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cameronreads's review
2.0
I think it was abundantly clear that the author of this book was not Jewish. Disclaimer; neither am I, but I think it's important to talk about. As soon as I realised the goblins in this book would be evil characters alarm bells were set off in my head, and since doing some research into the tropes used, I think this book does do harm. There is of course one good goblin, but the general idea is that the goblins are evil and want to hurt people (and eat them on occasion) and have magical blood. All things that are outrageous stereotypes of Jewish people, especially considering goblins have been used as a way to represent and do harm to Jewish people. I'd really recommend looking at some Jewish reviewer's discussions on this.
My opinions on the plot and characters of this book are rather average. I think the basic idea was there, but something about the pacing and what this book emphasised was off. I wasn't all that attached to the characters, especially because the character we're meant to be saving all through this book is never seen on page until the end. It meant the stakes didn't feel very high. To be honest, I would have read a whole book about one of the point of views (May's) if it had been expanded on and we had got to spend a bit more time with it (and there wasn't such antisemitic themes).
I do however like the casual queer representation. The main characters are ace and bi respectively, and there's a pan side character, and all of these words are said on page. There's no prejudice against them because of their sexualities, and the main romance is a sapphic one. That was all really nice to see.
I'm really mad about this one - I loved Bovalino's other book and the other goblin market retelling I've read (In An Absent Dream, Seanan McGuire) so I really wanted to love this too. Unfortunate.
My opinions on the plot and characters of this book are rather average. I think the basic idea was there, but something about the pacing and what this book emphasised was off. I wasn't all that attached to the characters, especially because the character we're meant to be saving all through this book is never seen on page until the end. It meant the stakes didn't feel very high. To be honest, I would have read a whole book about one of the point of views (May's) if it had been expanded on and we had got to spend a bit more time with it (and there wasn't such antisemitic themes).
I do however like the casual queer representation. The main characters are ace and bi respectively, and there's a pan side character, and all of these words are said on page. There's no prejudice against them because of their sexualities, and the main romance is a sapphic one. That was all really nice to see.
I'm really mad about this one - I loved Bovalino's other book and the other goblin market retelling I've read (In An Absent Dream, Seanan McGuire) so I really wanted to love this too. Unfortunate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Antisemitism, Blood, Body horror, Cannibalism, Confinement, Death, Gore, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, and Violence
Moderate: Child death, Grief, and Torture
Minor: Death of parent
tinybluepixel's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
1.5
I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I thought a long time about what to write in this review. Admittedly, I was not familiar with the Goblin Market poem (of which this book is a retelling), although it seems that other reviewers are. However, only hearing the word 'goblin' sets of the alarm sirens in my head, and, well ... Instead of saying anything more, let me cite the wikipedia article on the poem, specifically, the section on interpretations: "Some critics believe that some feminist interpretations of the work leave out an anti-semitic nature within the poem. The critic Cynthia Scheinberg believes the Goblins to be "Hebraic", anti-semitic and anti-Judaic characters that the tested Christian sisters Laura and Lizzie must face in order to transition into wholesome and complete young women." Now, we all know wikipedia is not the end-all-be-all of scientific research, but it does feel like a lot of reviewers on here seem to think of the original poem to be some kind of sexy coming-of-age story.
And ... yeah. An underground race of sub-human creatures who lure humans away to kill and eat them? Oh, that's a big yikes. A really big one. And if a portion of these creatures are described as having green skin? Hm. An even bigger yikes. And then their main area of existance is a market, where they trade in blood and tears and locks of hair for cursed fruit? Oh. That's ... I mean, that's not great.
Now, from other reviews on this book, it seems that Goblin Market retellings are ... a thing? And I'm not sure how retelling such a deeply antisemitic could ever work.
It doesn't work in this book.
I'm not sure if the author was aware of the antisemitic background of the poem, but honestly, it kind of feels hard to miss. The goblins in this book are not like the H*rry P*tter ones, but more akin to fairie creatures, built on trickery and brutality. However, they do still very much lure human teenagers underground and kill them. So, in my personal opinion, there wasn't much done to subvert the antisemitic tropes in the source material.
In addition to the antisemitic nature of the goblins, the rest of the novel just felt jumbled together. It's dual perspective, dual timelines: In the past, May falls in love with a goblin and disregards the treaty with the goblins to see her. In the present, Lou (May's niece) tries to save her other aunt Neela (May's sister) after Neela is captured in the market. It is said many times that Lou doesn't believe in goblins, but she sure as hell accepts her reality soon enough. It's weird, because at points it seems like the narrative can't decide whether Lou believes in the market or not? Additionally, we know exactly what happens to May because she tells Lou before we get to read things from her POV, so there's no suspense at all during her chapters. We already know she's gonna get captured. We already know she's gonna kill the market prince.
Also, what was the whole witch subplot about? Felt like a totally separate book, a totally separate story, and honestly, if it would've been left out, the story wouldn't have been altered at all. Same with May's pregnancy. None of these things had an impact on the story at all, nor were they necessary.
Now, to round this review out with: I liked that the author explicitly stated the sexualities of Lou, May, and Neela. It feels like it's too rarely that we actually read the words asexual and bisexual in books. Sure, there's asexual and bisexual characters, but how often do we actually read those words? That was a nice surprise. I just wish Lou's asexuality would've been more integrated into the story and not just used as an explanation as to why she feels alienated from other people her age. For example, the market works a lot on sexual temptation, and I think an asexual character in that environment could've made for interesting interactions. But alas, it was not to be.
I thought a long time about what to write in this review. Admittedly, I was not familiar with the Goblin Market poem (of which this book is a retelling), although it seems that other reviewers are. However, only hearing the word 'goblin' sets of the alarm sirens in my head, and, well ... Instead of saying anything more, let me cite the wikipedia article on the poem, specifically, the section on interpretations: "Some critics believe that some feminist interpretations of the work leave out an anti-semitic nature within the poem. The critic Cynthia Scheinberg believes the Goblins to be "Hebraic", anti-semitic and anti-Judaic characters that the tested Christian sisters Laura and Lizzie must face in order to transition into wholesome and complete young women." Now, we all know wikipedia is not the end-all-be-all of scientific research, but it does feel like a lot of reviewers on here seem to think of the original poem to be some kind of sexy coming-of-age story.
And ... yeah. An underground race of sub-human creatures who lure humans away to kill and eat them? Oh, that's a big yikes. A really big one. And if a portion of these creatures are described as having green skin? Hm. An even bigger yikes. And then their main area of existance is a market, where they trade in blood and tears and locks of hair for cursed fruit? Oh. That's ... I mean, that's not great.
Now, from other reviews on this book, it seems that Goblin Market retellings are ... a thing? And I'm not sure how retelling such a deeply antisemitic could ever work.
It doesn't work in this book.
I'm not sure if the author was aware of the antisemitic background of the poem, but honestly, it kind of feels hard to miss. The goblins in this book are not like the H*rry P*tter ones, but more akin to fairie creatures, built on trickery and brutality. However, they do still very much lure human teenagers underground and kill them. So, in my personal opinion, there wasn't much done to subvert the antisemitic tropes in the source material.
In addition to the antisemitic nature of the goblins, the rest of the novel just felt jumbled together. It's dual perspective, dual timelines: In the past, May falls in love with a goblin and disregards the treaty with the goblins to see her. In the present, Lou (May's niece) tries to save her other aunt Neela (May's sister) after Neela is captured in the market. It is said many times that Lou doesn't believe in goblins, but she sure as hell accepts her reality soon enough. It's weird, because at points it seems like the narrative can't decide whether Lou believes in the market or not? Additionally, we know exactly what happens to May because she tells Lou before we get to read things from her POV, so there's no suspense at all during her chapters. We already know she's gonna get captured. We already know she's gonna kill the market prince.
Also, what was the whole witch subplot about? Felt like a totally separate book, a totally separate story, and honestly, if it would've been left out, the story wouldn't have been altered at all. Same with May's pregnancy. None of these things had an impact on the story at all, nor were they necessary.
Now, to round this review out with: I liked that the author explicitly stated the sexualities of Lou, May, and Neela. It feels like it's too rarely that we actually read the words asexual and bisexual in books. Sure, there's asexual and bisexual characters, but how often do we actually read those words? That was a nice surprise. I just wish Lou's asexuality would've been more integrated into the story and not just used as an explanation as to why she feels alienated from other people her age. For example, the market works a lot on sexual temptation, and I think an asexual character in that environment could've made for interesting interactions. But alas, it was not to be.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Gore, Kidnapping, Violence, Antisemitism, Addiction, Blood, Body horror, Death, Cannibalism, Drug use, Medical content, Murder, and Torture
ermreading's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
CWs: Kidnapping, Dismemberment, Cannibalism, Gore, Violence, Torture, Confinement, Body horror, Antisemitic subtext
I'm going to start this review with something that often concerns me in Goblin Market retellings and how I think it was handled in this book before going into my thoughts on the rest of the book.
It's well known, or at least it should be, that the original Goblin Market is an extremely antisemitic work and any work based on it should seek to subvert that to avoid perpetuating further antisemitism in new forms.
(Full disclosure, I myself am not Jewish but I discussed the elements that concerned me with friends who are before posting this review)
There are ways this book subverts the antisemitism but there are many that it does not.
The goblins are described more like Fae and Fair folk than they are 'goblins' which goes part way to avoiding the antisemitic descriptions in the original, however the set up for before Lou and Mae get to the goblin market does mention horns and there is a lot of scaremongering done about their appearances (including mentions of horns) and attitudes towards humans, particularly witches. The main characters are witches and goblin blood is often an ingredient in things and said to have magical powers, the goblin market is underground, the goblins eat humans. All of this ties into extremely harmful antisemitic stereotypes that still affect Jewish people today
I think the likelihood is that the author wasn't entirely aware of how these antisemitic ideas were leaking across into the book but as I said earlier, it is, or at should be, well known about the antisemitism of the original and any work that doesn't seek to ACTIVELY subvert that, will likely still include elements of it. It's also an author's job when writing, especially when writing a retelling, to thoroughly research their subject matter and I find it hard to believe that during the author's research process they will have completely missed the discussions of antisemitism in the original text.
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.
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 read Not Good For Maidens the way I read all Goblin Market retellings, keeping a keen eye out for the creeping in of the antisemitic ideas of the original but I'm aware that many readers will not do that and a lot of this will fly under people's radars.
While I'm unsure of whether to say this book is outright harmful (I'll take my cue on that from Jewish reviewers) I do think these things are concerning and should be kept in mind.
Now for my thoughts on the plot, characters and narration (as I read this as an audiobook)
Being from Yorkshire, and really enjoying goblin market retellings (when done right), I was excited to read this. I quickly realised my mistake in reading the audiobook... The narrator was entirely incapable of doing a Yorkshire accent in the slightest, most of the time it sounded Northern Irish.
There was a point where Lou says 'Edinburgh' in the dialogue and notes in her head that she's proud of herself for learning how to say it in the way her mum does so 'Eh-din-bruh' but the narrator says it 'Eh-din-borrow'. There's a point where the narrator pronounced Costa as 'Coaster' but then says it correctly towards the end of the book????
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.
This book is told in dual timeline between Mae when she was a teenager and went to the goblin market and her niece Lou, now the same age, going into the goblin market to save her young aunt Neela.
Dual timeline can be really hard to pull of and for the most part, I think the author did a really good job, the stories informed and interwove with each other well and they didn't interrupt each other's pacing. There also weren't any points where I was annoyed that we switched perspectives because it's done seamlessly enough that it makes sense that the book switches when it does. I don't think the narrative voices between perspectives are that different though and I can see it confusing people.
One of the elements I really enjoyed about this book was the casual queerness of it. Our two main characters are both queer, Mae is bi and has a relationship with a goblin woman and Lou is ace. It's always refreshing to see authors name character's sexuality on the page because it avoids any speculation or erasure of identities. Lou's strong ties with the women of her family were really lovely to read as well, her closeness with Neela and her strong urge to fight for and protect her being my favourite.
While I liked Mae and Eitra's relationship in here, I do think it could have done with a slight bit more development. It felt like they got past their issues a little quickly at times but honestly I think my opinion a little bit informed by personal taste and a little bit, I'm aromantic and struggle to understand how allos get together so quickly.
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.
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.
It currently sits at 3 stars but could actually be anywhere from 2.5-3.5 stars depending on how I feel
I'm going to start this review with something that often concerns me in Goblin Market retellings and how I think it was handled in this book before going into my thoughts on the rest of the book.
It's well known, or at least it should be, that the original Goblin Market is an extremely antisemitic work and any work based on it should seek to subvert that to avoid perpetuating further antisemitism in new forms.
(Full disclosure, I myself am not Jewish but I discussed the elements that concerned me with friends who are before posting this review)
There are ways this book subverts the antisemitism but there are many that it does not.
The goblins are described more like Fae and Fair folk than they are 'goblins' which goes part way to avoiding the antisemitic descriptions in the original, however the set up for before Lou and Mae get to the goblin market does mention horns and there is a lot of scaremongering done about their appearances (including mentions of horns) and attitudes towards humans, particularly witches. The main characters are witches and goblin blood is often an ingredient in things and said to have magical powers, the goblin market is underground, the goblins eat humans. All of this ties into extremely harmful antisemitic stereotypes that still affect Jewish people today
I think the likelihood is that the author wasn't entirely aware of how these antisemitic ideas were leaking across into the book but as I said earlier, it is, or at should be, well known about the antisemitism of the original and any work that doesn't seek to ACTIVELY subvert that, will likely still include elements of it. It's also an author's job when writing, especially when writing a retelling, to thoroughly research their subject matter and I find it hard to believe that during the author's research process they will have completely missed the discussions of antisemitism in the original text.
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.
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 read Not Good For Maidens the way I read all Goblin Market retellings, keeping a keen eye out for the creeping in of the antisemitic ideas of the original but I'm aware that many readers will not do that and a lot of this will fly under people's radars.
While I'm unsure of whether to say this book is outright harmful (I'll take my cue on that from Jewish reviewers) I do think these things are concerning and should be kept in mind.
Now for my thoughts on the plot, characters and narration (as I read this as an audiobook)
Being from Yorkshire, and really enjoying goblin market retellings (when done right), I was excited to read this. I quickly realised my mistake in reading the audiobook... The narrator was entirely incapable of doing a Yorkshire accent in the slightest, most of the time it sounded Northern Irish.
There was a point where Lou says 'Edinburgh' in the dialogue and notes in her head that she's proud of herself for learning how to say it in the way her mum does so 'Eh-din-bruh' but the narrator says it 'Eh-din-borrow'. There's a point where the narrator pronounced Costa as 'Coaster' but then says it correctly towards the end of the book????
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.
This book is told in dual timeline between Mae when she was a teenager and went to the goblin market and her niece Lou, now the same age, going into the goblin market to save her young aunt Neela.
Dual timeline can be really hard to pull of and for the most part, I think the author did a really good job, the stories informed and interwove with each other well and they didn't interrupt each other's pacing. There also weren't any points where I was annoyed that we switched perspectives because it's done seamlessly enough that it makes sense that the book switches when it does. I don't think the narrative voices between perspectives are that different though and I can see it confusing people.
One of the elements I really enjoyed about this book was the casual queerness of it. Our two main characters are both queer, Mae is bi and has a relationship with a goblin woman and Lou is ace. It's always refreshing to see authors name character's sexuality on the page because it avoids any speculation or erasure of identities. Lou's strong ties with the women of her family were really lovely to read as well, her closeness with Neela and her strong urge to fight for and protect her being my favourite.
While I liked Mae and Eitra's relationship in here, I do think it could have done with a slight bit more development. It felt like they got past their issues a little quickly at times but honestly I think my opinion a little bit informed by personal taste and a little bit, I'm aromantic and struggle to understand how allos get together so quickly.
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.
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.
It currently sits at 3 stars but could actually be anywhere from 2.5-3.5 stars depending on how I feel
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Cannibalism, Violence, Vomit, Torture, Slavery, Murder, Gore, Death, Confinement, Blood, and Abandonment
Moderate: Antisemitism
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