I fell in love with The Radical Element from the introduction to the final pages. It was inevitable that I would. I mean, I am the biggest historical fiction fan and I cannot resist a good heroine. The Radical Element would be the ultimate kryptonite. It not only gave me one fiery heroine - it gave me twelve. I repeat twelve.

Many of the authors I was already familiar, and a huge fan of: Mackenzi Lee, Anna-Marie McLemore, Dhonielle Clayton, and Stacey Lee. But I found myself falling in love with the rest. And that's the beauty of anthologies - you find new authors to crush on and find their books.
The Stories

There was such a range of diversity within these pages. The Radical Element warmed my heart in so many ways: giving me variety, difficult dilemmas, and heroines that were not afraid to put themselves first. Their identities are questioned, put at stake, and they have to figure out what is worth fighting for. Be still my heart. I could fall in love with all of them.

I'm so thankful to have gotten to review this anthology! The Radical Element was a really fun read. It had twelve stories all about girls who were brave and daring and full of adventure. Each girl was so inspiring, they stood up for their beliefs and each wanted to do something more with their lives in worlds where it wasn't acceptable for women to do much of anything. I enjoy the format of anthologies and getting to read so many different adventurous stories. Each of these authors did an amazing job of capturing the hearts and bravery of each girl that they wrote about. A few of the stories I found to be slow or boring, but for the most part I had fun reading a majority of these stories.

Such a fun and inspiring collection of feminist historical short stories.

This was an AMAZING read. What a great collection of short stories. I will be recommending this to every teen/young adult and young woman I know. I absolutely loved reading about strong DIVERSE women, each and every one unique and well-represented. The author's notes on their processes for developing the narratives were wonderful to read as well. I could barely put this book down because I was so engrossed, I don't think I've ever read about so many fictional historical characters that weren't built solely around a romantic arc or as a side character to a male protagonist. This book features women of color, women of disability, women of diverse religions, women of different gender identities, many different demographics that are not written to in the mainstream. Again, would definitely purchase for myself and others.

Actual rating: 3.83 stars (you do get weird ratings when you read anthologies)

I received this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Reviewing and rating anthologies is usually tricky, because you can't always love all of the short stories they are made of; yet, for The Radical Element, I can say that I enjoyed all of them and that the messages the anthology was trying to get through were executed well. The Radical Element is an empowering read that focuses on young women who didn't fit within the norms of society, who were marginalized and learnt to respect and step up for themselves.

The short stories manage to make you learn historical details you might not have suspected, especially since the stories of those young women would be stories erased from the records of history. In a way, it puts the stress that history was made as much by women than by men, even though so many of them had to work in the shadows (for that, I'm considering Lady Firebrand, which was one of my favourite stories) and thanks to some of the authors' notes, you might even get recommendations for non-fiction history books on women.

As I'm more interested in the 19th century than in the 20th century, I have to confess that I loved the short stories set from 1838 to 1927 more, because those are set in time periods that compel me, but that's personal preference and they all were pretty good. My personal favourites were Lady Firebrand by Megan Sheperd, Glamour by Anna-Marie McLemore and Better for all the world by Marieke Nijkamp. Some of them include fantasy elements, which I really loved, considering mixing history and fantasy is one of my favourite things. I discovered several new authors through this anthology and will make sure to check some of their novels out.

Another thing I loved was that it didn't have a lot of romance, it was sometimes hinted, it was sometimes shown, but it wasn't the focus of the story, it was more about growing on your own. I would have liked to see more f/f romances though, it was hinted once in Step Right Up and there was a f/f romance between secondary characters in Take Me With U, but I wanted a bit more.

Now, I have to say that if you read the stories one after the other without reading anything else on the side, the endings of most of them must feel a bit repetitive, but it goes along with the main message of this anthology: it's about getting through obstacles that prevent you to be who you are and embracing your difference and that's such an important idea. I believe that this anthology should be read by as many young women as possible, to show them that they got this and that they can dare dreaming and fighting for what they want.

The representation in this book is fantastic – or that's what I felt, but for that, it's important to check out what #ownvoices reviewers have to say – and quite a few of those short stories were #ownvoices. This anthology is an accurate representation of what it is to be American when you feel like you're not wanted, when you're different from what the norm wants you to be: it tells the stories of women of colour, disabled women, women from different religions. It is an amazing example of the diversity young adult literature has been getting and what it deserves.

Overall, The Radical Element is one of the best YA anthologies I got to read, alongside A Tyranny of Petticoats which is its close second (it makes sense, considering A Tyranny of Petticoats was edited by Jessica Spotswood and focused on similar themes). It delivers such important messages and might have a lasting impact on young adults who will read it, as its heroines were relatable and might make you want to fight harder to defend what you believe in.

**I received an Advanced Reader Copy from NetGalley for review**

I may not be the right person for this book. I agree with a lot of what was being said in this book, however I do not think it should be so heavy handed. I understand that they need to convey their theme and meaning in a shorter amount of words, but I really did not connect with the way things were being portrayed in these short stories. Overall, I was not overly enchanted or entertained with this book, but I think someone who really loves short stories would enjoy.

Disappointed by this one. Writing seems very amateurish and stories all follow similar patterns.

I really enjoyed A Tyranny of Petticoats, so I was delighted to be approved for an ARC of The Radical Element (which in no way swayed my opinion because hello, I would have read this anyway). Once again, this is a fascinating collection of historical short fiction featuring young women pushing the boundaries of what is expected of them. The range of topics means that there's something for everyone interested in some feminist YA, and it was nice to see care taken to represent people from different racial and religious backgrounds as well as characters who are trans, queer, or disabled.

There were a few stories that I really didn't care for (which I won't call out), but I adored Lady Firebrand (a paralyzed young Northerner and her free black companion sabotaging Confederate supplies during the Civil War), Land of the Sweet, Home of the Brave (a girl of Japanese/Chinese heritage trying to win a sugar company contest in the '50s), and Take Me With U (an Iranian refugee becoming obsessed with Prince and joining a punk band in the '80s). Even as an adult, these stories felt empowering, so I can only imagine their impact on a younger audience.

One other the things that I love about this anthology is all the stories have a great message. Each and every one of them show you a better understanding of what the characters are going through. Some of the stories characters fell a little flat to me. As well as the writing.

I'm really happy NetGalley approved this one for me since I really enjoyed A Tyranny of Petticoats.
And The Radical Element did not disappoint either.
I learned something with every story! They were all great and some were even better. My favourites were Megan Shepard's one about female spies in the American Civil War, and Marieke Nijkamp's about the horrors of eugenics.
I love the diversity of each story. It is so wonderful to see it in a historical fiction anthology since historical fiction is not always as diverse as it could be.

I loved the first book in this series so I was so excited when I read there was going to be a sequel (of sorts). This was well worth the wait. So many kick-ass women kicking ass and taking names. It makes you feel really empowered. As with any anthology I did like some stories more than others, but this was, overall, well worth the read. I would recommend it. 4 out of 5 stars.

Twelve stories giving a new lens on history. Each story comes from a different feminine and minority point of view. As in many collections, I liked some more than others. But all are important stories to hear juxtaposed on the mainstream whitewashed versions of history.

Interesting selection of story, some better than others. Not something I was eager to read and I struggled to finish.