Books

Books : reviews

Tanya Huff, Alexander Potter, eds.
Women of War.
Daw. 2005

rating : 3.5 : worth reading
review : 27 October 2005

An interesting collection of stories about women warriors, before, during, or after battle. The ones that worked best for me were ones set in universes I already knew, where I could draw on the consequent depth and background not achievable in a short story. Nevertheless, some of the standalones also manage to be thought-provoking and/or exciting.

Contents

Sharon Lee, Steve Miller. Fighting Chance. 2005
A Liaden Universe story. How Miri Roberston was recruited off Surebleak by Angela Lizardi.
Rosemary Edghill. Painted Child of Earth. 2005
A warrior has an enchanted sword that makes her immortal, until it can use her to destroy the world. She fights its influence, saving a lad who wants to be a hero, and realises the benefits of companionship in keeping her humanity
Julie E. Czerneda. She's Such a Nasty Morsel. 2005
A Web Shifters story. How Skalet, one of Esen's Web, became so involved in war.
Fiona Patton. The Children of Diardin: To Find the Advantage. 2005
A pack of Sidhe shape-shifters need to find a battle advantage over the invading giants -- and discover that their mother is a force to be reckoned with.
Tanya Huff. Not that Kind of War. 2005
A Confederation story. Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr has a new, gung-ho Leuitenant to take care of, during a retreat.
Michelle West. The Black Ospreys. 2005
Sometimes to win a war, you have to use desperate tactics. But who do you choose to use them?
Bruce Holland Rogers. The Art of War. 2005
Maybe the destrying alien fleet don't actually want to wage war, maybe they are just unimpressed with our fighting aesthetics.
Kerrie Hughes. Geiko. 2005
A Geiko bodyguard hopes her young charge will become a trader, not a bodyguard too. Then she discovers that an assassin is after her, not her charge.
Robin Wayne Bailey. Shin-Gi-Tai. 2005
What lengths a warrior and her alien lover will go to to stop a war that is destroying both sides.
Jana Paniccia. The Last Hand of War. 2005
A complex story of warriors, and the warrior spirits who bond with them, fighting against a maddened sprit who threatens to destroy them all.
Lisanne Norman. War Games. 2005
An attempt to rescue the President's kidnapped daughter has bizarre consequences that the warriors know cannot old forever. [The sexist subplot seems a bit 1970s, and out of place in this future army.]
Jane M. Lindskold. Fire from the Sun. 2005
Andrasta helps clear a slave clan of a charge of uprising. But the events are part of a larger plot that will change the way of her own clan forever.
Stephen Leigh. Sweeter far than Flowing Honey. 2005
A VR pilot engaged in a war against the Ghastlies keeps having strange dreams about other warriors and their destroyed families.
Anna Oster. Token. 2005
Jun-Li is chosen to be the new Holy Defender, but is she up to the task?
Kristine Kathryn Rusch. Elites. 2005
Rowena's half-way house for PTSD veterans has a great reintegration rate, so why doesn't she want others to use her cure?