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Soldier Girl is a series of YA Alternate History novels written by Michael Grant. The books follow the exploits of three girls who must bring humanity’s most brutal war to a startling end.
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Order of Soldier Girl Series
| # | Read | Title | Published | Details |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Front Lines | 2016 | Description / Buy | |
| 2 | Silver Stars | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
| 3 | Soldier Girls in Action (Short Story) | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
| 4 | Dead of Night (Short Story) | 2017 | Description / Buy | |
| 5 | Purple Hearts | 2018 | Description / Buy |
Front Lines, the first novel in the series, takes readers to 1942. WWII is in full swing. The Nazi War machine is determined to wash civilization away. In the real world, they eventually encountered great opposition from the Allied Forces.
And that doesn’t change in the world Michael Grant change. What does change is the fact that, in this alternate timeline, women were also subject to the draft. They were thrown into the maelstrom of conflict alongside their male counterparts and forced to fight against Germany’s expanding reach.
The focus of the Soldier Girl series isn’t the drastic effect this development had on the social fabric of the United States but rather, the lives of three particular girls who went into World War II with very romantic notions of what the conflict would bring.
Rio was just a simple American girl from a small California town. She joined the army along with her friend Jenou when she learned that her sister had died in action. It wasn’t long before she made her way to the front lines and experienced firsthand the true madness of war.
Frangie, a poor African American girl, needed the money. Her family was destitute and Frangie hoped that the financial rewards she would garner from her involvement in WWII would keep their household afloat.
So she joined the medical unit and became the last face many of the soldiers on the battlefield saw before they succumbed to their wounds.
Rainy, a young Jewish woman, wanted to kill Nazis. She didn’t expect the Intelligence Community to recruit her. Neither did she think that she would spend the war infiltrating enemy nations and turning the tide of war through her clandestine actions.
It is through the eyes of these three girls that the story of the Soldier Girl series is told. The books might be YA but they are very dark and violent. Readers follow the heroines as they slowly assimilate into the army, overcome the obstacles of training and then finally take up arms to do the actual fighting.
Over time, they are forced to face the horrors of war. Their mental, physical, and emotional strength are tested as they watch friends and allies die. This is as sexism and racism threaten to bury them.
Michael Grant presents a strong, underlying message of feminism. His protagonists are frequently oppressed because of their gender, race, and skin color. But they refuse to surrender to the weight of those prejudices.
Best Soldier Girl Books
This series has been commended for the unflinching exploration of war that the individual books provide, with some of the best titles including:
Silver Stars: It is 1943 and WWII is still rumbling on. The Germans took a beating but they are far from defeated. The conflict will soon shift over to the Island of Sicily.
Frangie, Rio, and Rainy now know what they are made of and what they are willing to do to survive. They won’t beat the Germans alone. But they will give everything they have to help the American Army conquer Italy.
Purple Hearts: D-Day is here. The Allies are about to face their greatest challenge so far. Rio, Rainy, and Frangie have grown. They are no longer the naïve little girls who started basic training years earlier.
To win the war, they know that they must fight harder than ever before but without losing their humanity.
Other Book Series You May Like
You may also like the “Carve the Mark” Series by Veronica Roth. Cyra is her brother’s blade, a weapon the cruel tyrant uses to rule the Shotet people and torture his enemies. Akos is a farmer’s son who will do anything to save his brother from a deadly fate.
When Akos and Cyra meet, they must decide whether they will help each other or destroy one another.
The “Arc of Scythe” Series by Neal Shusterman is another great read. The world has conquered hunger, disease, and death. Only scythes can take lives now. Citra and Rowan have no interest in doing the work of a scythe. But as apprentices to one, they must learn to take other lives lest they lose theirs.
What Is The Next Book in The Soldier Girl Series?
There doesn't seem to be an upcoming book in The Soldier Girl Series. The newest book is Purple Hearts and was released on January, 30th 2018.