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by Maddie Martinez
The Maiden and Her Monster is a gorgeous, atmospheric debut fantasy rooted in history, folklore, and sapphic romance―perfect for fans of Katherine Arden, Ava Reid, Hannah Whitten, and Naomi Novik.
The forest eats the girls who wander out after dark.
As the healer's daughter, Malka has seen how the wood's curse has plagued her village, but the Ozmini Church only comes to collect its tithe, not to protect heretics with false stories of monsters in the trees. So when a clergy girl wanders too close to the forest and Malka's mother is accused of her murder, Malka strikes an impossible bargain with a zealot Ozmini priest. If she brings the monster out, he will spare her mother from execution.
When she ventures into the shadowed woods, Malka finds a monster, though not the one she expects: an inscrutable, disgraced golem who agrees to implicate herself, but only if Malka helps her fulfill a promise first and 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.
"In Martinez's debut, the writing is beautiful, and the story is fantastic. Highly recommended for readers who love the work of Naomi Novik, Katherine Arden, Natasha Siegel, and Allison Saft." —Library Journal (starred review)
"While the Ava Reid–esque mix of Jewish folklore, dark romance, and bloody horror will have its fans, many readers won't be able to get past Martinez's awkward prose style, which is littered with odd phraseology, malapropisms, and metaphors that range from belabored to nonsensical. This is a struggle." —Publishers Weekly
"A dark and endlessly enchanting fairy tale, unfurled in frost and wood-smoke, the kind that is whispered by candlelight and brushes up against history itself. I adored every page." ―Ava Reid, #1 New York Times bestselling author
"Reminiscent of the folktales of old, The Maiden and Her Monster is a beautifully haunting debut with sharp teeth. Maddie Martinez weaves words like a magic spell, ensnaring readers with her poignant prose and beguiling atmosphere." ―Chelsea Abdullah, award-winning author of The Stardust Thief
"The Maiden and Her Monster is an evocative, harrowing, and deeply romantic dark fantasy debut that will move so many readers the way it did me. Maddie Martinez is an incredible talent and definitely one to watch." ―Alexis Henderson, author of The Year of the Witching and An Academy for Liars
This information about The Maiden and Her Monster was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Maddie Martinez was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She has a BA in Political Science from Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and an MA in International Peace and Conflict Resolution from American University in Washington, DC. You can now find Maddie in New York City, filling her tiny apartment with an unwieldy number of books. The Maiden and Her Monster is her first novel.
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