Name: Liz Griffin's review of Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino
Item: Not Good for Maidens
Rating: 4
Author: Liz Griffin

Tori Bovalino

Lou never believed in superstitions or magic—until her teenage aunt Neela is kidnapped to the goblin market. The market is a place Lou has only read about—twisted streets, offerings of sweet fruits and incredible jewels. Everything—from the food and wares, to the goblins themselves—is a haunting temptation for any human who manages to find their way in. Determined to save Neela, Lou learns songs and spells and tricks that will help her navigate this dangerous world and slip past a goblin’s defenses—but she only has three days to find Neela before the market disappears and her aunt becomes one of them forever. If she isn’t careful, the market might just end up claiming her too.

Not Good for Maidens

Liz Griffin

She'd never been good at friends. She didn't know what parts to show, what parts to keep.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters)

A page-turning and creeptastic YA horror/contemporary fantasy, great for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The coven’s magic felt somewhat vague to me, but otherwise I greatly enjoyed this book!

A page-turning and creeptastic YA horror/contemporary fantasy, great for fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The coven’s magic felt somewhat vague to me, but otherwise I greatly enjoyed this book!

CW for death, body horror, maiming

Suzanne

The story centers around a family of witches and the renowned Goblin Market that can only be entered safely before the witches turn into full witches.
The story has two timelines which merge well together.
I loved the queer and asexual characters and it is high time more fantasy books have queer people in it. 
The book started off really well paced, but I found it lagging in some bits. It's a cute and fun read.

The ARC was provided by NetGalley, I give it 3.5 stars.

 but I nearly DNFed this several times. By the time anything happened I had checked out.

There's plenty of LGBTQ+ rep, with an ace main character, pan side character and bi character. Ace rep is few and far between, so having the character explicitly stated as ace was a nice touch:).

I wanted to see more of the goblin market, I understand why we don't, but it was easily the most interesting part of this entire book. The magic system was never fleshed out, and honestly calling Lou a witch in any capacity is weak at best. I feel like the majority of this book is Lou finding out she's been lied to a lot, and any history/explanations that would be useful beyond the plot are excluded. Like the Doctrine, why it's only three days, how the family's magic works, etc.

Holly

Oof. I loved The Devil Makes Three but I nearly DNFed this several times. By the time anything happened I had checked out.
There's plenty of LGBTQ+ rep, with an ace main character, pan side character and bi character. Ace rep is few and far between, so having the character explicitly stated as ace was a nice touch:).

I wanted to see more of the goblin market, I understand why we don't, but it was easily the most interesting part of this entire book. The magic system was never fleshed out, and honestly calling Lou a witch in any capacity is weak at best. I feel like the majority of this book is Lou finding out she's been lied to a lot, and any history/explanations that would be useful beyond the plot are excluded. Like the Doctrine, why it's only three days, how the family's magic works, etc.

I still highly recommend The Devil Makes Three but I'd recommend skipping this one. 

I listened to the audiobook for this, and that wasn't the way to go. It was hard to differentiate the characters, and the accents weren't good, so I kept getting pulled out of the story. I never felt invested and didn't care about what was going on. Maybe I'll try rereading this physically in the future to see if I'll enjoy it more, but for now, it was very meh.

Heather Harrington

Though they were a thousand miles and an ocean away, the market always follows.

A goblin market haunts the streets of Bath. They come to town, once a year, and sing their intoxicating song of promises and passion. They lure us humans, us mortals into the shadowy depths, can you withstand their tricks and guises, can you survive the market ?

Louisa lives for the summer, when she doesn’t have to bother with school, and Neela who is more like her sister than her teenage aunt, comes to stay. They stay up late, draped over her bed, talking dreaming and planning. The other half of the year Lou lives through her phone, lives through Neela and her life in Bath, because Lou has never really called Boston home.

Laura has always fought for freedom, and she fights for the freedom of her daughter. Born and raised a witch, born into a life of living for the city and its people, protecting Bath from the market. May, may was born into the same life, but without the same calling. Something happened, tearing them away from their family home, sending them running miles and oceans away to Boston. For freedom Laura will always fight, and shell be damned in her daughter Lou gets dragged into any of this.

Spooky and tense, this book reminded me of Book of Night by Holly Black. Unfortunately this one was not for me. I wish there had been more magic, more Laura, and less Lou monologuing about how alone she is - rather than holy hell MAGIC exists ?? The characters just weren’t really there for me, and the plot had no consistency in speed. I enjoyed the flash back chapters, even though jumping to the current day was a bit jarring at times. Honestly if Laura had been the main character and got more angry, I would have enjoyed it a lot more

Alice Hyman

Though they were a thousand miles and an ocean away, the market always follows.

A goblin market haunts the streets of Bath. They come to town, once a year, and sing their intoxicating song of promises and passion. They lure us humans, us mortals into the shadowy depths, can you withstand their tricks and guises, can you survive the market ?

Louisa lives for the summer, when she doesn’t have to bother with school, and Neela who is more like her sister than her teenage aunt, comes to stay. They stay up late, draped over her bed, talking dreaming and planning. The other half of the year Lou lives through her phone, lives through Neela and her life in Bath, because Lou has never really called Boston home.

Laura has always fought for freedom, and she fights for the freedom of her daughter. Born and raised a witch, born into a life of living for the city and its people, protecting Bath from the market. May, may was born into the same life, but without the same calling. Something happened, tearing them away from their family home, sending them running miles and oceans away to Boston. For freedom Laura will always fight, and shell be damned in her daughter Lou gets dragged into any of this.

Spooky and tense, this book reminded me of Book of Night by Holly Black. Unfortunately this one was not for me. I wish there had been more magic, more Laura, and less Lou monologuing about how alone she is - rather than holy hell MAGIC exists ?? The characters just weren’t really there for me, and the plot had no consistency in speed. I enjoyed the flash back chapters, even though jumping to the current day was a bit jarring at times. Honestly if Laura had been the main character and got more angry, I would have enjoyed it a lot more

Bit of a meandering review! I thought Not Good For Maidens was fine, I'm glad I read it. I think it could have benefited from another round of editing to tighten up the interactions and plot-flow. Maybe I expected something different, so it didn't quite hit for me.

I liked the themes of sisterhood, and how most of the characters were women. The goblins felt underdeveloped, except for Eitra, of course. I appreciated the casual queer rep of the book, especially Lou being ace (although I thought she was a little bland besides that). And I liked the hesitant love story between Eitra and May. It felt a bit like insta-love, but I thought it made sense with their youth and longing for a new life.

This book was very gory, lots of gross imagery for the goblin market. It did a good job encompassing the vibe of a bone-chilling autumnal read.

I liked the descriptions of the goblin market architecture, how it is a vertical labyrinth. There is a lot of good structure to bones of this story, but the meat of it was a little disappointing.

I wish Lou had developed a relationship with any of the goblins, which was what I expected going into the book (not necessarily romantic, but I wanted more interaction). I liked Lou's scenes with Eitra the most. The book kicked off midway when Lou finally starts to enter the goblin market.

May's flashbacks were compelling, but the dual-timeline narration structure didn't inform the suspense of the present timeline. It created a sense of dramatic irony towards the end - but once the full secrets of May's past were revealed, it didn't deliver on the emotional impact.

The trickery of the goblins felt a little half-baked. I get that the goblin market has a magnetic "pull" for its victims, but once inside it's just horror and gore and a few pretty buttons. Because our main characters are witches, they see right through any glamours used by the goblins - but because of that, we never really see what exactly is so ENTICING about the goblin market. It just looks like a horror show! Why would humans want to visit, especially locals who know the dangers?

For young May in the flashbacks (who is not only closeted but also feels trapped in her impending witchy future), it makes sense that she is drawn into the market by Eitra and her attraction.

But I didn't understand Neela's reason, even after her explanation. (I seriously thought her text about a cute girl in the bar bathroom was a hint that a goblin lured her to the market - but no, apparently it was just to watch after a friend who wanted to go. And then it's a fucking bummer because the friend died anyway. Sigh.)

I liked the ending of the epilogue. I thought it was strange to end the book with a flashback (when May is depressed and broken after surviving the market) and it didn't seem to add any closure. I wish May had been a larger part of the book in the present, but she was very quiet and closed-off (understandably so, but a bummer after we see so much of her in the flashbacks). The epilogue afterward tied everything up nicely, and gave Lou's character some weight.

I'm looking forward to the author's next work (a "Labyrinth-inspired" tale, which is what I mistakenly expected from this book) as I think her story ideas have a good base. Next time I'll go in with less specific expectations.

Caroline Clutterbuck Kapulkin

Bit of a meandering review! I thought Not Good For Maidens was fine, I'm glad I read it. I think it could have benefited from another round of editing to tighten up the interactions and plot-flow. Maybe I expected something different, so it didn't quite hit for me.

I liked the themes of sisterhood, and how most of the characters were women. The goblins felt underdeveloped, except for Eitra, of course. I appreciated the casual queer rep of the book, especially Lou being ace (although I thought she was a little bland besides that). And I liked the hesitant love story between Eitra and May. It felt a bit like insta-love, but I thought it made sense with their youth and longing for a new life.

This book was very gory, lots of gross imagery for the goblin market. It did a good job encompassing the vibe of a bone-chilling autumnal read.

I liked the descriptions of the goblin market architecture, how it is a vertical labyrinth. There is a lot of good structure to bones of this story, but the meat of it was a little disappointing.

I wish Lou had developed a relationship with any of the goblins, which was what I expected going into the book (not necessarily romantic, but I wanted more interaction). I liked Lou's scenes with Eitra the most. The book kicked off midway when Lou finally starts to enter the goblin market.

May's flashbacks were compelling, but the dual-timeline narration structure didn't inform the suspense of the present timeline. It created a sense of dramatic irony towards the end - but once the full secrets of May's past were revealed, it didn't deliver on the emotional impact.

The trickery of the goblins felt a little half-baked. I get that the goblin market has a magnetic "pull" for its victims, but once inside it's just horror and gore and a few pretty buttons. Because our main characters are witches, they see right through any glamours used by the goblins - but because of that, we never really see what exactly is so ENTICING about the goblin market. It just looks like a horror show! Why would humans want to visit, especially locals who know the dangers?

For young May in the flashbacks (who is not only closeted but also feels trapped in her impending witchy future), it makes sense that she is drawn into the market by Eitra and her attraction.
But I didn't understand Neela's reason, even after her explanation. (I seriously thought her text about a cute girl in the bar bathroom was a hint that a goblin lured her to the market - but no, apparently it was just to watch after a friend who wanted to go. And then it's a fucking bummer because the friend died anyway. Sigh.)

I liked the ending of the epilogue. I thought it was strange to end the book with a flashback (when May is depressed and broken after surviving the market) and it didn't seem to add any closure. I wish May had been a larger part of the book in the present, but she was very quiet and closed-off (understandably so, but a bummer after we see so much of her in the flashbacks). The epilogue afterward tied everything up nicely, and gave Lou's character some weight.

I'm looking forward to the author's next work (a "Labyrinth-inspired" tale, which is what I mistakenly expected from this book) as I think her story ideas have a good base. Next time I'll go in with less specific expectations.

Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino

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Genesis (@whisperingchapters) &
Not Good for Maidens by Tori Bovalino