Reviews

The Women Who Walk Through Fire (Women's Fantasy & Science Fiction Vol2) by Susanna J. Sturgis

christytidwell's review

3.0

One of the best things about this anthology is the fact that it doesn't just cover the same ground that so many others do. There is at least one somewhat familiar name represented here (Eleanor Arnason), but most of the stories are by less well-known authors, as opposed to the other anthologies I've been reading lately, which all tend toward collecting more of the same (e.g., Ursula K. Le Guin, Joanna Russ, Judith Merril, James Tiptree, Jr.). Those anthologies have a valuable role to play and those authors are well worth anthologizing, but it is certainly nice to find a book that collects less familiar writers.

The Women Who Walk Through Fire definitely leans more toward fantasy than science fiction, which is one reason I only gave it three stars. I am simply personally less interested in fantasy than science fiction.

The book is worth checking out, though, if only for the following stories: "Earth and Sky Words" by Cathy Hinga Haustein, "New Age Baby" by Deborah H. Fruin, and "Firebird" by J. L. Comeau.