NOT GOOD FOR MAIDENS

A magical coming-of-age tale.

A beautifully imagined examination of the bonds that tie sisters, friends, families, and lovers, Bovalino’s sophomore novel is bursting with empowered women who are eager to prove themselves against the otherworldly, often deadly challenges they meet at a mystical, dangerous goblin market and the strange Inbetween. Returning from Boston to York in the north of England, Louisa Wickett-Stevens, the 17-year-old asexual protagonist, enters a hidden world of goblins and witches. When her best friend, Neela, who is also Lou’s mother’s much-younger half sister, goes missing, Lou learns a great deal about herself and what she’s willing to risk. She also discovers the secrets her mother and aunt May have tried to protect her from all her life. Starting off slowly, the story builds as backstories and timelines are established. While the shifting narrative structure that moves between past and present feels somewhat more burdensome than revelatory, once the pieces fall into position, the stakes are high, and readers discover full characters that are richly developed. Plot-oriented readers may find the unfolding trajectory of events mildly predictable, but fans of horror-adjacent fantasy will revel in the lavish worldbuilding. Distinctly contemplative while action-oriented, the book spills blood on the pages that is neither wasted nor exploited in this fierce fantasy tinted with horror themes. Diversity is cued through names and skin tones as well as descriptions of multiple characters’ diverse sexual orientations; Lou reads as White.

A violent and voluptuous adventure.