Dangerous Women

Dangerous Women is one of the best fiction anthologies I’ve read in a while. Every story in it is very good (with one exception).

There are certain ways, though, that it sells itself short. For example, the title: Dangerous Women implies that these will all be stories from the so-called “kick-*ss women” genre. That’s certainly why I picked it up. Mr. Dozois’ introduction specifically discusses the kick-*ss women genre, and even calls out Buffy and Xena as genre progenitors.

But not all of the women in these stories kick-*ss, and not all are dangerous. Some aren’t even the main character in their story. The women in these stories are more various and interesting than just “dangerous” or “kick-*ss”. They’re more show more realistic and fully realized than such tropes.

To my mind, that’s what makes these stories and characters so good. I found this range of characters to be a pleasant surprise. But I can see how someone might be disappointed if what they want are stories about kick-*ss women.

Another example: the fact that this isn’t a pure SF anthology. As Gardner Dozois states in his introduction - it was conceived as a cross-genre collection of short fiction. While there's a preponderance of SF, there’s also historical fiction, mystery, noir, etc.

But it’s packaged and categorized as SF, it’s shelved by bookstores and libraries in their SF sections, and the names of Martin and Dozois emblazoned on the cover in very large font certainly set it up to be SF.

So it’s a bit of a double-edged sword - if someone picks up this book expecting a collection of SF stories, they might be disappointed when they discover that it’s not all SF from cover to cover. If someone picks it up expecting a general fiction anthology, they might be frustrated by the amount of SF in it.

For myself, I was pleasantly surprised by the range of genres. I consider that a plus. But it does mean that the work exists between audiences, as it were.

Of course, most people will probably pick up this book to read George R.R. Martin’s new novella set in his Song of Ice & Fire universe. Which is too bad, really, because it’s far and away the worst story in the collection.

As always, I’m in awe of the breadth of Mr. Martin’s vision and his ceaseless attention to detail. No one writing today creates worlds as lush, complex, and immersive as he does.

The problem with this novella is its central narrative conceit. It’s supposed to be a historical chronicle written by a scholar - which means it reads like a scholarly historical chronicle. Which means it’s kinda boring.

The Song of Ice & Fire novels work well in large part because they’re deeply personalized. The reader travels through the story side-by-side with the characters, experiencing everything from their unique perspectives. It humanizes the overwhelming narrative and makes the experience very compelling.

There’s no such personalization going on in this novella. You never get close enough to any character to experience that human element. The narrative perspective is detached, distant, and quasi-scholarly. It’s a series of objective descriptions of events, with a lot of names and a few dates thrown at you - it’s a chronology more than a story. The history and characters are interesting enough, but the telling is quite dull.

In conclusion: If you’re wondering whether this volume is worth reading - yes. Absolutely. It’s an exceptional anthology. Just be aware that it’s not strictly an anthology of SF stories about dangerous, kick-*ss women. It’s a cross-genre fiction anthology about interesting women, with more than the usual amount of SF.

I just wish that Mr. Martin’s contribution didn’t end it on such an underwhelming note. show less

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) 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 show 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. It's set in Sanderson's Cosmere (although I don't know what planet) and features a terrifying world and a resourceful woman who makes it a little safer. I'm probably biased by my indefatigable love for Sanderson, but I loved this story.

BOMBSHELLS by Jim Butcher

I've only read the first book of the Dresden Files, but this story made me really want to catch up with it (it also contains major spoilers for the direction of the series, but I didn't mind that). It features Molly, Harry Dresden's apprentice and some other Dresdenverse women on a mission. Molly gets some great character development, and there's a lot of gratuitous ass-kicking. Some of it was a little cliched, but it was so much fun that I didn't mind.

A QUEEN IN EXILE by Sharon Kay Penman and NORA'S SONG by Cecelia Holland

Both of these stories were historical fiction and featured women figuring out how to become dangerous in a male-dominated world. Other than that, they were fairly different - in the former, Constance, future Queen of Sicily, takes charge of her unhappy life and in the latter, a young Eleanor of England, Queen of Castile learns how to get her way. I found both fascinating, and I really need to read more historical fiction.

MY HEART IS EITHER BROKEN by Megan Abbott

I don't want to say very much about this heartbreaking story, but it examines the emotional consequences of knowing a truly dangerous woman. Or thinking you do.

LIES MY MOTHER TOLD ME by Caroline Spector

This story is set in the shared Wild Cards universe, and involves a superhero that goes from having dangerous powers to being truly dangerous even without her powers. I found it very poignant.

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I could keep going, but I'll just say that I also loved SOME DESPERADO by Joe Abercrombie (I can't wait to see more of Shy in his latest book, Red Country), THE GIRL IN THE MIRROR by Lev Grossman, NAME THE BEAST by Sam Sykes, and RAISA STEPANOVA by Carrie Vaughn (I haven't read anything by Vaughn that I haven't loved). THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN by George R.R. Martin read like the dry medieval telling that it was meant to be, but was strangely fascinating.

The stories I wasn't as thrilled about:

I KNOW HOW TO PICK 'EM by Lawrence Block

This is an extremely well-written story, but it left me feeling unclean just having read it (which seems intentional). It definitely adds to the diversity of the anthology, but I wish I hadn't read it. It probably didn't help that I was envisioning Tricia Helfer as the "dangerous woman" in the story.

SECOND ARABESQUE, VERY SLOWLY by Nancy Krees

The idea behind this story was fascinating (discovering beauty in an ugly world), and I was somewhat touched by the ending, but I was distracted by finding the worldbuilding implausible - 99% of women are sterile, and civilisation totally breaks down. I can see how women's place in society would change significantly, but I don't think cities and technology would be completely destroyed. I didn't even mind the world, but the cause of it seemed forced.

PRONOUNCING DOOM by S.M. Stirling

I got the gist of this story, but was thoroughly confused by the world. American society is now heavily influenced by ancient Scottish/Irish tradition, and this all happens within a few years? I found out that this is set in the "Emberverse", but I don't think there's enough of an introduction to this universe for people not already familiar with it.

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That ended up being much longer than I anticipated. Summary: this is one of the best anthologies I've ever read. Buy it! show less

A great anthology, and one of the best that has come out of the Martin and Dozois partnership. Many of the old fantasy standbys are present, as well as writers of historical and modern fiction. All in all, it was a great balance of genre and tone, and all quite thematic.

The only sour note, for me, was Stirling's "Pronouncing Doom," which can be best summarized as "wouldn't it be great if we were all Wiccan?" The Jim Butcher story, on the other hand, made me want to rush right out and start his series from the beginning. Sanderson's world building is great as always, and Lev Grossman's entry makes me long for the third novel in his Magicians series to be released.

Don't let the massive size fool you. It was a quick read, and I highly show more recommend it. show less

Like any anthology, there are stories you like and some not so much. I was pleasantly surprised here to find that I liked a great majority of the stories here. And I found some new (to me) authors who I've now purchased their books to read. It's a nice mix of fantasy, science fiction, historical fiction, and dystopian stories. While I always like Sharon Kay Penman, Diana Gabaldon, and GRRM, I also enjoyed the stories by Joe Abercrombie, Jim Butcher, Brandon Sanderson, Lev Grossman, and most of the others. I think there was only one that I didn't care for as much.

First, DO NOT READ Sirens if you are not far into Dresden Files (minimum of Ghost Story), or else the intro to the Jim Butcher story will have a massive spoiler and make you want to throw this 800-page book across your dining room (not that I’m speaking from experience). Of the 20-ish stories, I liked a total of one from start to finish (Brandon Sanderson’s), and the rest were boring, pointless, or unnecessarily violent/demeaning/bizarre towards women. I picked up this book for stories of strong women, but most of these authors created worlds where women are the useless castaway of society, good for nothing but sex and making babies - so that a single strong woman could rise through it. Woof. That’s a lot to read over and over for show more 800 pages. Not all of the stories were bad, but the other ones I liked ended with me going “wait, what?” Also, if you want a tale of an underestimated stripper who wins the love of a sexist man to betray him for her own ends (told from the POV of the sexist man so that you really GET him, you know?), good news - you have not one, but two such stories in this book! Save yourself some time (and muscle strength from lifting this) and read something else instead. show less

Disappointing, despite a couple of interesting stories. In far too many cases, the 'dangerous women' are two-dimensional figures of male fantasy, or the plot (such as it is) relies on sexual violence against women. There are also several future dystopia stories with remarkably similar premises.

By and large, the short stories in this collection are interesting and well written. I noted that in two of the non-F&SF stories and a novella, the men narrating the stories describe the women they found dangerous to them. Most of the others are from the POV of the dangerous woman/women.

The novellas are disappointing.
A Queen in Exile by Sharon Kay Penman is a plodding history of an interesting woman.
Virgins by Dianna Gabaldon is a joining of two half-tales, which together are the justification for Jamie reaching his wedding as a virgin.
Lies My Mother Told Me by Caroline Spector is much the most interesting of the novellas, with characters and set-up worth visiting.
The Princess and the Queen by George R.R. Martin is as dull as the show more dullest history, and its contents are of interest only to the saturated GoT fans who wish to be more so. Characters die, cities are destroyed, dragons perish, and only one or two have as much as a paragraph devoted to them. show less