Updated Review: Posted January 2018
my feelings on the anthology as a whole haven't really changed, but i did up my rating from 1 star to 2 stars since i was actually able to finish it finally, although honestly i think that is more a testament to how much i've improved my skimming skills in the past year than anything else. i really wanted to love this and i guess i will try to read the 2nd one eventually because i did pay for it but this one was just overall so underwhelming and it makes me sad.

Original Review: Posted January 2017
i'm finally just giving up on this, DNF at around 50%. i wanted to like this so badly, but i've been trying to get through it for two months and every time i think to pick it up i just dread trying to muddle through another story. and i'm sick of seeing it on my sidebar.

excellent idea for an anthology but there really needs to be some kind of quality control and also more of a variety of stories. i feel like 45% of them were the same victorian story over and over again, another 45% was the same sci-fi story over and over again, and then the remaining 10% was just weird shit. like there was some story with sentient animals that made ZERO sense because apparently it was the third in a series and the author chose to give no background info on it. i was just sitting there like ???? the whole time. i'm hoping maybe some of the other anthologies by this publishing company are better because i chose the backer package where i got ALL of them, but i guess what can you do about it now.

definitely the high point of the half that i read was cleolinda's short story, a prequel to her long awaited novel that i hope she manages to finish one day. ;)

There were several strong, enjoyable stories (the old women with powers, the haunted house, the lunar camp, the dog story at the end), but they couldn't quite make up for the impatience I felt with the rest of the volume. Too many typos and a strong feeling that many of the stories needed another edit or two - particularly the steampunk-in-Egypt one, which felt particularly hasty and amateurish.

I have a story, "Commando Bats," in this anthology of stories written by women.

Mine features old bats who get powers!

A fun, diverse anthology.

There's a decent mix of stories here, most of which I enjoyed. Since I got this specifically for Cleolinda's story, I should probably mention that I thought it was wonderful, and it makes me excited to read more, when it becomes available.

An excellent collection. I enjoyed all the stories, and some of them were truly excellent!

Very mixed story quality.

2.5 if you squint. Some high points, especially in the later half, but a lot of these stories are only sort of average.

Athena's Daughters, edited by Jean Rabe, is another in the growing list of sff anthologies featuring short fiction with a focus on women as the protagonists - an anthology described in its Introduction as "completely written, illustrated, and edited by strong, competent women—about strong, competent women." Like a number of other recent projects aimed at providing a venue for the publication of underrepresented voices and stories about women, people of colour, queer authors, and other marginalised peoples, Athena's Daughters was crowdfunded. The publishers, the creative collective Silence in the Library, have announced a companion anthology, Apollo's Daughters (short stories featuring female protagonists written by men) and a second volume in the Athena's Daughters series.

I thoroughly enjoyed almost all of the stories in the anthology. My most favourite selections included:

Mary Robinette Kowal's First Flight, about a woman who travels a very long way to witness the firsts flights at Kity Hawk;

Commando Bats by Sherwood Smith, in which three elderly women are granted heroic abilities of a sort by the goddess Hera;

The Songbird's Search by C. A. Verstraete, featuring a travelling wise woman who takes on the task of showing two young women with incredible power how to control and use that power wisely and well;

Cynthia Ward's Whoever Fights Monsters, which brings together elements of Bram Stoker's Dracula and the murders committed by the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, with hints of Sherlock Holmes and James Bond;

Millie by Janine K. Spendlove, which addresses one of the greatest aerial mysteries of the 20th century;

Vicki Johnson-Steger's Burly and Cavendish Blend, a steampunk tale which features a protagonist delightfully reminiscent of Indiana Jones and a plot interwoven with Egyptian antiquities (and, unfortunately, a lot of unexplored colonialism and Orientalism, which I must acknowledge even as I enjoy reading it);

Jennifer Brozek's Janera, which is not really a story, but the opening chapter to a YA sf novel that Brozek has not yet published. I hope she does so soon, because both situation and protagonist grabbed me instantly. It's a "lost heir" story, but so far, it's a really good one.

Maggie Allen's "Lunar Camp" is reminiscent of the Heinlein juveniles of my youth, with young kids having adventures and finding their inner courage when tested. And that's a good thing. Here, Bee loves plants and doesn't want to spend her summer away from them - but when she's tested during an emergency, she forms bonds that make her realise there are things for her to learn and enjoy even on the moon.