Audiobook Review: A Tyranny of Petticoats Edited by Jessica Spotswood

Title: A Tyranny of Petticoats: 15 Stories of Belles, Bank Robbers & Other Badass Girls Edited by: Jessica Spotswood Published: October 11, 2016 by Amulet Books (Amazon / Goodreads) Synopsis: From an impressive sisterhood of YA writers comes an edge-of-your-seat anthology of historical fiction and fantasy featuring a diverse array of daring heroines.  Criss-cross America — on dogsleds and ships, stagecoaches and trains — from pirate ships off the coast of the Carolinas to the peace, love, and protests of 1960s Chicago. Join fifteen of today’s most talented writers of young adult literature on a thrill ride through history with American girls charting their own course. They are monsters and mediums, bodyguards and barkeeps, screenwriters and schoolteachers, heiresses and hobos. They're making their own way in often-hostile lands, using every weapon in their arsenals, facing down murderers and marriage proposals. And they all have a story to tell.

I really liked this collection of short stories. I'm not usually a fan of short stories but with this collection of authors writing an anthology of badass females I knew I had to read it and I'm glad I did.

For one thing, this is a very diverse collection of stories. It spans decades and the entire continent of North America giving us stories of young women from all walks of life. And because of that, every story is so different. It was really great to be able to see such a wide collection of stories. As a fan of historical fiction I enjoyed being taken to different places and being immersed in the different historical times and places. So many of them are not often written and explored periods too, which was great and made for really unique reads.

But the settings and the stories wasn't the only diverse thing about this collection of stories. The characters too were extremely diverse. And I don't just mean that they were different characters, I mean that they are characters from all walks of life. It gives us characters who are different races, ethnicities, and have different sexual orientations. Every character is different and unique which was fantastic in not only differentiating the stories but actually in connecting with the stories. All these badass young women were well, badass and I loved meeting and connecting with each and every one too.

The stories were also really different in their tone. There are a few stories that have more of a fantasy tone to them which was a pleasant surprise to me, while others had a strong mystery element, and others still felt more like traditional historical fiction. This too made for a diverse and interesting collection of stories. They were all really good but dmittedly, some of them were better than others. I think my favorites were The Journey by Marie Lu which had a fantasy feel, Madeline's Choice by Jessica Spotswood, The Red Raven Ball by Caroline Tung Richmond which had spies and mystery, The Legendary Garrett Girls by Y.S. Lee which was a great old west kind of story, City of Angels by Lindsay Smith which was set on the homefront during WWII. But honestly there wasn't a bad story among them.

I listened to the audiobook for this and while I thought at first that I would have rather each story had it's own narrator I honestly think that the narrator here, Bahni Turpin, did a great job. Each story did have it's own feel and the characters all sounded so different. She did a great job setting the scene and helping you connect with the different times and places as well as the diverse characters.

If you love historical fiction or you are trying to explore the genre a little more, I would definitely recommend this anthologies. I'm not a huge fan of short stories but if there are more like this I could maybe warm up to them.

I give A Tyranny of Petticoats Edited by Jessica Spotswood 9 out of 10 stars

Buy/Borrow/Bypass: Buy/Borrow. Absolutely read this book. Listen to the audiobook. Even if you don't like short stories anthologies or historical fiction, give it a try. It's really fantastic. I liked it just as much as I thought I would if not more.

Have you read A Tyranny of Petticoats? What did you think? Leave me a comment with your thoughts. Thanks for stopping and HAPPY READING!