Genre: Historical
Published: 2016, Katherine Tegen Books
Rating: 4.25/5 Stars
Front Lines follows the stories of three girls in an alternate World War II history. In this story, women are allowed to enlist in the armed forces. Rio Richlin, Frangie Marr, and Rainy Schulterman all enlist for different reasons and with different expectations, but the war proves itself to be unpredictable and unwaveringly brutal.
I wasn't sure what to expect from this book. I read Michael Grant's Gone series back in high school and quite liked it, so I thought I'd give this one a try. I listened to the audio book and thought the narrator did well; she was easy to listen to and appropriately dramatic.
Front Lines has three main narrators, but the story focuses mainly on Rio. After her sister is killed in action, Rio decides (with encouragement from her best friend) she must do her duty by enlisting. Of course, she hopes for some desk job away from the fighting. Her skills with a rifle earn her a spot on the front lines, though. Frangie is an African-American girl who enlists after her father becomes unable to work. Her dream is to be a doctor, so she opts to become a combat medic. Rainy is a Jewish girl whose brother is also fighting; her goal is to be a part of military intelligence, intercepting German transmissions and shutting down their operations. We follow them separately for a while, but of course their story lines converge eventually.
I liked all the characters; I found them to be realistically flawed. The side characters had a lot of personality as well. I was a bit impartial for a while, but somewhere along the way I found myself really caring about what happened to everyone. The "women in the war" aspect was quite realistic. I think Michael Grant portrayed an accurate alternate history - the sexism and reactions of men both in and out of the service seemed plausible.
As this is a book about war, some scenes were excruciatingly graphic. On one particular drive, I had to unplug my phone from my car; I was getting a bit too nauseous for comfort. Despite my nausea, I appreciated that graphic and uncomfortable situations were not shied away from, as some young adult books tend to. Overall, the characters were well-developed and the plot moved along at a nice pace. I was pondering this book and its characters quite a bit when I wasn't listening to it. If you like a diverse cast of characters and don't mind a bit of a gritty war book, give Front Lines a try!
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