in the face of adversity

Author : Michael Grant
Title : Front Lines
Published : 28/01/2016
Pages : 480
Genre : Alternative History
Publisher : Electric  Monkey







     In the face of reluctant colonels and sceptical sergeants, the teenage soldier girls must prove their guts, strength, and resourcefulness as soldiers. Rio has grown up in a world where men don’t cry and girls are supposed to care only about ‘money and looks’. But she has always known that there is something wrong with this system and something else in her. Far from home and in the battlefields, Rio discovers exactly who she is and what she can accomplish

   This book combines a couple of my favorite genres, with it's blending of historical fiction and young adult. I was made curious by the adding in of alternative history what differences could come from this. Now, normally when it comes to such a book the changes are ones we have all seen before such as what if Nazi Germany had won the war. A setting that has been played on in countless books and t.v shows, some good some bad. This time, however, the author decides to make one slight tweak, With war raging in Europe and in Asia a court in the U.S decides that it is ethical unfair for women not to be serving on the front lines of the war.

     It's a strange feeling as we come to be introduced to our heroines. To some extent, we see the usual archetypes in this sort of book about world war two soldiers. We have those who are desperate to go and fight as well as those who what nothing to do with it. And some who chose to join up as a way to get out of the current situation. But for these women life is shown to be brutally hard in this mans army. Most of the officers in charge do not want them to be there, at best they can hope for is a general indifference. Told from the perspective of three young women we get to see each of there struggles play out as America is brought hurtling into the war in Europe and Africa. In this switching of perspectives, we also get to see how life for different ethnicities becomes a factor for how they are treated by those they come into contact with. The first is Rio a white woman, Whilst she fairs slightly better than the other two she still has a lot to prove to her superiors, and how she is just as capable as they are. Next is Rainy being Jewish means for obvious reasons that she has a grim determination to do what she feels has to be done. And to finish out our band of sisters we have Frankie An African American woman who has to deal with everything the others do all the while having to deal with racialism on top.

     What the author delivers in this book must have taken a lot of effort as it seems to deal with so many different topics. In the foreground is the tale of these brave women who are doing what they feel is right each in their own way. Despite every obstacle that is thrown in there way they are determined to rise up above what others think of them and prove there worth. At the same time, he spends a great deal of time in dealing with the subject of race and religion not only with how the Nazi's perceptive the Aryan world but also within the U.S and how they were perceived as less than. Grant doesn't tackle these questions lightly and puts in the pen work to give what I can only imagine is an authentic representation.  As for the story, it's self I think it's one that can be enjoyed on many levels. Whilst dealing with the bigger issues he also in beds the story with a gripping tale of survival. I found myself invested in these woman with my hopes of seeing them survive to the end of the war. There where a few moments that you would expect to see come up with the topic of women on the front line, This, however, doesn't make them any less shocking. I suppose the most troubling of which is rape, This is a topic that comes up often in books about women in war. I realize that unfortunately this is a part that holds true to real life but it never makes it easy to read about.

     A well-written book that holds it's own with others in the genre. I felt that the authors imagining of this situation would hold true to life and he seems to have thought through the veracious eventuality for the most part.  In the realizing that this is fiction I hope it doesn't take anything away from the real women who served their countries throughout world war two, my own grandmother included.