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Front Lines #2
Silver Stars
She’s fighting to survive.
The summer of 1943, World War II. The Germans have been bloodied, but Germany is very far from beaten. The North African campaign was only the beginning of the long journey for Frangie, Rainy, Rio, and the millions of other Allies.
Now the American army is moving on to their next target: the Italian island of Sicily. Frangie, Rainy, and Rio now know firsthand what each of them is willing to do to save herself—and the consequences. With their heavy memories of combat, they will find this operation to be even tougher.
Frangie, Rainy, and Rio also know what is at stake. The women are not heroes for fighting alongside their brothers—they are soldiers. But the millions of brave females fighting for their country have become a symbol in the fight for equality. In this war, endless blood has been spilled and millions of lives have been lost, but there could be so much more to gain.
The women won’t conquer Italy alone. But they will brave terrible conditions in an endless siege; they will fight to find themselves on the front lines of World War II; and they will come face-to-face with the brutality of war until they win or die.
The summer of 1943, World War II. The Germans have been bloodied, but Germany is very far from beaten. The North African campaign was only the beginning of the long journey for Frangie, Rainy, Rio, and the millions of other Allies.
Now the American army is moving on to their next target: the Italian island of Sicily. Frangie, Rainy, and Rio now know firsthand what each of them is willing to do to save herself—and the consequences. With their heavy memories of combat, they will find this operation to be even tougher.
Frangie, Rainy, and Rio also know what is at stake. The women are not heroes for fighting alongside their brothers—they are soldiers. But the millions of brave females fighting for their country have become a symbol in the fight for equality. In this war, endless blood has been spilled and millions of lives have been lost, but there could be so much more to gain.
The women won’t conquer Italy alone. But they will brave terrible conditions in an endless siege; they will fight to find themselves on the front lines of World War II; and they will come face-to-face with the brutality of war until they win or die.
548 pages, Hardcover
First published January 31, 2017
About the author
Michael Grant
77 books11.2k followersCo-author with Katherine Applegate of Ocean City, Making Out, Summer, Animorphs, Everworld, Remnants, Eve and Adam.
Pseudonymous coauthor with KA of Christy (the TV spin-off books), Sweet Valley Twins, Girl Talk and various Disney spin-offs.
Pseudonymous author of Barf-O-Rama.
Author of Gone, BZRK, The Magnificent 12, Messenger of Fear, Front Lines, Monster and A Sudden Death in Cyprus.
AKA Michael Robinson (restaurant reviews and newspaper features).
AKA Michael Reynolds (legal name) political media producer. (Team Blue).
Pseudonymous coauthor with KA of Christy (the TV spin-off books), Sweet Valley Twins, Girl Talk and various Disney spin-offs.
Pseudonymous author of Barf-O-Rama.
Author of Gone, BZRK, The Magnificent 12, Messenger of Fear, Front Lines, Monster and A Sudden Death in Cyprus.
AKA Michael Robinson (restaurant reviews and newspaper features).
AKA Michael Reynolds (legal name) political media producer. (Team Blue).
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 305 reviews
February 18, 2017
This was a hard book to read. Where Frontlines was mostly concerned with getting Rio, Rainy, and Frangie through training and into the war, Silver Stars focuses on the real meat of the war. The death and hopelessness (and heroism) of it all. There are scenes that are just brutal to read. But they're so worth it in the end. Unlike many middle books, this didn't feel like a book that was trying to kill time until the conclusion. This book felt like the most important book in the series.
My only real complaint is that too much time was spent with Rio and not enough with Rainy or Frangie (especially Frangie). As a result, Frangie's story didn't feel as fully realized as it could have been. I hope Grant will allow us to spend more time with her in the third book.
My only real complaint is that too much time was spent with Rio and not enough with Rainy or Frangie (especially Frangie). As a result, Frangie's story didn't feel as fully realized as it could have been. I hope Grant will allow us to spend more time with her in the third book.
January 14, 2017
4.5 stars
Like:
- I care about these characters SO much and I genuinely want them to be safe.
- I managed to read this almost 600 page book in 3 days because there were many exciting scenes that made want to read on and read just one more chapter.
- I thought this was going to be a duology, but apparently there is going to be one more book. YAY!
- The title of this book actually made sense towards the end of the story and it made my heart swell. All of characters' stories really came together.
- It's so cool to see how the war impacts the characters' outlook on life and death. They feel like they can't just go back to their old life, because they've changed completely.
- Grant made a good choice with creating three characters with such different backgrounds. He can show how much their experience differs from each other during this journey.
- There are letters interspersed throughout this book as well as journal entries. This whole story is told by one person looking back on the war and adressing the reader as 'Gentle Reader'. Those parts have to be my favourite.
- Rio (one of the main characters) and her squad are my FAVOURITES. The way they stick together and overcome all of these obstacles as a team is incredibly heartwarming.
- The descriptions are so visual. I could see all the events in this book playing out right in front of me.
- There goes a lot of research into this series. You can see it when you look into the bibliography at the end of the book as well as the author's note. I honestly feel like I'm learning about the WWII. This is a HUGE compliment to the author on my part, because I've studied WWII since elementary school. I went to elementary school in Belgium and high school in the Netherlands, so I've learned a lot about it.
Dislike:
- The fact that I had a hard time coming up with anything I disliked says a lot, but I don't feel like this is a five star read for me. I can't exactly pinpoint why, but it didn't blow my mind or made me really emotional at any point. A well-deserved 4.5 stars, though.
Like:
- I care about these characters SO much and I genuinely want them to be safe.
- I managed to read this almost 600 page book in 3 days because there were many exciting scenes that made want to read on and read just one more chapter.
- I thought this was going to be a duology, but apparently there is going to be one more book. YAY!
- The title of this book actually made sense towards the end of the story and it made my heart swell. All of characters' stories really came together.
- It's so cool to see how the war impacts the characters' outlook on life and death. They feel like they can't just go back to their old life, because they've changed completely.
- Grant made a good choice with creating three characters with such different backgrounds. He can show how much their experience differs from each other during this journey.
- There are letters interspersed throughout this book as well as journal entries. This whole story is told by one person looking back on the war and adressing the reader as 'Gentle Reader'. Those parts have to be my favourite.
- Rio (one of the main characters) and her squad are my FAVOURITES. The way they stick together and overcome all of these obstacles as a team is incredibly heartwarming.
- The descriptions are so visual. I could see all the events in this book playing out right in front of me.
- There goes a lot of research into this series. You can see it when you look into the bibliography at the end of the book as well as the author's note. I honestly feel like I'm learning about the WWII. This is a HUGE compliment to the author on my part, because I've studied WWII since elementary school. I went to elementary school in Belgium and high school in the Netherlands, so I've learned a lot about it.
Dislike:
- The fact that I had a hard time coming up with anything I disliked says a lot, but I don't feel like this is a five star read for me. I can't exactly pinpoint why, but it didn't blow my mind or made me really emotional at any point. A well-deserved 4.5 stars, though.
March 13, 2017
If you thought Front Lines was good then you've honestly not seen anything yet because Silver Stars ups the stakes in every way possible, the danger is greater than ever and the characters have completely come into their own. If you're new to this series then I'd recommend reading the books in order but to give you a brief recap this is an alternative history of WWII imagining one major change - that female soldiers were recruited into the American army and served alongside the men on the front lines. Pretty much everything else is accurate to what really happened and these books are so well written and believable that you actually feel like you could be reading someone's personal diary as they tell you their own life story.
We continue to follow the stories of the three main characters introduced in the first book. First you have Rio Richlin who joined the army with her best friend Jenou after finding out her sister was killed in action. Then there is Frangie Marr who signed up as a medic mainly because her family needed the money, she faces even more prejudice than the others because not only is she a woman she's also black and racism was very prevalent during this time. The third main character is a young Jewish woman Rainy Schulterman who joined the army with the intention of shooting nazis but was quickly recruited into the intelligence community. Each girl has a separate story to tell but there are times when their stories link and I love getting to see the war through their very different experiences.
Rio has been fighting on the front lines for a long time now and she's rising up through the ranks because of her experience. She's become quite a ruthless fighter and has had to try and lock her emotions away but she feels a growing distance between her and her best friend and she's struggling to cope with everything that she's seen and done. As a medic Frangie is right there at the front too tending to wounded soldiers who wouldn't have much of a chance without immediate treatment. Her job definitely isn't a risk free one and she constantly finds herself facing danger while trying to protect others. Rainy has the most dangerous job of all though and is sent on an undercover mission to Italy, she has no backup and not much of a plan on how she's supposed to get herself home again so her story is fraught with danger and she suffers badly when she's captured along the way.
I have totally fallen in love with all three of these girls, I feel their pain and suffer alongside them and I'm desperately hoping they'll all make it through the war alive but we're constantly being shown how much danger they're facing and I'm worried that at least one of them won't survive it. I don't think I can praise this series highly enough, it's dark and can be quite painful at times but it's also totally addictive and utterly absorbing. Michael Grant has done a stellar job with these books, you can tell they're meticulously researched and they really are a must read.
Source: Received from Egmont in exchange for an honest review
We continue to follow the stories of the three main characters introduced in the first book. First you have Rio Richlin who joined the army with her best friend Jenou after finding out her sister was killed in action. Then there is Frangie Marr who signed up as a medic mainly because her family needed the money, she faces even more prejudice than the others because not only is she a woman she's also black and racism was very prevalent during this time. The third main character is a young Jewish woman Rainy Schulterman who joined the army with the intention of shooting nazis but was quickly recruited into the intelligence community. Each girl has a separate story to tell but there are times when their stories link and I love getting to see the war through their very different experiences.
Rio has been fighting on the front lines for a long time now and she's rising up through the ranks because of her experience. She's become quite a ruthless fighter and has had to try and lock her emotions away but she feels a growing distance between her and her best friend and she's struggling to cope with everything that she's seen and done. As a medic Frangie is right there at the front too tending to wounded soldiers who wouldn't have much of a chance without immediate treatment. Her job definitely isn't a risk free one and she constantly finds herself facing danger while trying to protect others. Rainy has the most dangerous job of all though and is sent on an undercover mission to Italy, she has no backup and not much of a plan on how she's supposed to get herself home again so her story is fraught with danger and she suffers badly when she's captured along the way.
I have totally fallen in love with all three of these girls, I feel their pain and suffer alongside them and I'm desperately hoping they'll all make it through the war alive but we're constantly being shown how much danger they're facing and I'm worried that at least one of them won't survive it. I don't think I can praise this series highly enough, it's dark and can be quite painful at times but it's also totally addictive and utterly absorbing. Michael Grant has done a stellar job with these books, you can tell they're meticulously researched and they really are a must read.
Source: Received from Egmont in exchange for an honest review
May 15, 2018
So it turns out, after consulting with Google, that women actually did serve in combat during WWII. I liked this second book in the trilogy better than the first one, which continued to follow the army careers of Rio Richlin (blue collar soldier), Frangie Marr (black medic), and Rainy Schulterman (Jewish intelligence officer.) In the last book, they met in Northern Africa, here they meet in Sicily and Italy on their separate missions. Author Grant continues to develop his characters, but especially Rio, who is promoted against her wishes into a leadership role because she is a natural, but has doubts. Rainy gets tapped to obtain key intelligence information by smuggling an unstable Mafioso back to his famiglia. My favorite scene is when they are reunited in England , and while drinking in a bar, a couple of make GIs start spouting some racist crap about Frangie and Rio smashes one of them face first into a table.
October 16, 2016
As much as I enjoyed this book, there was something about it that just didn't entertain me as much as I'd hoped.
Grant continues to seamlessly marry fact and fiction, history and creativity into a compelling story of women fighting in World War II. The writing delivery in "Silver Stars" is as cold and distant as a war story would be told. The character growth from book one to two is astounding yet plausible. Grant did a great job really showing how the events in these women's lives have hardened their personalities. This book was replete with action and (rightly so) low on romance and humor. All I can really say is that the book was good, not great. A fitting sequel to the series, perhaps my love for the series has just waned.
Grant continues to seamlessly marry fact and fiction, history and creativity into a compelling story of women fighting in World War II. The writing delivery in "Silver Stars" is as cold and distant as a war story would be told. The character growth from book one to two is astounding yet plausible. Grant did a great job really showing how the events in these women's lives have hardened their personalities. This book was replete with action and (rightly so) low on romance and humor. All I can really say is that the book was good, not great. A fitting sequel to the series, perhaps my love for the series has just waned.
February 6, 2017
Not as good as the first one, but I think I just missed the training montages! Rainy was probably my favourite POV in this story, which is pretty much the opposite of the first book. She got to be a spy running around Italy though! SO COOL. Things are getting serious for Rio, so it's getting harder to enjoy her sections - they're still interesting, but there's a lot of self-doubt there, and her relationship with leadership in general, is, I'm sure, accurate to feelings at the time, so I'm really pleased that Michael Grant is fitting in all of the complexities of being at war!
February 12, 2017
Fuggin brilliant.
August 19, 2017
OMG I thought this was a duology! Waaaaah. Now I have to wait for conclusions...
RTC.
RTC.
February 12, 2017
I am currently a mess of emotions. Words can not describe how I feel and felt while reading this book. I didn't think that the sequel could surpass the first one, but this exceeded all my expectations. Grant poignantly painted life as a soldier in WWII. Every description was vivid and took me to another world.
Frangie, Rainy, and Rio are all equally loved in my heart and each story left me in tears.
"I was a girl. I was just a girl. And after a moment's reflection, she silently adds, past tense?"
Rio has definitely evolved since she left Gedwell Falls in the beginning of the first book.
She is a woman of valor, loyalty, and she's one kick butt soldier. "I'm playing a role now. I'm an actor playing the role of warrior." I love the addition of her koummya "The koummya slides easily out of its scabbard. Rio stabs upward, right into his belly."
These are two parts of Rio's story that I had to put the book down for:
" Two men are standing, one holding a pistol. One man lies on a blanket with a flyer's jacket thrown over him.
But his face is visible in the moonlight.
Strand Braxton."
"A single bullet hits Tilo's half-severed arm, knocking it free of the arties and tendons holding it. The arm lies on the cobbles, seeming to point at Rio...The sniper fires a third time. A fourth time. Tilo falls backward now. The loaf of bread in his shirt is soggy with blood. 'You f***ing Kraut a**hole, he's already dead!'"
Frangie is basically what every nurse, doctor, or anyone in the world should be like; she's compassionate and will do anything for her patients. The horrors that she has to witness honestly left me gagging. "And then the front of Daddy D's face explodes."
"Daddy D, a nice family man, his face split open like a melon struck with a hammer. That image joins many others. They're pilling up in her brain, those images: a foot blown off by a mine; a gut wound oozing bile, a compression injury from a man crushed between two trucks..."
Even when she was shot and wounded herself, all she could think of was helping the other wounded soldiers. Like what? She constantly is thinking of others, one of the main reasons she enlisted was to help her family financially. I like that we got to learn more about Frangie's family, her brother was a large mystery that I kept wondering about! I do wish that there had been more chapters about Frangie, I felt Rio had the majority of chapters. If there's another book (which there better be) I wish to see more of Frangie.
Rainy. Rainy. Rainy. I have to say her chapters kept me at the edge of my seat. I screamed, cried, laughed, and smiled throughout her journey. The Jewish Yiddish phrases that her and her mother said made my day since I knew what they all meant! I want to write which parts made me scream and cry, so here goes:
"'Oh Rainy,' he says, and sags back against the wall. head down on his chest. 'Oy vey iz mir.'"
"'Yes, sir, it is. And your son will not be getting into my pants, not in twenty-four hours or twenty-fours days, or twenty-four years.'
It takes a few beats before Don Vito realizes what's happened.
'Lei parala Italiano?'
'Si, Don Vito, un poco.'
'You deceived me.'
'I gained an advantage.'"
"I got on simple request: give me a gun so I can shoot this Jew b***h in her smart mouth."
(I literally screamed when I read this, I flipped to Rainy's next chapter to see what would happen!)
This is when the tears started: "At last, after so long that Rainy is certain the soldier will leave if she doesn't speak, she quells her sobs long enough to say, 'Sergeant Rainy Schulterman, US Amy.'"
" 'No.' Rainy stretches the word into an animal growl. 'They'd have known Schulterman is a Jewish names and then...I guess I thought things would be even worse then, but also they didn't expect it. See, they thought I told them the truth, and I didn't, you see, I held it back, and I held it all back, I lied and lied, and it is hard to keep the lies straight, see, Colonel, keep the f***ing lies straight- that was the hard part, because you can't sleep and you just hear the screams and you see men shot down, bleeding, and...' She brings herself up short, painfully aware that she sounds crazy."
The next quote really made me cry, just typing this right now makes me emotional. As a Jew, I grew up hearing the horrors of the Holocaust. What the Nazi's did not only to my people but to homosexuals,gypsies , physically and mentally disabled people, and countless others, was constantly spoken about in my community. Grant portraying the ruthlessness of the Nazi's struck a chord in me, I cried for all those that suffered at the hands of those monsters.
"'I came to kill Nazi's,' she grates. 'I came because I thought killing Nazi's was the right thing to do, the good thing to do, but that's all over now, because it's not right or good, is it? I've seen what they are. You haven't.
Day after day, and week after week, I watched those bastards murder people, people whose blood drained down and I saw it, and I heard it, and I listened to the screams and sometimes I screamed too. I screamed and I cried, and I told myself if somehow, by some miracle, I I ever...' Sobs break up the flow of words. 'I swore. There was a woman, Jon, they raped her, night after night. And an Italian partisan, they tore his fingernails out and... him screaming and crying and those bastards laughed.
I swore. It was a holy oath. I don't care if...It was a holy oath. If I ever...I would not stop. Never, never, never, never! I would chase them. To hell. I would...I would find them...I would kill them. I would kill them all until there was none left to kill!"
So yeah, I just poured out my heart and soul. I've never written such a lengthy review with some many quotes! I really hope that there's another book. Grant, give yourself a pat on the back because that was an amazing, well-written, fantastic book! Thank you!
Frangie, Rainy, and Rio are all equally loved in my heart and each story left me in tears.
"I was a girl. I was just a girl. And after a moment's reflection, she silently adds, past tense?"
Rio has definitely evolved since she left Gedwell Falls in the beginning of the first book.
She is a woman of valor, loyalty, and she's one kick butt soldier. "I'm playing a role now. I'm an actor playing the role of warrior." I love the addition of her koummya "The koummya slides easily out of its scabbard. Rio stabs upward, right into his belly."
These are two parts of Rio's story that I had to put the book down for:
" Two men are standing, one holding a pistol. One man lies on a blanket with a flyer's jacket thrown over him.
But his face is visible in the moonlight.
Strand Braxton."
"A single bullet hits Tilo's half-severed arm, knocking it free of the arties and tendons holding it. The arm lies on the cobbles, seeming to point at Rio...The sniper fires a third time. A fourth time. Tilo falls backward now. The loaf of bread in his shirt is soggy with blood. 'You f***ing Kraut a**hole, he's already dead!'"
Frangie is basically what every nurse, doctor, or anyone in the world should be like; she's compassionate and will do anything for her patients. The horrors that she has to witness honestly left me gagging. "And then the front of Daddy D's face explodes."
"Daddy D, a nice family man, his face split open like a melon struck with a hammer. That image joins many others. They're pilling up in her brain, those images: a foot blown off by a mine; a gut wound oozing bile, a compression injury from a man crushed between two trucks..."
Even when she was shot and wounded herself, all she could think of was helping the other wounded soldiers. Like what? She constantly is thinking of others, one of the main reasons she enlisted was to help her family financially. I like that we got to learn more about Frangie's family, her brother was a large mystery that I kept wondering about! I do wish that there had been more chapters about Frangie, I felt Rio had the majority of chapters. If there's another book (which there better be) I wish to see more of Frangie.
Rainy. Rainy. Rainy. I have to say her chapters kept me at the edge of my seat. I screamed, cried, laughed, and smiled throughout her journey. The Jewish Yiddish phrases that her and her mother said made my day since I knew what they all meant! I want to write which parts made me scream and cry, so here goes:
"'Oh Rainy,' he says, and sags back against the wall. head down on his chest. 'Oy vey iz mir.'"
"'Yes, sir, it is. And your son will not be getting into my pants, not in twenty-four hours or twenty-fours days, or twenty-four years.'
It takes a few beats before Don Vito realizes what's happened.
'Lei parala Italiano?'
'Si, Don Vito, un poco.'
'You deceived me.'
'I gained an advantage.'"
"I got on simple request: give me a gun so I can shoot this Jew b***h in her smart mouth."
(I literally screamed when I read this, I flipped to Rainy's next chapter to see what would happen!)
This is when the tears started: "At last, after so long that Rainy is certain the soldier will leave if she doesn't speak, she quells her sobs long enough to say, 'Sergeant Rainy Schulterman, US Amy.'"
" 'No.' Rainy stretches the word into an animal growl. 'They'd have known Schulterman is a Jewish names and then...I guess I thought things would be even worse then, but also they didn't expect it. See, they thought I told them the truth, and I didn't, you see, I held it back, and I held it all back, I lied and lied, and it is hard to keep the lies straight, see, Colonel, keep the f***ing lies straight- that was the hard part, because you can't sleep and you just hear the screams and you see men shot down, bleeding, and...' She brings herself up short, painfully aware that she sounds crazy."
The next quote really made me cry, just typing this right now makes me emotional. As a Jew, I grew up hearing the horrors of the Holocaust. What the Nazi's did not only to my people but to homosexuals,gypsies , physically and mentally disabled people, and countless others, was constantly spoken about in my community. Grant portraying the ruthlessness of the Nazi's struck a chord in me, I cried for all those that suffered at the hands of those monsters.
"'I came to kill Nazi's,' she grates. 'I came because I thought killing Nazi's was the right thing to do, the good thing to do, but that's all over now, because it's not right or good, is it? I've seen what they are. You haven't.
Day after day, and week after week, I watched those bastards murder people, people whose blood drained down and I saw it, and I heard it, and I listened to the screams and sometimes I screamed too. I screamed and I cried, and I told myself if somehow, by some miracle, I I ever...' Sobs break up the flow of words. 'I swore. There was a woman, Jon, they raped her, night after night. And an Italian partisan, they tore his fingernails out and... him screaming and crying and those bastards laughed.
I swore. It was a holy oath. I don't care if...It was a holy oath. If I ever...I would not stop. Never, never, never, never! I would chase them. To hell. I would...I would find them...I would kill them. I would kill them all until there was none left to kill!"
So yeah, I just poured out my heart and soul. I've never written such a lengthy review with some many quotes! I really hope that there's another book. Grant, give yourself a pat on the back because that was an amazing, well-written, fantastic book! Thank you!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 31, 2023
In the second installment of this alternate history series, Rio, Jenou, Rainy and Frangie travel from the war in North Africa to Sicily and then onto Italy. They are met with some of their toughest personal challenges in battle, friendships, relationships as they realize the horrors of war. These characters will never be the naive young American women they once were.
I had stated that in book 1 all three women captivated me as a reader. So invested was I in their journies. Although I have to say that Rio and Frangie appear to have had more chapters devoted to their storylines, Rainy's was definitely the most haunting. In addition, the reunion with Frangie's oldest brother and his revelations about their personal family history followed by Frangie's letter to her mother-that was some darn great writing by Michael Grant.
I continue to keep guessing who is the unknown narrator that is talking to us in each of the books. I was thinking Jenou but now I am not so confident. I hope to finish book 3(Purple Hearts) before midnight.
Goodreads review published 31/12/23
I had stated that in book 1 all three women captivated me as a reader. So invested was I in their journies. Although I have to say that Rio and Frangie appear to have had more chapters devoted to their storylines, Rainy's was definitely the most haunting. In addition, the reunion with Frangie's oldest brother and his revelations about their personal family history followed by Frangie's letter to her mother-that was some darn great writing by Michael Grant.
I continue to keep guessing who is the unknown narrator that is talking to us in each of the books. I was thinking Jenou but now I am not so confident. I hope to finish book 3(Purple Hearts) before midnight.
Goodreads review published 31/12/23
February 16, 2017
Silver stars is the second book in a series of 3.
However I wasn't fortunate to of read the first book so I found it a little bit daunting. The characters had allready developed and their journey began so it was a little confusing to start with until I got the gist of it.
This book is very well researched and I felt the emotions and rawness of the war and it has been portrayed very well.
I can feel the characters pain and how the war has changed each women.
It's nice to read a book that shows what it was like for women in the war as they played a huge part but it isn't always mentioned. So I applaud Michael for this.
Rainy, Frangie and Rio are the three main characters and we see their journey progress throughout the army and different jobs within the army.
It's not an easy journey and we witness the sexism and racism within that era.
I would recommend reading Silver Stars, but I highly recommend reading the first book.
I did enjoy reading this book as I have always been fascinated with the history of the war. If I had of read the first book I'm sure I would of enjoyed this more as I wanted to get to know the characters more.
I received this book from the Publisher in exchange for a honest and fair review via NetGalley.
However I wasn't fortunate to of read the first book so I found it a little bit daunting. The characters had allready developed and their journey began so it was a little confusing to start with until I got the gist of it.
This book is very well researched and I felt the emotions and rawness of the war and it has been portrayed very well.
I can feel the characters pain and how the war has changed each women.
It's nice to read a book that shows what it was like for women in the war as they played a huge part but it isn't always mentioned. So I applaud Michael for this.
Rainy, Frangie and Rio are the three main characters and we see their journey progress throughout the army and different jobs within the army.
It's not an easy journey and we witness the sexism and racism within that era.
I would recommend reading Silver Stars, but I highly recommend reading the first book.
I did enjoy reading this book as I have always been fascinated with the history of the war. If I had of read the first book I'm sure I would of enjoyed this more as I wanted to get to know the characters more.
I received this book from the Publisher in exchange for a honest and fair review via NetGalley.
June 12, 2017
“This is the story of three young women who fought in the greatest war in human history.”
If you want to read an absolutely amazing Young Adult WWII book, I highly recommend the first book in this series, Front Lines. If features a beautifully diverse cast of characters, following a Jewish girl, an African-American girl, and a white girl, who all have one thing in common: they are strong young women ready to serve their country.
This series is fictional in part, because although these "soldier girls" did exist during the 1940s - thousands of women served in the war, whether it was in the navy, WASPs flying military aircraft, or bandaging the wounded - women weren't put on the front lines in combat back then. Grant takes a look at "what if" - what if women were put through the exact same brutal, grueling circumstances as the men, drafted, sent away from their families, and thrown straight into the heart of the war against Germany?
The first book worked so well for me. It was intense, made me furious at the sexism the characters had to endure, and was unbelievably realistic. Grant never portrayed war as some exciting, glamorized thing, but he did show that these young women - and their fellow soldiers - were nothing short of heroes, and I couldn't help feeling awed by them.
I wish Silver Stars had worked for me so bad. I'm starting to think Grant has a knack for writing amazing first books in series - like his crazy sci fi thriller, Gone - but the rest of the books just aren't as good. The following books in the Gone series lacked the pull the first one had, and Silver Stars was so much more cheesy and boring than its predecessor.
From the first few chapters, I was struggling to tell the narrators apart. I kept asking myself, "Huh? Which one's Rio again? Is she the Jewish one?" And sadly, the plot fell short for me. I was excited at the prospect of a spy mission on enemy territory, but Rainy's mission was so cheesy and unrealistic. More time was spent thinking about her boyfriend overseas than winning the war.
I finished this book feeling like it wasn't terrible, but completely unnecessary. Front Lines would make a fantastic standalone, and I still hold that story close to my heart, but this sequel just didn't live up to the first one's top-notch quality.
March 12, 2017
Absolutely fantastic continuation of book one. I find that the second book in a series is usually slow; some kind of stepping stone - but this is jammed packed of character development, non-stop action and anticipation of the next installment.
It is much more gritty than the first. The language is more direct, the sexism and racism more apparent, and all of it is more accurate and real than the reader expects. There is sex, there is smoking and drinking among the soldiers, and there is such raw emotion that it makes none of those things in a teen book even matter. I forgot during reading this that it isn't completely non-fiction; that women didn't fight on the front; that these 18 year olds are not actual people. They represent thousands of real soldiers though, and one cannot forget that while reading.
Grant has captured the life of a front line soldier with unbelievable accuracy. Being an avid reader of WWII fiction (both YA and adult) this is a great YA addition. The only thing I'm disappointed about is having to wait now for the third book to be released.
It is much more gritty than the first. The language is more direct, the sexism and racism more apparent, and all of it is more accurate and real than the reader expects. There is sex, there is smoking and drinking among the soldiers, and there is such raw emotion that it makes none of those things in a teen book even matter. I forgot during reading this that it isn't completely non-fiction; that women didn't fight on the front; that these 18 year olds are not actual people. They represent thousands of real soldiers though, and one cannot forget that while reading.
Grant has captured the life of a front line soldier with unbelievable accuracy. Being an avid reader of WWII fiction (both YA and adult) this is a great YA addition. The only thing I'm disappointed about is having to wait now for the third book to be released.
August 28, 2016
Following immediately after Front Lines, we follow Rainy, Frangie, and Rio from the battles in North Africa to Italy and Sicily, where the bulk of the European fighting is now occurring. I didn't think it was possible, but it is even better than the first (though you really need to read the series in order!). They are moving up in rank and responsibility, though not always willingly, as their experience in the Army progresses.
Grant gives a realistic portrayal of what life would probably have been like in a co-ed armed forces of the time, complete with unvarnished examples of racism and anti-Semitism. I'm looking forward to the third book in the series, even though I have a very long time to wait. Highly recommended for grades 8 & up.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss
Grant gives a realistic portrayal of what life would probably have been like in a co-ed armed forces of the time, complete with unvarnished examples of racism and anti-Semitism. I'm looking forward to the third book in the series, even though I have a very long time to wait. Highly recommended for grades 8 & up.
eARC provided by publisher via Edelweiss
January 5, 2018
3.5 Stars. This is a terrific trilogy. It's an alternative series where woman were allowed in combat during WWII. The books follow three young women on their way to war. While I felt that the individual campaigns were well written and the female characters were 3D and worthy of Grant, I thought the make characters and the end fell flat. That being said, read it. I anxiously await the final installment.
Want to read
July 31, 2016I'm really excited to see where this next book takes the series
More Rainy
And Frangie
And Rio
More Rainy
And Frangie
And Rio
March 1, 2017
Holy moly.
I recently went to an armor museum, and yeah, I cried. It was full of WWII vehicles weapons, and I stood for a long time staring up in awe at the Sherman tank. Although it's not the biggest tank in existence, I'm pretty small, so it was a behemoth in my eyes. And I placed my hand on it and just thought about all of the soldiers who fought for our country during the war, all the sacrifices that were made, those who died, those who made it but were never the same, and I felt a swell of patriotism and love. And this reading this book brought back those feelings.
I loved this book as much as, if not more than, Front Lines. I wrote in my review for the first book that I consider myself a Michael Grant fan, but my respect for him has tripled. I always admire an author who can write vastly different stories (Gone, Eve & Adam, etc.) that are have ridiculously unique and amazing settings and plots and all contain characters that I connect with and love so much. My love of Rainy, Rio, and Frangie is obscene.
I'm just going to randomly jot down my thoughts.
- So, there are three main characters, and different chapters center on each of them (though it's not first person, which I adore beyond words. The writing is phenomenal.), and what I'm extremely impressed by is how distinct each character and her chapters are. There's no confusion, there's never a doubt about who I was reading about, because each girl has such an unmistakable voice and story. I can't get over it.
- After reading the first book, I was hoping that this one would contain more interaction between the three women. (It's a small war, after all.) I was not disappointed! I'm loving the .
- Once again, I have to give props to the obvious research put into this book. While maybe these three women are not real, the battles, the equipment, the strategy, the camaraderie, and most especially, the bravery depicted in this book were spot-on. Actually, my family member in the military (don't want to give more away. Gotta keep it under my Stetson, as they say.) was just telling me that a soldier must take care of his feet or else things can turn nasty-and he gave me some horrific examples. And then there was a line in this book about taking care of feet and I was so impressed and excited! The glossary in the back, with pictures, was excellent.
- Regarding the book's narrator, I believe it is .
- Let's talk about Rainy. I love her and probably connect to her story the most, due to my being a Jew who had family killed by Nazis. And oh my gosh, probably the moment that made me emote the most was when Rainy's (and my) worst nightmare came true: . Yup, I cried and had to put down the book for a few moments to collect myself. Can we just ignore history and let Rainy kill Hitler? That'd be great. Also, her whole mission with Cisco and her time in Italy was nail-biting. Freaking riveting. Also, side-note, it was nice to see Halev again. Loved that Rainy wore her uniform while with him, instead of a dress.
- The letters were a great addition. I'm a sucker for letters in books, and it was heartbreaking to see how soldiers stretch the truth to make their family's feel better.
- Frangie is my hero. She's just so kind and she overcomes such dumb-shit obstacles that she doesn't deserve. When , I was so alarmed! Oh man, and when she found out .
-Rio is the epitome of a soldier. All of those intense strategies she came up with and all of the times she put herself in danger to help others...man. No wonder she's moving up in the ranks. The way the war changes her is so interesting to read, and regarding her small love triangle, I think I officially prefer Jack. Also, any death in Rio's crew hit me hard, and I know it'll probably just get worse. But also, Rio's chapters specifically were still full of banter and humor and I actually laughed. That's incredible.
- I have undying love for Sergeants Cole and Green. Also, Lieutenant Colonel Herkemeier and his kindness towards Rainy.
-I appreciated the reporter-style recap right at the beginning. The last line of that effed me up a bit: . Yup, I almost gave up right there.
- This is silly, but Michael Grant uses the Oxford comma, which is my preference. I hate reading things without it, and it's really been getting on my nerves lately, so that was a nice thing.
- I just let out such a long sigh even at the thought of writing this. Let me talk about the last line: . So. I don't think I can describe the feeling in my stomach when I read that line. I so need the next book (Publication date? Title? Cover?), but there's so much dread in the knowledge that the worst of the war is, arguably, yet to come. The Bulge. Normandy. It looks to me like at least one of our girls will be involved in liberating a concentration camp. (Buchenwald, specifically, which is extra hard because I met a man who had been there.) Rainy is intelligence, but if it were her, that'll probably be a very hard thing to read. (I'm 99% sure it won't be that one of the girls ends up in a camp, because that's just not really a thing that can happen.) Even if it's not Rainy. Seeing the Americans liberate these camps, oh my gosh. It's like that one scene I've seen from Band of Brothers . The soldiers had zero idea what they were about to walk into, and they were all so quiet and just stared in absolute horror at the inhumanity of it all. This will be very difficult to read. Very difficult.
I probably have so much more to say but can't think of things right now! I'll come back and add things as I think of them. All in all, fantastic book. This has truly made its way into my heart and when it's all said and done, I don't think I'll ever forget this series.
I recently went to an armor museum, and yeah, I cried. It was full of WWII vehicles weapons, and I stood for a long time staring up in awe at the Sherman tank. Although it's not the biggest tank in existence, I'm pretty small, so it was a behemoth in my eyes. And I placed my hand on it and just thought about all of the soldiers who fought for our country during the war, all the sacrifices that were made, those who died, those who made it but were never the same, and I felt a swell of patriotism and love. And this reading this book brought back those feelings.
I loved this book as much as, if not more than, Front Lines. I wrote in my review for the first book that I consider myself a Michael Grant fan, but my respect for him has tripled. I always admire an author who can write vastly different stories (Gone, Eve & Adam, etc.) that are have ridiculously unique and amazing settings and plots and all contain characters that I connect with and love so much. My love of Rainy, Rio, and Frangie is obscene.
I'm just going to randomly jot down my thoughts.
- So, there are three main characters, and different chapters center on each of them (though it's not first person, which I adore beyond words. The writing is phenomenal.), and what I'm extremely impressed by is how distinct each character and her chapters are. There's no confusion, there's never a doubt about who I was reading about, because each girl has such an unmistakable voice and story. I can't get over it.
- After reading the first book, I was hoping that this one would contain more interaction between the three women. (It's a small war, after all.) I was not disappointed! I'm loving the .
- Once again, I have to give props to the obvious research put into this book. While maybe these three women are not real, the battles, the equipment, the strategy, the camaraderie, and most especially, the bravery depicted in this book were spot-on. Actually, my family member in the military (don't want to give more away. Gotta keep it under my Stetson, as they say.) was just telling me that a soldier must take care of his feet or else things can turn nasty-and he gave me some horrific examples. And then there was a line in this book about taking care of feet and I was so impressed and excited! The glossary in the back, with pictures, was excellent.
- Regarding the book's narrator, I believe it is .
- Let's talk about Rainy. I love her and probably connect to her story the most, due to my being a Jew who had family killed by Nazis. And oh my gosh, probably the moment that made me emote the most was when Rainy's (and my) worst nightmare came true: . Yup, I cried and had to put down the book for a few moments to collect myself. Can we just ignore history and let Rainy kill Hitler? That'd be great. Also, her whole mission with Cisco and her time in Italy was nail-biting. Freaking riveting. Also, side-note, it was nice to see Halev again. Loved that Rainy wore her uniform while with him, instead of a dress.
- The letters were a great addition. I'm a sucker for letters in books, and it was heartbreaking to see how soldiers stretch the truth to make their family's feel better.
- Frangie is my hero. She's just so kind and she overcomes such dumb-shit obstacles that she doesn't deserve. When , I was so alarmed! Oh man, and when she found out .
-Rio is the epitome of a soldier. All of those intense strategies she came up with and all of the times she put herself in danger to help others...man. No wonder she's moving up in the ranks. The way the war changes her is so interesting to read, and regarding her small love triangle, I think I officially prefer Jack. Also, any death in Rio's crew hit me hard, and I know it'll probably just get worse. But also, Rio's chapters specifically were still full of banter and humor and I actually laughed. That's incredible.
- I have undying love for Sergeants Cole and Green. Also, Lieutenant Colonel Herkemeier and his kindness towards Rainy.
-I appreciated the reporter-style recap right at the beginning. The last line of that effed me up a bit: . Yup, I almost gave up right there.
- This is silly, but Michael Grant uses the Oxford comma, which is my preference. I hate reading things without it, and it's really been getting on my nerves lately, so that was a nice thing.
- I just let out such a long sigh even at the thought of writing this. Let me talk about the last line: . So. I don't think I can describe the feeling in my stomach when I read that line. I so need the next book (Publication date? Title? Cover?), but there's so much dread in the knowledge that the worst of the war is, arguably, yet to come. The Bulge. Normandy. It looks to me like at least one of our girls will be involved in liberating a concentration camp. (Buchenwald, specifically, which is extra hard because I met a man who had been there.) Rainy is intelligence, but if it were her, that'll probably be a very hard thing to read. (I'm 99% sure it won't be that one of the girls ends up in a camp, because that's just not really a thing that can happen.) Even if it's not Rainy. Seeing the Americans liberate these camps, oh my gosh. It's like that one scene I've seen from Band of Brothers . The soldiers had zero idea what they were about to walk into, and they were all so quiet and just stared in absolute horror at the inhumanity of it all. This will be very difficult to read. Very difficult.
I probably have so much more to say but can't think of things right now! I'll come back and add things as I think of them. All in all, fantastic book. This has truly made its way into my heart and when it's all said and done, I don't think I'll ever forget this series.
March 29, 2018
*Source* Edelweiss
*Genre* Young Adult, Historical
*Rating* 4.0
*Thoughts*
Silver Stars, by author Michael Grant, is the second installment in the Front Lines trilogy. Grant’s brilliant reimagining of World War II with girl soldiers fighting on the front lines is unlike anything in the teen market. Following a recent Pentagon decision to open all jobs in combat units to female service members, (which I fully support FYI) top officers in the army and the marine corps testified that they believe all woman over the age of 18 should be eligible for military service the same as men.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...
*Genre* Young Adult, Historical
*Rating* 4.0
*Thoughts*
Silver Stars, by author Michael Grant, is the second installment in the Front Lines trilogy. Grant’s brilliant reimagining of World War II with girl soldiers fighting on the front lines is unlike anything in the teen market. Following a recent Pentagon decision to open all jobs in combat units to female service members, (which I fully support FYI) top officers in the army and the marine corps testified that they believe all woman over the age of 18 should be eligible for military service the same as men.
*Full Review @ Gizmos Reviews*
http://gizmosreviews.blogspot.com/201...
March 29, 2017
There were parts in this that just killed me. There is so much horror in war and Grant dragged us through it all, put us down in the trenches and left us all alone to worry about what was around the corner and stranded us with broken hearts without any real hope that we were going to make it out alive but made us keep getting up and going on anyway. It was cinematic and terrifying and the only way you can have me in agony like this is if you create characters like these. Stephen King does it too - his books are scary because he writes fleshed-out people with rich histories who wrap themselves around your finger and you don't want any of the horror to happen to them. It's the same in this series - the action in this is great, it's exciting and nerve-wracking and unbeLIEVABLY well-researched and realistic, but it wouldn't be half as impactful if you didn't feel like it was happening to real people who will shatter your heart if anything happens to them. There is not one single character left standing at the end of Silver Stars that I wouldn't mourn if they're killed in the next instalment. Honestly, this series is so important on so many levels and I don't think any other book has given me the reading experience that this one has. I can't recommend it more.
September 30, 2016
I received a digital copy from Edelweiss to give my honest opinion.
4.5 stars, really, but I'm nitpicking. It's a wonderful book.
If you enjoyed the first one, you're going to love this one.
Silver Stars dives right into the action. There's plenty of action, but also some great moments with all the girls and their best friends, family, and sergeants as the war progresses.
Rio definitely has the most page time, but Rainy and Frangie felt like they had more page time than the first book. I did want a lot more of Frangie to see her character development better.
I can't say too much without giving away spoilers (especially this many month away from the release date), but this was a fantastic book and an even better sequel. For any readers who might be wary of the slower nature of book one, that doesn't exist here, and if you haven't read book one, read it so you can enjoy this when it comes out. Libraries--if you've got the first in your collection, you'll want the second one.
The only problem now is that I have to wait forever for book three.
4.5 stars, really, but I'm nitpicking. It's a wonderful book.
If you enjoyed the first one, you're going to love this one.
Silver Stars dives right into the action. There's plenty of action, but also some great moments with all the girls and their best friends, family, and sergeants as the war progresses.
Rio definitely has the most page time, but Rainy and Frangie felt like they had more page time than the first book. I did want a lot more of Frangie to see her character development better.
I can't say too much without giving away spoilers (especially this many month away from the release date), but this was a fantastic book and an even better sequel. For any readers who might be wary of the slower nature of book one, that doesn't exist here, and if you haven't read book one, read it so you can enjoy this when it comes out. Libraries--if you've got the first in your collection, you'll want the second one.
The only problem now is that I have to wait forever for book three.
March 25, 2017
I can't even put into words how much I love this series! I was so scared that this book wasn't going to be as good as Front Lines, but Silver Stars did not disappoint. Considering both Front Lines and Silver Stars are both around 600 pages long, you'd think at some point you'd get bored and wish something would happen, but no! This book was so addictive and amazing, it kept me on the edge of my seat with every page. I have such a love for every character in these books and cannot wait until the next one is released! If you're not sure if you want to continue on with this series I highly, highly recommend you keep reading because it just keeps getting better!
February 27, 2017
Pretty action packed book and it was cool to see everyone come back and to see their progression as soldiers. Definitely a great book, but some storylines stuck out more to me, like infiltrating the criminal underworld would've been cool to see further explored, however some scenes don't get the time needed, but that's fine. I also appreciate how this book doesn't romanticize war and doesn't hold back from showing how brutal it is. Worth checking out.
July 16, 2017
Man I love this series. It's right up my alley :) can't wait til Purple Hearts comes out!
February 24, 2017
Authors who write non YA books really need to take a page (several pages actually) from Mr. Grant's books. Why? Because he gives us great female protagonists!! "But he writes YA books" you yell kicking and screaming because no worthwhile adult spends their time reading YA books. Right? Wrong!!
If you are thinking teen angst, sappy love stories, and characters an adult cannot identity with, you're so wrong.
I first started reading Mr. Grant years ago when I was browsing an indy bookstore for a good read. I wandered into the YA section and was struck by the brightness of the book "Gone". It is a bit like "Under the Dome" by King, but with much more memorable characters. I finished that series and moved on to something else, but the characters stayed with me.
After reading "Front Lines", in my review I mentioned that I wish there had been more Rainy and more Frangie. Well, with SS he has done just that. What's amazing about all of the women in the book is that they're just kids really - 18-19 years of age. The other outstanding thing he did was make these kids strong, intelligent and passionate about the work that they are doing. One of my biggest complaints about thrillers, chick lit, and fiction is the exorbitant amount of violence against women and violence that is used in a gratuitous manner. None of that occurs in SS. There is violence in the book, it's about war and of course there are going to some violent deaths, but it's necessary to move the plot point. It is not done just for the sake of blood and guts.
The women have changed and grown since we last saw them in "Front Lines". As a black woman, I identify with Frangie the most and it was nice to see that by the end of the book, she started to think of herself as a person of worth. She had to suffer through the name calling and general disrespect that the white soldiers had for her. I think she accepted this treatment because that's how things were at that period in history. What I find most interesting and sad about WWII for the black soldiers is that they were fighting a war on foreign soil, putting their lives in jeopardy and dying just like the white soldiers, only to arrive back in the states and have to use a different faucet, were not allowed to eat at counters with whites, and were not getting the same recognition on their return as their fellow white soldiers received.
The authors note in the back of the book was especially touching for me. It's very rare that a white author can truly relay the pain of being black in America, but he did an excellent job with Frangie. She is by far one of my favorite characters ever written. There are NO other Frangies out there in fiction today. Well, there may be but I certainly have not found another one.
If you are thinking teen angst, sappy love stories, and characters an adult cannot identity with, you're so wrong.
I first started reading Mr. Grant years ago when I was browsing an indy bookstore for a good read. I wandered into the YA section and was struck by the brightness of the book "Gone". It is a bit like "Under the Dome" by King, but with much more memorable characters. I finished that series and moved on to something else, but the characters stayed with me.
After reading "Front Lines", in my review I mentioned that I wish there had been more Rainy and more Frangie. Well, with SS he has done just that. What's amazing about all of the women in the book is that they're just kids really - 18-19 years of age. The other outstanding thing he did was make these kids strong, intelligent and passionate about the work that they are doing. One of my biggest complaints about thrillers, chick lit, and fiction is the exorbitant amount of violence against women and violence that is used in a gratuitous manner. None of that occurs in SS. There is violence in the book, it's about war and of course there are going to some violent deaths, but it's necessary to move the plot point. It is not done just for the sake of blood and guts.
The women have changed and grown since we last saw them in "Front Lines". As a black woman, I identify with Frangie the most and it was nice to see that by the end of the book, she started to think of herself as a person of worth. She had to suffer through the name calling and general disrespect that the white soldiers had for her. I think she accepted this treatment because that's how things were at that period in history. What I find most interesting and sad about WWII for the black soldiers is that they were fighting a war on foreign soil, putting their lives in jeopardy and dying just like the white soldiers, only to arrive back in the states and have to use a different faucet, were not allowed to eat at counters with whites, and were not getting the same recognition on their return as their fellow white soldiers received.
The authors note in the back of the book was especially touching for me. It's very rare that a white author can truly relay the pain of being black in America, but he did an excellent job with Frangie. She is by far one of my favorite characters ever written. There are NO other Frangies out there in fiction today. Well, there may be but I certainly have not found another one.
June 12, 2017
The basic gist of my review is that you should read this book.
But if you want to, you can read it here:
https://thecoziestcorner.wordpress.co...
But if you want to, you can read it here:
https://thecoziestcorner.wordpress.co...
November 14, 2016
I didn't review this when I rated it because I really didn't know what to say. Or, rather, I knew what I wanted to say, but not if I would be able to do so.
This was not the book that I should have been reading in the aftermath of the election. One wouldn't normally think that an alternative history written for the young adult audience would be anything other than escapism. However, in Grant's alternate world, the only difference is that women were allowed to serve on the front lines of World War II. That's it. That's the only difference. So this is a war novel, with all of the violence and death and despair that such novels normally entail. But, even with women serving alongside men on the front lines, Grant doesn't lessen or sugarcoat the sexism and it's fugging (Grant's alternative to one of my favorite words, employed in an attempt to keep the novel clean enough to get past the censors) depressing to read and to recognize as things still being said and done today, and even glorified by a certain DJT and his supporters. And, as bad as the sexism is, the racism is far worse and this Grant did tone down quite a bit. Racism, sexism, war—there was as much about this book that made it feel as much like it might be about the future as it was about the past and it hit me hard.
This is a strong novel about strong women but, had I read it at a different time, it would likely not have had as great an emotional impact as it did. Just more proof, if any were needed, that books are different for different readers, and even for the same reader at different times. I don't know that this was the book I should have been reading at this time, but maybe it was the book I needed to read. It reminded me that things often get worse before they get better and even during the darkest times, there are moments of joy to be found. And even though the story of Frangie, Rio, and Rainy hasn't reached that point in the future just yet, even Hitler was eventually defeated.
(And, please, don't comment on this review if you just want to argue politics. This is about the book and the emotional reaction I had to it in light of the recent election. If you can frame your political discussion in terms of this book and your reaction to it, fine. If not, this is not the place.)
This was not the book that I should have been reading in the aftermath of the election. One wouldn't normally think that an alternative history written for the young adult audience would be anything other than escapism. However, in Grant's alternate world, the only difference is that women were allowed to serve on the front lines of World War II. That's it. That's the only difference. So this is a war novel, with all of the violence and death and despair that such novels normally entail. But, even with women serving alongside men on the front lines, Grant doesn't lessen or sugarcoat the sexism and it's fugging (Grant's alternative to one of my favorite words, employed in an attempt to keep the novel clean enough to get past the censors) depressing to read and to recognize as things still being said and done today, and even glorified by a certain DJT and his supporters. And, as bad as the sexism is, the racism is far worse and this Grant did tone down quite a bit. Racism, sexism, war—there was as much about this book that made it feel as much like it might be about the future as it was about the past and it hit me hard.
This is a strong novel about strong women but, had I read it at a different time, it would likely not have had as great an emotional impact as it did. Just more proof, if any were needed, that books are different for different readers, and even for the same reader at different times. I don't know that this was the book I should have been reading at this time, but maybe it was the book I needed to read. It reminded me that things often get worse before they get better and even during the darkest times, there are moments of joy to be found. And even though the story of Frangie, Rio, and Rainy hasn't reached that point in the future just yet, even Hitler was eventually defeated.
(And, please, don't comment on this review if you just want to argue politics. This is about the book and the emotional reaction I had to it in light of the recent election. If you can frame your political discussion in terms of this book and your reaction to it, fine. If not, this is not the place.)
February 7, 2017
This was a hard book to read. Not because the plot is overly complicated, or the language too elaborate or the characters unlikeable, but because the handling of the subject of war is, by its nature, disturbing. Consequently it took me longer to read Silver Stars than I expected, and took more reading than Front Lines. However, this is 1944 and the protagonists Rio, Rainy and Frangie are no longer green new recruits, but survivors of battles, with the gravitas that brings.
The use of the varying narrative of the three young women, as well as the interstitials with an unnamed narrator means that Grant can widen his exploration of the war. A soldier, a medic and an intelligence agent - each has their own story to tell, and they overlap and diverge in satisfying fashion.
This is a great book, and very thought-provoking, but there's something I can't put my finger on that means I'd give it 4.5 stars rather than a perfect 5. In the absence of half stars on Netgalley, though, I'm happy to round up! A very involving read, with a wide range of audience appeal.
The use of the varying narrative of the three young women, as well as the interstitials with an unnamed narrator means that Grant can widen his exploration of the war. A soldier, a medic and an intelligence agent - each has their own story to tell, and they overlap and diverge in satisfying fashion.
This is a great book, and very thought-provoking, but there's something I can't put my finger on that means I'd give it 4.5 stars rather than a perfect 5. In the absence of half stars on Netgalley, though, I'm happy to round up! A very involving read, with a wide range of audience appeal.
February 9, 2017
I loved this. The description of battles are so compelling, and told in a matter of fact style that makes it hard to look away. I really appreciated that the plot never became trite and clicheed. The women characters were wonderfully fleshed out. Can't wait for the sequel.
February 6, 2017
Thanks to the publisher for a digital advance reader's copy, provided via Edelweiss.
June 10, 2017
Every bit as good as the first book. Roll on January when, I hope, book three is out!
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