Before this year, I hadn’t really read any of Novik’s books and I am left wondering why. Her writing is so good and the overall tone of the two books that I have read leave me with such happiness.
Granted, after reading Uprooted and falling in love with it, I had expectations from Spinning Silver. I knew I shouldn’t but I did anyway. In any case, the author did not disappoint. It took me a bit to get an understanding of the world and the characters but once I got it, it was a lovely ride. About sixty pages, I finally got to a place where I think I had a rough idea of what was happening and from then on, I literally grabbed every chance I got to read it.
Like her earlier book ‘Uprooted’, Novik managed to put her magical spell here as well. While it’s been touted as a loose retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, there’s so much more to the story than just that one tale. The actual plot of the book is a bit more complex and brilliantly and tightly woven together than one would assume. There were a few moments when I was surprised, it’s probably the lack of detailed knowledge of lore on my part, perhaps.
Essentially this is a story of three girls who are, by all rights, not supposed to even know of each other’s existence in a way. However, their lives are entangled together due to certain events and the story shows their journey forward. This is a multi-perspective book with three main characters (Miryem, Wanda & Irina) and a scattering of side characters which are just as important to the overall experience of the book.
I absolutely loved the character development in the book, all three girls go through so much and learn from it and grow from it and it’s an absolute delight to read it. Of course, there are moments when I wanted to shake one of the girls but these moments made the reading experience even more awesome? At least for me.
Taking the story of Rumpelstiltskin and turning it into a story where ‘Rumpelstiltskin’ isn’t quite the villain was a brilliant spin and I loved it. Miryem’s poverty and determination to be a great successful moneylender, Wanda’s struggle to connect with her family and then having actual familial feelings for her siblings, Irina’s lack of rights to her using her wits to survive her marriage.
Every little bit was wonderfully written and I had to give this one a solid 4.5 stars! I took away the other .5 because some parts of the book sometimes felt unnecessary. I am hoping to read it again soon so that I can decide if those plot lines were unnecessary or I was just being a bit hasty. However, seriously, go and read it. It’s absolutely brilliant.
If you loved Uprooted, you will love this one as well, perhaps, even more than Uprooted. If you love fairytales that are subverted and made into a whole new brilliant tale, then this is the book for you. If you like strong female characters, magic and actual character growth, then please, go and read this book.
Spinning Silver
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Top reviews from India
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Reviewed in India on 10 December 2018
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Reviewed in India on 1 August 2019
Author : Naomi Novik
Genre : Fantasy
The book Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik has been one of my most sought after book since the time I saw it with a subscription box providing it to readers.. Tried really hard to get my hands on it then but it took me months before I could get my hands on this beauty. What I felt on reading the book is that the book was truly worth the wait and was one of the best books that I have read this year.
The book revolves around three women, Miryem, Wanda and Irunishka. Miryem who is a daughter of a Russian Moneylender who himself have fallen into debt owing to his failure in recollecting his money. Irunishka, daughter of a farmer who has borrowed money from Miryem's father and is now being forced to work for Miryem to clear the debts. Wanda, daughter of Duke who is forced to marry the Tsar in a turn of surprising events. Their lives gets entangled within one another with Miryem being forced to be the queen of the Winter King, Staryk and the Tsar being a conspirator of the Fire Demon.
A classic retelling of Rumplestilskin, this book is very well written to hook the readers onto page after page. Though at times, you can expect what is to come next, the book does a really good job of intriguing the readers. The various perspectives and the shift between them is pretty seamless and it accustoms the readers pretty well. The book immediately jumps into action as soon as the story starts but still makes the readers understand through various means on the characters and the turmoils they each go through.
Pick up the book if you haven't yet. It's beautiful, it's magical and it's spectacular. Though I haven't read the earlier books of the author, this one has intrigued me to pick them up as well since they have been very well received and acclaimed.
It's beautiful, it's magical and it's spectacular
By Murtaza Kuwarawala on 1 August 2019
Title : Spinning SilverBy Murtaza Kuwarawala on 1 August 2019
Author : Naomi Novik
Genre : Fantasy
The book Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik has been one of my most sought after book since the time I saw it with a subscription box providing it to readers.. Tried really hard to get my hands on it then but it took me months before I could get my hands on this beauty. What I felt on reading the book is that the book was truly worth the wait and was one of the best books that I have read this year.
The book revolves around three women, Miryem, Wanda and Irunishka. Miryem who is a daughter of a Russian Moneylender who himself have fallen into debt owing to his failure in recollecting his money. Irunishka, daughter of a farmer who has borrowed money from Miryem's father and is now being forced to work for Miryem to clear the debts. Wanda, daughter of Duke who is forced to marry the Tsar in a turn of surprising events. Their lives gets entangled within one another with Miryem being forced to be the queen of the Winter King, Staryk and the Tsar being a conspirator of the Fire Demon.
A classic retelling of Rumplestilskin, this book is very well written to hook the readers onto page after page. Though at times, you can expect what is to come next, the book does a really good job of intriguing the readers. The various perspectives and the shift between them is pretty seamless and it accustoms the readers pretty well. The book immediately jumps into action as soon as the story starts but still makes the readers understand through various means on the characters and the turmoils they each go through.
Pick up the book if you haven't yet. It's beautiful, it's magical and it's spectacular. Though I haven't read the earlier books of the author, this one has intrigued me to pick them up as well since they have been very well received and acclaimed.
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Top reviews from other countries
sjhigbee
Retelling with a complex plot
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 December 2018Verified Purchase
B. Douglas
A beautiful, magical tale, and a thought-provoking meditation on paying what is owed.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 16 July 2018Verified Purchase
Caroline Sundberg
A superbly written, enthralling piece of fantasy.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 November 2018Verified Purchase
ClareR
Take my money! If Novik’s name is on it, I’ll read it!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 13 August 2018Verified Purchase
Chrikaru
Enthralling, atmospheric and with plenty of girlpower!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 May 2019Verified Purchase
Enthralling, atmospheric and with plenty of girlpower!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 May 2019
The real story isn’t half as pretty as the one you’ve heard.Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 12 May 2019
The real story is, the miller’s daughter with her long golden hair wants to catch a lord, a prince, a rich man’s son, so she goes to the moneylender and borrows for a ring and a necklace and decks herself out for the festival. And she’s beautiful enough, so the lord, the prince, the rich man’s son notices her, and dances with her, and tumbles her in a quiet hayloft when the dancing is over, and afterwards he goes home and marries the rich woman his family has picked out for him.
Then the miller’s despoiled daughter tells everyone that the moneylender’s in league with the devil, and the village runs him out or maybe even stones him, so at least she gets to keep the jewels for a dowry, and the blacksmith marries her before that firstborn child comes along a little early.
Because that’s what the story’s really about: getting out of paying your debts. That’s not how they tell it, but I knew. My father was a moneylender, you see.
He wasn’t very good at it.
First impressions: I wanted to read this straightaway because I loved Uprooted. I am a massive fan of reimagined or ‘fractured’ fairytales so I have been very fond of the fashion for retellings over the last few years.
I liked how Uprooted drew on folklore and fairytales. Recently, I have also been reading some Russian fairytales and some books based around them (The Bear and the Nightingale, The House with Chicken Legs etc) so I was excited to see that Spinning Silver drew on these, as well as the fact that it sounded like it was using Rumplestiltskin, not one of the more commonly recycled fairytales.
Also, look at the beautiful cover!
I still regret not getting a hardback of Uprooted as I was out of the country when it came out so I have just bought a copy of Spinning Silver in hardback to make sure I don’t miss out on it too!
I loved following Miryem on her journey, from being the granddaughter of a very good moneylender and the daughter of a very poor one, to taking matters into her own hands and turning difficulty into prosperity. The introduction of the Staryk raised the stakes even further, with a careless boast leading to all sorts of problems for her. Just like in the old fairytales, which are often darker than the Disney-ified version that is most popular, the supernatural forces that she tangles with are capricious and could be deadly.
We are then introduced to Wanda, an ordinary girl who suffers at the hands of a drunken father and wants to protect her brothers. When she catches wind of her father selling her off as a bride, she takes her fate into her won hands and it becomes entangled with Miryem’s. Finally we meet the third of our female protagonists, Irina, the rather-plan daughter of a lord who is able to catch the eye of the tsar himself thanks to the power of enchanted silver jewellery. Yet, the tsar is home to something far more powerful and malevolent than she could ever have imagined…
The threads of the narrative wind tighter and tighter, finally bringing these three women together in a scenario where each of their strength and determination helps them to decide their own path. These are powerful women, without wielding a weapon, flawed, real and gripping.
I loved all the little snippets of folklore and fairytales in each of the three narratives, the little nods towards a shared narrative history, yet with elements from history and a distinctly modern outlook.
If you liked Uprooted, you will love this. And, if you haven’t read either yet, what are you waiting for?
Spinning Silver will enthrall you from the first sentence, drawing you tighter into the story with every twist. Even if you’re reading it on a hot summer day, be prepared to feel the shiver of an icy wind…
Enthralling, atmospheric and with plenty of girlpower, this is a re-imagined fairytale like no other!
My mother’s face was full of misery. We didn’t speak.
Would you rather we were sill poor and hungry?”
I burst out to her finally, the silence between us heavy in the midst of the dark woods, and she put her arms around me and kissed me and said, “My darling, my darling, I’m sorry,” weeping a little.
“Sorry?” I said. “To be warm instead of cold? To be rich and comfortable? To have a daughter who can turn silver into gold?”
I pushed away from her.
“To see you harden yourself to ice, to make it so,” she said.
The horses trotted on more swiftly, but the Staryk road kept pace with us all the way home, shining between the trees. I could feel it on my side, a shimmer of colder wind trying to press against me and pierce through to my skin, but I didn’t care.
I was colder inside than out.
What I liked: I liked how the story was based on Russian folklore, the way several stories are melded together, the real-life aspects of anti-semitism which added an extra depth, the character development, particularly as the ‘baddies’ generally turn out to be more nuanced. I loved the central figures of each story being female, as well as the fact that they all changed their destinies through brains and hard work – you don’t have to have a sword to be kick-ass!
Even better if: Can I have Naomi Novik’s next book already?
How you could use it in your classroom: This would be a great book for older secondary pupils or at college/ university when looking at comparative literature and how all of the original threads from folklore, fairytale and history have been woven together to create a multi-faceted, rich story. I would also love to look at how he familiarity of fairytales affects our experience with this story e.g. the tree who contains the spirit of Wanda’s mother and the nut (like Cinderella) and the ‘witch’s house’ where certain tasks must be completed in return for hospitality, etc.
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