"Once the sun sank below the horizon, the villagers closed their doors and shuttered their windows." In Maddie Martinez's evocative debut fantasy, The Maiden and Her Monster, the woods hold a beast so terrible that it forced the villagers to rename it, "Mavetéh. Into death."
Martinez's world building is atmospheric and richly layered, drawing from elements of Jewish folklore. Set in the small village of Eskravé, the story centers around a young Yahadi woman, Malka,and the oppression that her people face from the powerful Ozmini Church. The practice of Kefesh, a forbidden, "contentious Yahadi mysticism "laces the story, intertwining the fates of all the characters. Malka, while fearful of Kefesh, grapples with the implications of using the magic, which has often "flittered across her mind, untamable as a bleating sheep adrift from its shepherd."
The forest has claimed the lives of many young women, including Malka's best friend. When Malka's mother is falsely accused of causing the death of an Ozmini woman, Malka must embark on a perilous journey into the cursed woods to capture the monster as trade for her mother's life.
Martinez deftly explores themes of faith, power, and redemption through her compelling characterization. Malka soon realizes that the "monster" is not as murderous as everyone assumed but is, instead, a dishonored golem, who sets the terms of her own bargain with Malka. Now working together against a new, terrifying menace, Malka is forced to reckon with the growing longing between them, which may threaten the lives of the very ones they are each trying to save. --Grace Rajendran, freelance reviewer