The Cold is in Her Bones by Peternelle van Arsdale

 

The school year has started up again and I've never been so tired in my entire life. Accordingly, I needed some easy reading to indulge in this month. I'm in a bit of a slump currently, but I have finished a few shorter books. I'm definitely behind in the blogging half of things though, so I'm trying to catch up now. 

The first book I picked up was The Cold is in Her Bones by Peternelle van Arsdale. I found this book in Barnes and Noble a while back and it was definitely a cover buy for me. I thought artwork on the front was stunning, especially the bright snakes woven into the girl's hair. It was a young adult fantasy, which is right up my alley, so I figured I'd take it home. At only 288 pages, it's pretty short, so I decided to give it a shot this month.

The plot of the novel follows a teen girl named Milla. She lives with her parents and her older brother Niklas on their isolated family farm, miles away from the nearest village. She is forbidden to leave the farm or do anything besides help her mother run the household and take care of her father and brother. She is miserable and very lonely, but she tries her best to be a good daughter and live up to her parents' expectations. She has been told since she was a baby that these strict measures are necessary to protect everyone from demons, which are a constant threat to their community. Milla is frightened of the demons, but is steadily growing more and more frustrated with all the restrictions on her life. She longs for something different to break up the monotony.

She seemingly gets her wish when another girl her age named Iris comes to stay at the only other farm in her area. Iris and Milla become fast friends, but things quickly turn sour when Iris begins showing symptoms of being possessed by the very demons that everyone is so afraid of. What's more, Milla begins to display some worrying changes too, which include two snakes that suddenly begin growing out of her head. When Iris is sent away to a prison for the demon-afflicted, Milla decides to disobey her family's wishes for the first time ever and go after her, hoping to save her first and only friend.

I thought this novel was okay. It was a quick read and enjoyable enough. The writing flowed nicely and van Arsdale did a good job of conveying the isolation and dark mood of the plot. It's overall message of believing in yourself is great for a young adult audience and watching Milla grow from a quiet and unhappy teenager to a strong and confident woman over the course of the story is a rewarding experience. It had all the pieces it needed to have. What was missing was any kind of twist. 

This story was almost shockingly straightforward. I kept reading thinking that I would eventually get to something surprising that would add more layers of complexity to the plot, but it just never happened. Everything remained exactly as it was presented to the reader from page one. This story is about a girl trying to save her friend from a demon and that's all. Everything is as it seems. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but the simplicity made the story feel a bit too thin for me. I was expecting more....cleverness or secrets or something. 

I saw from browsing Goodreads once I finished reading that this is supposed to be some kind of take on the Medusa myth, but honestly, it bears so little resemblance to that story that I didn't even make the connection until I saw those reviews. Milla has two snakes growing out of her head, sure, but nothing else really connects back to mythology, at least not in a way I recognized. It's a shame, because a true Medusa retelling would probably have been more interesting.

So ultimately, The Cold is in Her Bones was good, but not great. I can't see myself remembering I read this once a few months have passed by. It's a shame too, because the cover art is so lovely. At least it's one that I can donate to my classroom library. Younger readers will probably enjoy it and I doubt they would feel like anything is missing from it. They are the intended audience after all. 

Challenge Tally

Clear the Shelves 2021: 19/50 (donate)

Total Books Read in 2021: 40