Dangerous Women Author: George R.R. Martin | Language: English | ISBN:
076533206X | Format: PDF
Dangerous Women Description
Amazon.com Review
An Amazon Best Book of the Month, December 2013: The sci-fi and fantasy genre is known for going big: epic series, massive tomes, epic series comprised of massive tomes. And even here, short stories--21 original tales in total--combine to form a tremendous 800-page genre-crossing collection. Co-editor George R.R. Martin contributes a story set in Westeros, nearly 200 years before A Game of Thrones begins. Likewise, other authors offer glimpses into their signature worlds. Jim Butcher gives the Dresden Files a twist by focusing on his protagonist's assistant. Lev Grossman hones in on a group of girls at the wizarding school that's central to The Magicians. Diana Gabaldon, Brandon Sanderson, Megan Lindholm... A range of fantastic writers, both male and female, offer an equally exciting range of ways to talk about "Dangerous Women"--from an unlikely bounty hunter to a gunslinger, a mother accused of the unthinkable to a young princess on the run. Dangerous Women is perfect for clamoring fans, as well as new readers, who may find these bite-sized stories an undaunting way to get to know new authors. --Robin A. Rothman
From Booklist
Dangerous women of all kinds—warriors, fighter pilots, queens, wizards, PIs, and more—are the subject of this cross-genre anthology, curated by experienced editors Martin and Dozois. Several high-profile authors set stories in the worlds of their best-selling series. Molly, Harry Dresden’s smart-talking, long-suffering apprentice, narrates Jim Butcher’s urban-fantasy detective story “Bombshells.” Lev Grossman’s wry tale follows a young wizard-in-training as her innocent prank against a fellow Brakebills student misfires in “The Girl in the Mirror.” Martin’s prequel story is set in Westeros centuries before A Game of Thrones, while Diana Gabaldon’s follows a young Jaime Fraser before the start of the Outlander series. Other tales range from hard-bitten western (Joe Abercrombie’s “Some Desperado”) to bleak dystopia (Nancy Kress’ “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly”) to historical drama (Sharon Kay Penman’s “A Queen in Exile”). Some tales defy classification, such as Megan Lindholm’s poignant but fierce story of aging and discovering new life in the fringes. With 21 stories of this caliber, readers will be sure to find several favorites. --Krista Hutley
See all Editorial Reviews
- Hardcover: 784 pages
- Publisher: Tor Books (December 3, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 076533206X
- ISBN-13: 978-0765332066
- Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.4 x 2.3 inches
- Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
I was really excited about this anthology! I love anthologies, I love kickass women, and the Martin-Dozois anthologies attract the best fantasy writers. I've read and liked one of their anthologies (Songs of Love and Death: All Original Tales of Star Crossed Love) before, but this one blew it out of the park!
Dangerous Women doesn't just feature sci-fi/fantasy stories; there are a variety of genres represented. This makes the collection have an incredibly broad range. The eponymous dangerous women are all pretty different too - physically or magically powerful women, women who flourish despite their circumstances, femme fatales, vengeful ghosts, and more. Sometimes they drive the plot, sometimes they're the protagonist, and sometimes they're both.
I enjoyed some stories more than others, but unusually, I didn't think any fell flat. Some were disturbing or implausible, but I think they still made good additions to the anthology. I'm not going to review every story, but I'll talk a bit about some standouts.
THE HANDS THAT ARE NOT THERE by Melinda Snodgrass
This story takes place in the same universe as one of my favourites from Songs of Love and Death, and I was immediately pulled into this universe again. Unfortunately there aren't any full-length books in this universe, but I'm hoping there will be soon! It involves an extraordinary story told in a bar, which if were true, would have incredible repercussions.
SHADOWS FOR SILENCE IN THE FORESTS OF HELL by Brandon Sanderson
I don't really like the title of the story, but the story itself was fantastic.
"Dangerous Women" is a story anthology that consists of 21 stories from which fans will probably be the most interested for one by George R.R. Martin set in the Westeros world the around two hundred years before the events described in "A Game of Thrones" describing the Dance of the Dragons, the fierce war between two Targaryens over the Iron Throne.
And while the title of the collection suggests that the common theme of included stories are women who make problems, threaten or destroy that isn't entirely true.
Although reader on its pages will meet all kinds of female protagonists which are far from being symbols of perfection or virtuous, most of them are characters which didn't want to leave their fate and lives to others...
What is characteristic of many anthologies especially in situations when they're of different genres - the unevenness of quality- happened in this case, resulting with a situation that some of the included stories are of exceptional quality, while there are some which certainly are not at a level that would be expected in such issue.
Also, short stories as format are not popular with all the readers because they most of the times don't allow the full development of the characters and the reader often wonders why the author didn't made the effort to develop it into a novel of normal length.
Personally I like to read short stories and I think that only the skillful writers succeed in this shorter form to give much more than what some will manage to deliver on 200 or more pages.
It doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to read continuation "Raisa Stepanova" from Carrie Vaughn or Joe Abercrombie's "Some Desperado" which among some others are the best stories in this collection.
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