Not Good For Maidens by Tori Bovalino | Spoiler-Free Review

“We must not look at goblin men, We must not buy their fruits: Who knows upon what soil they fed; Their hungry thirsty roots?”

    - Goblin Market by Christine Rossetti 

"Coping was not thinking about the market, not thinking about the market, not thinking about anything other than the market."

    - Not Good For Maidens by Tori Bovalino

   (Trigger warnings in bold.)

  Not Good For Maidens by Tori Bovalino is a YA fantasy-horror retelling of the British fairytale of the Goblin Market. This novel was heavily inspired by Christine Rossetti's famous poem, Goblin Market, as well as the traditional English ballad Scarborough Fair, of which there are many versions (but the one I know is by Simon & Garfunkel). 

    The book follows two timelines: First, one centered around May Wickett, a witch in training who for reasons unknown has been banished from her hometown of York and is now living in Boston. This POV takes place eighteen years before the second POV, which follows May's niece, Louisa, as she learns about the market and what its connection is to her family. 

    This is not a story for the faint of heart and it has a lot of potential triggers, including body horror, dismemberment, cannibalism, torture, blood and gore, and graphic depictions of death. There were definitely a few times while reading where I had to step away for a moment to catch my breath, so just be prepared if you're planning on picking this up.

    I also want to take a moment to talk about the queer representation in here, because I think it's worth talking about. We have a multitude of queer characters, including an asexual character, a bisexual character (that has an on-page romance with a woman), and a pansexual character. While the ace character and the pan character don't have any big moments talking about their sexuality aside from the initial "hey by the way I'm (insert sexuality here)," it's nice knowing that they're there, and they're just living their lives. I appreciate the kind of rep where it isn't made into a big deal, but just casually mentioned and then moved on, because that's pretty much how it is for us people living it.

    As far as enjoyment goes, it's not very high up on my list, unfortunately. I went into this novel with relatively high hopes because I love Goblin Market so much (I studied it in college and went down a rabbit hole because of it) and I had been seeing a lot of decent reviews. But despite all the mess and gore and horror of it, I felt the story was kind of bland? The writing was mediocre at best, it felt clunky in places and stagnant in others, and the plot felt like it was trying to do too much at once. 

    Two things I did appreciate were the familial bonds that were explored and the atmosphere that was cultivated throughout. All of the characters in this novel are member of the same family. We have May and Louisa, our two POV centers, and then there is Laura, May's older sister and Lou's mother, and Neela, who is May and Laura's younger half-sister. Neela is actually only a year older than Lou, so while they are aunt and niece, they act more like close cousins/sisters. There are other characters as well but these are the main four. Tori Bovalino really managed to curate a strong nigh unbreakable sisterly and familial bond with these women. I especially loved seeing the relationship between May and Laura, as it reminded me of my own relationship with my older sibling. We may argue, like, all the time, but at the end of the day I would lay down my life for them, and they would do the same for me.

    The atmosphere was also very well done, especially when it came to the market. Like in the poem, the descriptions of the market started out so lush and beautiful with just an underlying sense of unease and fear, but as the novel went on and the characters explored more of the market, the descriptions because more horrifying and gruesome. It managed to bring that unease into my own reading experience, so by the end I was squirming at some of the images being described. 

    Overall, I think if you're new to horror, I think this would be a good stepping stone for you. I would also recommend this book to those who enjoy old English history and mythology. 

    I gave this book a 5.57 CAWPILE score, which comes out to a solid 3 out of 5 stars.

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    Have you also read Not Good For Maidens by Tori Bovalino? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, or tweet at me @AllyEmReads.

    Until next time!