The Cold is in Her Bones

Book Title: The Cold is in Her Bones

Author: Peternelle van Arsdale

Date Started: March 3rd 2019

Date Completed: March 11th 2019

Genres: Historical, Fantasy

Quality Rating: Two Stars

Enjoyment Rating: Three Stars

Final Rating: Two Stars

Review:

◆ Thank you NetGalley for this eBook copy for review ◆

I didn't do well with this book for a number of reasons, even though it sounded right up my street. This is inspired by Medusa? Only as far as the snakes in her hair. And just because you show women suffering doesn't make it feminist - I think that's approaching the opposite, actually.

I get that it's building up to be a commentary on female hysteria. The girls hearing things in their heads as they get older that go against everything the village says and expects of them. Of course, there's a magical realistic element in the way that snakes literally grow from their heads and whisper to them, but it's essentially about historically the oppression and punishment of women. I get that. But it's so forcefully/melodramatically done that it doesn't make its point. At times it feels like the opposite argument.

Milla is so passive and fragile, and then suddenly so stubborn and 'empowered' that the whole thing is just hard to swallow. Maybe if you had some other characters around her that were written to have different sorts of personalities, it would've balanced out more. Yes, they're all under the same oppression, but people react in different ways. I don't believe that within a generation every female of the species became quiet, docile and unassuming. Yes, there is a fantastical element being used to give creative freedom, but it's still essentially a story about a human being. And Milla wasn't there as that for me.

I got 42% through this book. I'm sure the story goes somewhere eventually but I don't care to find out where. I think it's a real shame the author/publisher wanted to go for the Young Adult market just so they could throw in some brutality because it could've been a really good and progressive kid's book (that feels like one already) if they had treated it properly.