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A review by didyousaybooks
The Radical Element: 12 Stories of Daredevils, Debutantes & Other Dauntless Girls by Jessica Spotswood
3.0
You gotta love all the GIRL POWER.
This book is full of amazing historical fictional kick ass girls. While non fictional, each of them reflects the longing for more than « everyday » life gave to girls and women in times when the opportunities were scarce and most of all the fighting for women rights was left to be done.
What I liked was the huge diversity that was presented in The Radical Element.
After reading the first two stories, I was to admit I was a bit scared all the stories were going to focus on religion, which was not what I had in mind when I requested the book on Netgalley (thank you for the opportunity to access this book and give an honest review in exchange) but it was not the case.
All the stories are historical fictions, some of them have fantasy elements which was a nice surprise, and all of them treated with the place women, and young girls in general, every one of them from a different community, had during various times of history.
I appreciated the authors’ comments on why they chose their theme and how some of them were influenced by real women and all of them by real historical events.
As always in short stories anthologies, some stories are better than others, and I always have the feeling they are way too short for my liking.
Now, if you want to spend a little time with girls from different time periods and share a tiny moment of their life, The Radical Element is for you.
Some stories feel a bit déjà-vu and I think it’s partly due to the fact that we all know the struggles women, and especially women of colors, have to overcome. Those are the tragically « clichées » stories of coming-of-age we get for girls.
Family expectation and society pressure to fit in a mold is true for everyone and is an ageless and universal theme.
It’s nothing you haven’t read before in some way or other, especially if you read YA but it certainly does the job and they all leave you with a satisfied feeling that those amazing girls will do amazingly.
I know it certainly made me want to read more about women in history, I always love history, and fictional or not, reading about it always broadens your views on how much the world has changed, and every way it has not. We’ve come a long way and still have a long way to go.
This book is full of amazing historical fictional kick ass girls. While non fictional, each of them reflects the longing for more than « everyday » life gave to girls and women in times when the opportunities were scarce and most of all the fighting for women rights was left to be done.
What I liked was the huge diversity that was presented in The Radical Element.
After reading the first two stories, I was to admit I was a bit scared all the stories were going to focus on religion, which was not what I had in mind when I requested the book on Netgalley (thank you for the opportunity to access this book and give an honest review in exchange) but it was not the case.
All the stories are historical fictions, some of them have fantasy elements which was a nice surprise, and all of them treated with the place women, and young girls in general, every one of them from a different community, had during various times of history.
I appreciated the authors’ comments on why they chose their theme and how some of them were influenced by real women and all of them by real historical events.
As always in short stories anthologies, some stories are better than others, and I always have the feeling they are way too short for my liking.
Now, if you want to spend a little time with girls from different time periods and share a tiny moment of their life, The Radical Element is for you.
Some stories feel a bit déjà-vu and I think it’s partly due to the fact that we all know the struggles women, and especially women of colors, have to overcome. Those are the tragically « clichées » stories of coming-of-age we get for girls.
Family expectation and society pressure to fit in a mold is true for everyone and is an ageless and universal theme.
It’s nothing you haven’t read before in some way or other, especially if you read YA but it certainly does the job and they all leave you with a satisfied feeling that those amazing girls will do amazingly.
I know it certainly made me want to read more about women in history, I always love history, and fictional or not, reading about it always broadens your views on how much the world has changed, and every way it has not. We’ve come a long way and still have a long way to go.