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Not Good For Maidens

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Not Good for Maidens is deliciously dark and does not shy away from gore and body horror. Consider yourself warned. Don't expect this story to be about the sort of goblins you read in PG fairytales. These goblins are manipulative, ruthless and dangerous to humans. What you can expect though is gorgeous dark fairytale vibes and beautiful writing. The world created by Tori feels so luscious and well thought out.

Salem’s Lot meets The Darkest Part of the Forest in this horror-fantasy retelling of Christina Rossetti’s “Goblin Market.”

Do I, after finishing this novel, understand why The Market (tm) is so irresistible to the youth of York when all locals know it can end in torment and disfigurement, if not manslaughter? When there is literally no way to be forced into it and countless magical countermeasures to take? What even are the goblins? What work do the witches/guardians do outside of market season and poultice mixing? Isn't this the bare skeleton of a story rather than a finished novel? So what does Bovalino have to offer then? Nothing new, really, except maybe allusions to semi-cannibalism. I have never seen a dual-timeline narrative being used so poorly. Normally, one or the other plotline would gradually reveal information to complete the picture, which could be used to the advantage of greater plot twists, but... no? There are literally two rescue missions, one taking place in the past, one in the present, with little to no suspense to either. The end. The atmosphere was really good, especially as someone who is from Boston which is where a bit of the story takes place. I really love the world building and what she decided to do with the goblin market, and I also thought the goblins themselves were really interesting. Seventeen years later, Lou, May’s niece, knows nothing of her magical lineage or the twisted streets, sweet fruits, and incredible jewels of the goblin market. But just like her aunt, the market calls to her, an echo of a curse that won’t release its hold on her family. And when her youngest aunt, Neela, is kidnapped by goblins, Lou discovers just how real and dangerous the market is.

The conflict was so-so. In theory, I liked it, but execution-wise… not so much. May being taken and needing rescued, good, Neela being taken and needing rescued, good. But Lou’s emotional conflict? Not enjoyable to read. Laura purposely raised Lou away from it and kept it a secret, so when Neela is taken, there’s a big reveal to Lou. And most of the book is spent with Lou saying “why didn’t you tell me this” over and over again and being mad with her mom, basically. She’s a teenager, it’s a YA book, I get it, I understand, I really do, but it just got sort of irritating after a certain point. In the first half of the book it was pretty rough, until Lou started to get her time to shine in the spotlight.Stars. This was a bit of a mixed bag for me but in the end I liked it more than I disliked it. I’m a huge fan of YA horror and YA fantasy so a book mixed with both seemed right up my alley. I knew enough of the Goblin Market tale to realize this was a retelling, but for me this book felt more like visiting the fae and fairy instead. I don’t know if the author chose that because of goblins and their historic ties to antisemitism – I don’t know enough on the topic or history to go into this or as it may pertain to this book- but I actually liked that the book felt more fae-like. I have read many books about the fae –as have many of us- so I felt like I easily understood what this other world was like. And while I found the fae-like goblins interesting and also the story itself, this book was bumpy and was much more plot driven than character driven. I’m a character driven reader personally so I’m left feeling a bit so-so but overall I thought it was a slightly above-average read. To save her, both May and Lou will have to confront their family's past and what happened all those years ago. But everything -- from the food and wares, to the goblins themselves -- is a haunting temptation for any human who manages to find their way in. And if Lou isn't careful, she could end up losing herself to the market, too. From The StoryGraph. There was a fair amount I enjoyed about this book, the overall plot and characters were good but the painfully abysmal narration and the antisemitism underpinning the whole thing dragged this book down a HELL of a lot. I do want something that's more of an expanded retelling of The Goblin Market, and this instead takes the basic formula of the Goblins, Market and strict rules to make a new story, about a market based in York and local witches.

QaS: Would you like to write more YA retellings of classic horror stories in the future? What about a retelling of Dorian Gray for example, which you list as one of your favs? They'll lure you in with fruit and gems and liquor and dancing, merriment to remember for the rest of your life. But that's an illusion. The market is death itself. I liked everything about it. The dual timeline, the different points of view, the characters, the plot, the setting...The only reason why this doesn't get five whole stars is that I didn't cry and I need at least a tear to rate something five stars. (a brat, like I said) Let me state this once and for all: Goblin Market is already sexy enough as it is. Many people have tried to be *deep* about it before, but that's just unnecessary. The "forbidden fruit" and "mouths" and "juices" are already there in Rossetti's manuscript. Good old erotic imagery! We get it. Young adult readers get it. It's about sex and temptation. You don't have to rewrite it to frame it in a feminist coming-of-age narrative... it already is one. In An Absent Dream is a perfect example of subverting harmful ideas through retelling and I don't think Not Good For Maidens was cognisant of the issues it needed to rewrite to achieve the same success. I KNOW the main character is American but choosing an American audiobook narrator who can't do a Yorkshire accent to save her life to do a book where all but 3 characters speak in Yorkshire accidents was a terrible decision and it made this book PAINFUL to listen to as someone who's lived in Yorkshire for all 26 years of my life.

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