Dangerous Women

Review
I haven't read a lot of anthologies. After reading this one, I'm not planning on reading a lot more. I certainly don't plan to buy anymore anthologies. My overall sentiment for this collection is: borrow it from somewhere. I paid full price to get it when it came out and I regret buying it.

I'm not going to every story. There are too many. There are a few really enjoyable stories here. There are a few stories I really despised, one of which (Virgins) I just couldn't finish.

I bought this mostly for Jim Butcher and Brandon Sanderson, my two favorite authors. Neither of them disappointed. Those two along with the story by Megan Lindholm, alter ego of Robin Hobb, another of my favorite authors, are all well worth reading. But they still don't make this book worth buying in my opinion.

The other two authors of interest to me coming in were Joe Abercrombie and George RR Martin. Both stories were good, but not great.

In general I felt that most of the authors failed to meet the theme of the book in “Dangerous Women”. Far too many stories focused on men with women just at the periphery. All 3 stories I liked had female protagonists that fit the title well.

There seems to be a wide variety of genres represented here, and unsurprisingly the fantasy ones were the ones I enjoyed most.

Overall I found this a mostly disappointing collection that I wish I had borrowed from the library instead.

Ratings
“Some Desperado” by Joe Abercrombie 3.5
- “My Heart is Either Broken” by Megan Abbott 3
- “Nora's Song” by Cecelia Holland 2
- “The Hands That Are Not There” by Melinda Snodgrass 2
- “Bombshells” by Jim Butcher 4.5
- “Raisa Stepanova” by Carrie Vaughn 3
- “Wrestling Jesus” by Joe R. Lansdale 3
- “Neighbors” by Megan Lindholm 4.5
- “I Know How to Pick 'Em” by Lawrence Block 1
- “Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell” by Brandon Sanderson 4.5
- “A Queen in Exile” by Sharon Kay Penman 2.5
- “The Girl in the Mirror” by Lev Grossman 3.5
- “Second Arabesque, Very Slowly” by Nancy Kress 2
- “City Lazarus” by Diana Rowland 3
- “Virgins” by Diana Gabaldon 1
- “Hell Hath No Fury” by Sherilynn Kenyon 3.5
- “Pronouncing Doom” by S.M. Stirling 3
- “Name the Beast” by Sam Sykes 2.5
- “Caretakers” by Pat Cadigan 3.5
- “Lies My Mother Told Me” by Caroline Spector 3.5
- “The Princess and the Queen” by George R.R. Martin 3.5