Not Good For Maidens

Product Information

So many little things about the book were just… weird! Their family dynamics, especially. The parents of both generations being split up and located in different countries but conveniently being able to visit often, Neela being a half sister to Laura and May and just a year or so older than Lou even though she’s Lou’s aunt. It’s unconventional for sure and while usually I don’t care, again, it was confusing at many points with the amount of names and just… odd. And also May being pregnant in the present timeline was mentioned like once in a sentence in the beginning and forgotten about aside from another comment like “think of the baby” later in the book. 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. The only other problem I had with it was I found some of the reveals to be very strangely placed? Like we as the reader would know something before the characters did so when it was revealed it really wasn't that big of a deal? 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. It's hard to write a police procedural series set in a small community where the local detachment is obliged to turn the investigation of serious crimes over to outside authorities. West Coast crime novelist Lou Allin meets this challenge in two ways: by creating an ongoing community of characters we care about, and by finding ways for her protagonist, RCMP Corporal Holly Martin, to circumvent jurisdictional boundaries.

The horror elements of this books were well written, it definitely instilled that sense of unease but there were definitely times I wished the book had learnt harder into that and BEEN a horror book rather than a coming of age/rescue with strong romance and horror elements.I liked everything about it. The dual timeline, the different points of view, the characters, the plot, the setting...

A spellbinding dark fantasy of generational magic and mischief. With haunting prose, this riveting tale will hold you captive like the call of the Goblin Market itself." – Rosiee Thor, author of Fire Becomes Her and Tarnished are the Stars 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? In a time of typewriters and steam engines, Iris Winnow awaits word from her older brother, who has enlisted on the side of Enva the Skyward goddess. Alcohol abuse led to her mother’s losing her job, and Iris has dropped out of school and found work utilizing her writing skills at the Oath Gazette. Hiding the stress of her home issues behind a brave face, Iris competes for valuable assignments that may one day earn her the coveted columnist position. Her rival for the job is handsome and wealthy Roman Kitt, whose prose entrances her so much she avoids reading his articles. At home, she writes cathartic letters to her brother, never posting them but instead placing them in her wardrobe, where they vanish overnight. One day Iris receives a reply, which, along with other events, pushes her to make dramatic life decisions. Magic plays a quiet role in this story, and readers may for a time forget there is anything supernatural going on. This is more of a wartime tale of broken families, inspired youths, and higher powers using people as pawns. It flirts with clichéd tropes but also takes some startling turns. Main characters are assumed White; same-sex marriages and gender equality at the warfront appear to be the norm in this world. I absolutely love the premise of this, the goblin market is one of my favorite fairy tales and it is a shame at how few retellings there are. This book came at an especially perfect time because I had just finished writing my own goblin market retelling novel! So is really fun getting to see one another author did with it. This... didn't make any sense at all. I understand and support the continued need for subversive retellings and welcome any and all diversity added to known narratives, but what on earth was everything else going on? This plot is so forgettable, I can hardly come up with enough points to write a review. I'll try, though:An example of a Goblin Market retelling that subverts the antisemitism of the original text is In An Absent Dream by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Childrens #4). In this book, rather than having a race of goblins who rely on antisemitism to be scary in an underground market, In An Absent Dream takes place in a crossroads world where people from many other universes come together to reside. The market in IAAD works on a strict moral code and those who break that code are punished in all manner of ways from reverse aging to losing senses to turning into birds. This book reframes the ideas in goblin market so it's not about an evil race of subhuman creatures but actually about morality, justice and how we treat each other. It also eliminates the physical features of goblins that formed antisemitic stereotypes. Romance... who is she? I can live with instalove when it's well-executed, but one can hardly expect me to believe that two nights spent walking through a marketplace selling human body parts or drinking coffee at a 24/7 café is basis enough for a ride-or-die, elope-with-me, life-sacrificing love that shatters the foundations of York's supernatural societies. There was nothing I disliked about this work, though there are some scenes of pretty intense gore with detailed descriptions that made me cringe a little. Overall, I highly recommend this work and will be reading more from this author! The writing is of high quality. There are literary allusions to poets ranging from Christina Rossetti to Matthew Arnold to Robert W. Service. References to other famous criminals abound; they range from “a pig farmer with a subnormal IQ who had murdered over sixty women” (52) to “the infamous Karla Homolka, complicit wife of the killer Paul Bernardo” (266) to “Clifford Olsen” (222) to “that Utah girl who had been abducted for months by religious zealots, forced to live in the desert and submit to continual assaults and brainwashing” (197) to “John Wayne Gacey and . . . Ted Bundy” (133). The book also includes some interesting multi-cultural angles; Holly’s mother was “Coastal Salish from the Cowichan band north of Victoria” (38) and one of Holly’s constables is a Sikh.