Front Lines

At night we cry sometimes, and if you think that just applies to the females then you have never been in combat, because everyone cries sooner or later. Everyone cries. I feel like anyone who knows anything about my reading habits will know I love Michael Grant. I suppose we all have our authors that we read - no matter what they bring out, and Michael Grant is mine. I devoured his science fiction/horror-esque Gone series, enjoyed perhaps even more his futuristic science tale in BZRK, was reasonably charmed by Messenger of Fear and now I read Front Lines, Grant's first real delve into historical fiction and realistic fiction. Front Lines is an altered history World War Two story. In Grant's story, an American court case has granted women the right to participate in all areas of the army - meaning women hit the front lines when America enters World War Two in 1941. The book is split into two section: before the war, and during the war. It follows three core characters: The first, Rio Richlin, a farm girl from California who joins the army with her best friend Jenou, thinking it will be an adventure. The second, Rainy Schulterman, a Jewish girl from New York who joins army intelligence hoping she may come across some information on her missing cousin living in Poland. And third, Frangie Marr, an African American girl who wants to be an army medic. Each character is different from the other and has their own motives and backstories, but in common they had their bravery, their courage in the face of trial and sympathetic voices which carried the story. Although I'd say Rio was my favourite (probably because she has the most chapters) I found each character interesting. And,,, I gotta mention this because it's wild .. there is a lowkey love triangle and I don't hate it .. I really don't. And I usually HATE LOVE TRIANGLES WITH THE BURNING PASSION OF ONE THOUSAND SUNS and yet, here is the first love triangle I am okay with since Tessa/Will/Jem. As always, Grant doesn't shy away from portraying the gory and the controversial and the frankly awful And the way in which the attitudes of the soldiers and the enemy is awfully realistic. I appreciate that Grant doesn't attempt to whitewash history, I like that the terrible things American's did in the war, and the rampant sexism, racism and homophobia was not skated over. I like that this story did not give me all white characters but offered a variety of backgrounds and histories, and that the characters have specific experiences because of their race, religion and gender. I don't think people should go into this expecting heaps of action, crazy battle monologues and heroic battles. That's not what Front Lines is. Front Lines is the other side of war: Front Lines is not everyone making it, Front Lines is lying on the floorfor hours, thirsty and tired and hungry fearing for your life. Front Lines is the emergence of new literature that doesn't glorify war but instead portrays it realistically, a trend we have Dulce et Decorum Est to thank for. This is about people. It's about girls supporting eachother, but it's about soldiers supporting eachother too. And it's about shitty things happening to people who probably didn't deserve it. I think Michael Grant's forage into historical fiction worked, and I liked this as a standalone but I struggle to see where he could take this series. There are supposedly two more, Silver Stars to come out in 2017 and another some time in the future. I will read Silver Stars to check it out, since I have a faith in Michael Grant but I'm a little unsure However, as a book itself I think this deserves more attention. Crazy strong female characters we've all been screaming for, interesting diverse characters we've all been screaming for, just ! Really enjoyed this.

4.5 Stars Find out more at: https://thebleedingeyes.wordpress.com/ Front Lines is a WWII story with a twist. A huge twist. It's set in an alternate universe where women were allowed to enlist and fight alongside fellow US countrymen. It was still as nasty as ever, but now the nastiness came with a feminist approach, and oh boy how cool was that. What I love was that this book wasn't just about girls at war. Of course that's the main idea of it, but definitely not all. And it doesn't force feminism down your throat either, and that's why I think this book is rather exciting. I haven't really been hooked to YA series like this since Libba Bray's The Diviners (well, that's pretty recent) and Neal Shusterman's Unwind series. Front Lines deals with real problems; discrimination and stereotypes, and not only for genders but also in term of races (e.g. segregation). While America was fighting against Nazism and its extreme racial policy, she had somehow overlooked the racial issues happening right the middle of her home. The diversity of characters (I love love this so much) allowed the authors to explore into small matters that come with races, which hopefully Grant will push deeper into the heart of the problem in his next books. I'm really looking forward to that! I read this book without really expecting much of anything, and I was a little bit bored at first. But by the time I reached the ending chapters, I realized Front Lines is supposed to be the first of the trilogy, an introduction to the Soldier Girls series, and in that sense, it's perfect (thus the 4 stars). The writing, though hinted the nasty business of war like it should, had been toned down to YA audience and therefore wasn't overwhelmed with grotesqueness often shown in the usual war fiction (it pushes as far as it could go under the tag YA). For those who are curious, it mentioned some romance, but not so much that it ruined the story. (Although I don't quite understand why the YA female protagonist always find themselves stuck in a love triangle between two different but nonetheless equally likable dudes? That's probably the only major cliche I want to point out of this book. I mean, it bothers me quite a lot.) So if you are a fan of WWII stories and a huge audience for all things YA, this book might be the one for you. 600 pages packed with all things from brutal trainings to the bitter taste of fear of being at the front line for the first time. A bit of romance, a bit of friendship, a bit of everything contributed to the transformation from mere mortal to mere mortal with an essence of a hero/heroine. Front Lines was indeed a captivating introduction to a great series. It has high potential, realistic, likable, bad-ass characters with promising stories to look forward to in the upcoming books.

The tweak to history in this book is so minor it may as well not be called alternate history, but for the women of this world, it would change things massively. Michael Grant sticks as close to history as possible, with battles and training and societal prejudices all coming from history. And it's good. It's educational and horrifying at the same time. All the characters in this book were very three-dimensional. That there were three viewpoint characters made it rather hard to keep track of some side characters, but the POV characters were all unique in their own ways. The character development - oh god. Grant does not hold back on the horrors of war. All three characters react in different ways to combat. There's desperation, there's fear, there's hardening and there's forgetting. It's a very realistic reaction. Because I thought this was a standalone, I thought that the training dragged on for far too long - but now I see that it's going to be a series, which I am quite excited for. Present tense took a while to get used to, and it definitely works better in the wartime section than the training section. During the wartime section, present tense provides the feeling of being there and portrays the action and fear and terror as immediate and helps get into the mind of the characters. The training section ... not so much. One thing I disliked was the censorship of "fuck" because it got distracting seeing "fug" all over the place. It's a gritty story about war. People expect profanity in this situation and the lack of it is more jarring. Just use "fuck" the rest of the story is gory enough.

3.5/5 Also on my blog: travelsandtalessite.wordpress.com Front Lines is an alternative history of WWII where women were put into the draft and fought alongside the men. The story follows Rio, Rainey, and Frangie after they enlist, Rio a few months short of 18, and head to war. They each enlist for different reasons. Rio goes because she was inspired by her older sister who died serving in the Navy. Frangie wants to help her family and try to pave her way to being a doctor even as a woman of color in the 1940’s. Rainey is a smart jewish woman, wants to serve her country and help her family. She ends up being selected for intelligence but is constantly being put in positions far below what she is capable of. They are all taunted, mocked, and discriminated against but they persist. They are blamed for every loss, and given no credit for every victory. They make it through basic, they make it to war and they fight tooth and nail for older male officers to even see them as competent. Let me start by saying I was really excited to read this book. I have read other works by Michael Grant and found the same problem: the story is always just a little too PG. I say a little because for the most part especially in this book I felt as though he did touch on some more intense themes but I still didn’t feel the rawness I expected. His writing never particularly grips me. That being said I felt the book really captured the three girls going to war and having to grow up very quickly. I felt the switch to adulthood that I expected and I really enjoyed that. I found myself a lot in Rio, who I see as the main character although three of them share the spotlight. She was eager to fight and then when she got there it was more than she ever imagined. Grant did a great job in showing what the characters went through. The Rio you read in chapter one is nowhere close to the Rio you see shooting Germans in the desert. There is a moment when Rio is forced to make her first kill and that is when she realizes that she has to look through her scope pick one man, see him, and shoot. She has to decide who’s life to take. That is the moment I felt Rio’s shift and where I think the PG feel of Grant’s writing worked for this book. Because even in Rio’s PG world where she wants to get married have kids and live on a farm Rio finds herself having to decide who lives and dies. It’s her job. After she first shoots she is ordered to fire again. “Find a man, one man who is going to die.” She repeats in her head. No, I don’t want to, no, I don’t want to. But she does it anyway. She is the first in her squad to have a confirmed kill. It’s at that point that book started to pick up for me. My problem was it took a little too long to get there. I am going to read the second in the series but if it I struggle to get through the writing style like this time I may not read the last book. This was a great book with great female characters. This book showed very well how even when men were forced to include women in the war they still faced discrimination at every turn. It wasn’t just accepted like many other alternative histories I have read. This book felt very real in it’s treatment of women. I just didn’t get the imagery I wanted. I didn’t feel like I was there with Rio and her squad and that’s what bothered me.

It was hard to get into this book. And hard to stick with at times. But overall it was a good book. I grew to love the characters, especially Rio, and grew to love them even more when they became the war they were fighting. Woman can fight in wars and can become just as ruthless as men. I'm super excited for the next book.

I enjoyed the first half a lot more than the second half.