The Maiden and Her Monster is captivating debut. It’s one that explores love, monstrosity, and survival. I can’t believe it’s taken me so long to read this one! Keep reading this book review of The Maiden and Her Monster for my full thoughts.
Summary
The forest eats the girls who wander out after dark.
As the healer’s daughter, Malka has seen how the curse of the woods has plagued her village, but when the Ozmini Church comes to collect their tithes, they don’t listen to the warnings about a monster lurking in the trees. After a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka’s mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes a bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings him the monster, he will spare her mother from execution.
When she ventures into the blood-soaked woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only after Malka helps her free the imprisoned rabbi who created her.
But a deal easily made is not easily kept. And as their bargain begins to unravel a much more sinister threat, protecting her people may force Malka to endanger the one person she left home to save—and face her growing feelings for the very creature she was taught to fear.
Review
(Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. This has not impacted my review which is unbiased and honest.)
The Maiden and Her Monster emphasizes the power of stories. How stories spark, inspire, and entertain. They can thrill, instill fear, and teach lessons. The first few chapters are a hook that doesn’t let go. I loved how The Maiden and Her Monster examines if we let the fear of power control us or do we control the power. It’s about what we are created to do and what happens when we transcend or conform. The Maiden and Her Monster explores what it means to be powerful, but robbed of choice. In some ways it’s a book about loneliness and agency. The character work is tender and aching with the pain of Malka and the golem.
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Stories rarely tell the whole story. Too often stories are twisted for purposes and turned into warnings for obedience instead of curiosity. The Maiden and Her Monster exists at this junction. It’s a cauldron of simmering tension and animosity. I was utterly absorbed in this debut with little and big betrayals. My heart ached for the ways in which they are used for cross purposes and Martinez examines monstrosity and who the real monster is. Find The Maiden and Her Monster on Goodreads, Storygraph, Amazon, Bookshop. org, Blackwells, & Libro. fm.