{"id":4357,"date":"2016-01-13T10:00:15","date_gmt":"2016-01-13T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/?p=4357"},"modified":"2016-01-14T11:23:47","modified_gmt":"2016-01-14T16:23:47","slug":"review-front-lines-michael-grant","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/2016\/01\/13\/review-front-lines-michael-grant\/","title":{"rendered":"REVIEW: Front Lines by Michael Grant"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[blocktext align=”center”]We are the first generation of female soldiers in the American army. Lucky us.[\/blocktext]<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019m calling it \u2013 the YA trend of the 2016 is undoubtedly Alternate Histories, and FRONT LINES<em>\u00a0<\/em>is an excellent start.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-4374\" src=\"http:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/grant-front-lines-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"grant-front-lines\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/grant-front-lines-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/grant-front-lines-768x1160.jpg 768w, https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/grant-front-lines-678x1024.jpg 678w, https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/grant-front-lines.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/>In an America where women are both able to enlist and be drafted during World War II, we learn the story of three women from very different worlds are brought together by the war, and their lives change as they leave home for the first time and enter terrifying and uncertain situations during the war.<\/p>\n<p>Rio is a small-town girl encouraged to enlist (though underage) with her best friend, Jenou, after her sister is killed at sea by German submarines. She\u2019s na\u00efve about life outside their town, but turns out to be both a sharpshooter and a quick thinker in the field.<\/p>\n<p>Rainy is an Orthodox Jew who gets drafted to the army intelligence school. Despite her superiors\u2019 attempts to hold her back, Rainy is far too adept at the job to go unnoticed and gains respect and higher station quickly.<\/p>\n<p>Frangie is an African-American girl from Oklahoma who joins up to help her family since her father can\u2019t work. She wants to be a doctor after the war, so she trains as an Army medic for the colored\u00a0battalion. Unfortunately yet unsurprisingly, as disgruntled as recruits are about women joining the military, it comes twofold towards black female soldiers.<\/p>\n<p>[blocktext align=”center”](During a transfusion) \u201cAt least it\u2019ll be white blood.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cPretty sure it\u2019ll be red,\u201d Frangie says.[\/blocktext]<\/p>\n<p>The first half is dedicated to the three girls’ backstories and getting through training, while the second puts them\u00a0in North Africa fighting the Germans. Michael Grant never holds back with the raw reality of war, so it\u2019s not for the faint of heart \u2013 the gore is present and unsettling. Even more importantly, he actively addresses the relentless sexism and racism that would have (and did) occur in the era.<\/p>\n<p>Grant clearly has a favorite girl of the three, whom he focuses on for the majority of the book; at least half the plot revolves around her perspective. Rio is the only one to experience front-line combat, and as the sharpshooter during boot camp, she learns sooner than most what must be done to stay alive on a battlefield. Unfortunately, I found Rio to be the least interesting of our three protagonists \u2013 I vastly preferred Rainy using her skills in language and people\u2011reading to fight the Nazis that oppress her people, and Frangie as she learns medicine while battling racism of soldiers she tries to save.<\/p>\n<p>[blocktext align=”center”]\u201cNow I know why they never let women fight wars. Too mean.\u201d[\/blocktext]<\/p>\n<p>Older teen girls looking for something fresh and creative will certainly enjoy this book, but I also recommend it to teen boys \u2013 its no-holds-barred carnage and non-stop action are distinctly guy-friendly. Adults will also love this visceral and significant novel.<\/p>\n<p>FRONT LINES has a powerful perspective and brutal delivery that leave the reader unsettled yet captivated. This was my first \u201cwar book,\u201d and while I tend to have a difficult time with overt violence, the writing style brought the story to life in a fascinating but not overwhelming manner. I\u2019m excited to continue this trilogy, especially in hopes that Frangie and Rainy will get more page time. I cannot wait to see what happens next with these girls on their journey.<\/p>\n<p><em>Front Lines<\/em>\u00a0will be available January 26, 2016 at your local independent bookstore, through <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.indiebound.org\/book\/9780062342157\" target=\"_blank\">IndieBound<\/a><\/strong>, and at other book retailers.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>4 out of 5 stars<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">—<\/p>\n<p><strong>Amber Neva Brown\u00a0<\/strong>is assistant manager at\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.mainpointbooks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Main Point Books<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0and a recent Masters graduate in Publishing at Rosemont College. She grew up in North Carolina, and her ultimate fandoms\u00a0are Harry Potter and Doctor Who. She could recommend a book to probably anyone.\u00a0 Find her at\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/lettersfromafutureeditor.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Letters from a [Future] Editor<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>and on Twitter at\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/ambernevabrown\" target=\"_blank\">@ambernevabrown<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grant’s alternate history WWII about three female soldiers is an action-packed story perfect for teens and adults alike, though Grant’s obvious favorite is far from the most interesting of the protagonists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[241,22,1048,124,999,1047,171,172,646],"class_list":["post-4357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","tag-alternate-history","tag-book-reviews","tag-female-soldiers","tag-reviews","tag-the-despair-issue","tag-world-war-ii","tag-ya-lit","tag-young-adult","tag-young-adult-reviews","et-has-post-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/grant-front-lines.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3zNPp-18h","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4357"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4375,"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4357\/revisions\/4375"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlsincapes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}