The Radical Element

(This review can also be found on my blog.)

These are such lovely stories! They're all about complex, interesting women in history and there's so much representation. There are trans characters and disabled characters and women of color and much more. When most of these stories came to an end, I was left wanting more. I was surprised to find them over. They're not really tied up in neat little bows, they mostly end with you feeling like you're at the precipice of a greater story. Any one of these feel like they could be effectively made into a full-fledged novel, and it was hard for me to forget that they were short stories.

The beds of civilization shifted in favor of men.

My rating for each story:

Daughter of the Book by Dahlia Adler ⭐⭐⭐
You're a Stranger Here by Mackenzi Lee ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Magician by Erin Bowman ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Lady Firebrand by Megan Shepherd ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Step Right Up by Jessica Spotswood ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Glamour by Anna-Marie McLemore ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Better For All the World by Marieke Nijkamp ⭐⭐⭐⭐
When the Moonlight Isn't Enough by Dhonielle Clayton ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Belle of the Ball by Sarvenaz Tash ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Land of the Sweet, Home of the Brave by Stacey Lee ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Birth of Susi Go-Go by Meg Medina ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Take Me With U by Sara Farizan ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

My average rating was 4.16 stars, rounded down to 4. I'm thinking I'll have to go back and read Jessica Spotswood's first edited collection of short stories, which I hadn't gotten around to yet. I'd definitely recommend this to historical fiction readers, lovers of YA, and anyone excited to see diverse women in fiction.