The Maiden and Her Monster
About the book
Author: Maddie Martinez
Publisher: Tor Books
More info:
The StoryGraph | Goodreads
Note: Content and trigger warnings are provided for those who need them at the bottom of this page. If you don’t need them and don’t want to risk spoilers, don’t scroll past the review.
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My review
If you are looking for a really good sapphic fantasy novel, especially one that acts as a love letter to Jewish history and folklore, this is the book for you. I loved this deeply heartfelt (and political) reimagining of/homage to the myth of the golem.
The book is about a young Yahadi girl named Malka who lives in a village where women are regularly taken by a monster in the nearby forest. It wasn’t always this way, and the hunt for the monster has turned her father to drink and stolen the ease of her childhood. When Ozmini soldiers occupy the village and her mother is accused of a crime the monster committed, Malka sets out to capture it and prove her mother’s innocence. But the forest is not as it seems, and it turns out that the world — and her faith — is not as black and white as Malka’s village life has led her to believe.
I loved so much about this book. The yearning! The full plot and rich character growth! The way we root for Malka the whole time, even as we come to understand the dangers and limitations of her limited worldview, despite her kind heart and good intentions, right alongside her. And the way this book carries the weight of generational persecution alongside the beauty of generational storytelling and wisdom. And the way it was so obviously written with great love and care.
This is a book I will be recommending far and wide for a long time.
Content and trigger warnings
Antisemitism / religious bigotry, persecution, and violence
Death of a child
Alcoholism
Threat of sexual violence
Sexual content (minor)
Child abuse (off page)
