mother Told Me" by Caroline Spector was excellent, as well. Such extraordinary superheroes!

Also, I was pleasantly surprised when I read Stirling's "Pronouncing Doom", because it was set in the world of his Dies the Fire trilogy - which I have read a few years ago (via Bookcrossing too, naturally).

[Chocolategoddess · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm going to review each of the stories separately, because of course there's going to be varying quality in a collection.

Megan Lindholm's story was fantastic. An older lady finds herself peeping into another world as her age catches up with her, and it's exactly what a story should be. The villains of the piece are just doing what they feel is the right thing. The heroine just wants to keep her independance. Questions are raised and answered, thoughts are planted, and at the end I felt satisfied. Also a little afraid of growing old (should not have read this the day before my birthday).

Lev Grossman's story was skilfully written and totally should not have been in this anthology and I feel quite offended that it was. I'm here for dangerous women, and Grossman gave me a smart woman with the potential to be dangerous but who instead exacted revenge on a fellow student because she had a crush on him but he turned out to be gay and in the process of said revenge exacting, had to be rescued from a mysterious magical circumstance by a freaking male teacher. I could get over the first part (although seriously, couldn't the crush thing have been left out? The story would've worked just fine without that petty little commentary on women) but the second the teacher showed up I was angry. Make the teacher female, I'm ok with it, but ultimately this just showed a silly, petty young woman who can't get herself out of the situations she gets herself into, and is that not the exact opposite of what this anthology is about? Ugh. The plotting was also scatty. Maybe it links in with his other work. I don't know because I haven't read them and now I'm not going to, but as a standalone short story it leaves a lot of questions and answers only one with a damp squib of an answer that require the answers to the unanswered questions to really make sense.

Sharon Kay Penman's story was a big improvement. Constance is a medieval queen and we're shown an overview of her life as it starts to get really messy. I wasn't totally sold on the storytelling, as it was mostly telling rather than showing, but overall it was a solid profile of the kind of nonsense these medieval queens had to put up with. Even better, it showed exactly how they played the game to get the best outcome for them and their offspring. Being passingly familiar with a number of medieval queens, this did give me some nice snapshots of what it was like to casually be imprisoned in a castle, effect a convenient escape, and handle those pesky accusations of suspicious pregnancy. I have a book on my to-read shelf by Penman and I'm definitely bumping it up after this because I want more!

S.M. Stirling's story was chilling and dangerous and excellent. Juniper's living in some sort of post-apocalyptic world and as the leader of a clan is forced to bring judgement upon a rapist. In an anthology of dangerous women, I suppose it was only a matter of time before a rapist showed up. I'm glad it was dealt with like this. The rapist is somewhat of an outsider, which does feed into society's obsession that rapists aren't the "normal" guy who lives next door, so that's disappointing. However, Stirling doesn't shy away from assigning some of the blame for the rape on the rest of the community who happily engaged in rape culture and victim blaming just because it's easier than having to deal with calling someone out for stuff that's "not that serious". The rapist is executed at the end, and I'm sure many would feel it was justified; certainly those in the story did. It would have been easy to exult in the death of the rapist, to glorify it, to make it revenge, but Stirling did a good job of avoiding that. It's made clear that this is a perfectly reasonable consequence, that the man brought this down on himself, and that the community carrying it out can still feel dreadful and sad about it. The whole thing was pretty well-handled. Stirling apparently does alternate history stuff, and judging by this he does a lot of research so I'm interested in checking out more of his work.

Caroline Specter's story comes from the Wild Card universe, somewhat later than I last read any of those stories. The characters were great, but the story itself was a bit harrowing. Lots of dangerous women in it though. And I really need to magically find some money to buy the entire Wild Cards series because it's such a great idea.

Sam Sykes is someone I haven't encountered before either, and after this I'm not going to seek him out. The story was just ... baffling. The prose was very disjointed and it was difficult to understand that there were two separate groups of people until the very end, but the "reveal" was spoiled by the sheer confusion. I honestly have no idea what was going on in the slightest.

Diana Gabaldon's story didn't really belong in this anthology either, but at least it wasn't because it was offensive to women. Virgins is an extra story in the Outlander universe, which I love, so I did enjoy the story. It just felt inappropriate to have a story so clearly centred around the men in an anthology about women. The dangerous woman in question in this story was moderately dangerous, but really I would have much rather seen Claire.

Overall this part of the anthology left me feeling like the stories were just adverts for the main works of the writers. It's very obvious these writers are usually novelists and the only story that really left me feeling like it should have remained short was Megan Lindholm's.

[M Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perfectly serviceable-

Felt like I was back in high school with a copy of Analog magazine, reading a collection of stories by various authors. These are longer than a magazine of course. All of these authors have published longer works and several are set in worlds familiar to readers of their longer work. The Gabaldon was my first, and I thought good. Well chosen for the closer. Nancy Kress' post-apocalyptic tale will be familiar, too, because so much has been written in this type of setting - also good.

For those who like short stories in the fantasy genre, probably a winner.

[Camilla · Rating 3 out of 5]

Neighbors by Megan Lindholm ~ 4/5
The Girl in the Mirror by Lev Grossman ~ 2/5
A Queen in Exile by Sharon Kay Penman ~ 3/5
Pronouncing Doom by S. M. Stirling ~ 2.5/5
Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector ~ 3.5/5
Name the Beast by Sam Sykes ~ 1.5/5
Virgins by Diana Gabaldon ~ 2.5/5

Overall rating ~ 2.7/5

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yes, the collection's title is a bit misleading but it is a solid anthology, with quite a variety. I particularly enjoyed:
"Queen in Exile" (Sharon Penman) 4*
"Pronouncing Doom" (S.M. Stirling) 4* (Enough to get me to search out his Emberverse series)
and absolutely loved Nancy Kress' 5*** "Second Arabesque, Very Slowly"!

[Liisa · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was expecting badass, well written women but got mostly poorly edited stories that didn’t always even center around the woman. The collection includes uninspired dystopia visions, an Outlander prequel that didn’t really work on its own, a superhero adventure with poor world building etc. I do like the first two stories, but the rest are meh at best.

[PleaseJustLetMeRead · Rating 3 out of 5]

These short stories all have their own qualities, but they are VERY different; as I wrote about the first collection, the mixing of genres seems confusing, and it demands a lot of the reader to switch between the different genres so often.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this and will have to pick up the other 2 volumes. Great mix of history and sci-fi and I found a few new authors to try out. Shame about the Outlander story at the end - not a fan which made it a bit of a drag to finish.

[Samantha Gomes · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of diverse short stories, some of them more remarkable than others. The best one, for me, was Neighbors. I'd recommend it, for sure.

[Jackalion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Engrossing stories of different genres and styles