Spinning Silver

This book had me guessing what would happen next. It was a great read and the audio version was a great listen as well. It made me smile and life my brows and want to cry and it's not your typical fairy tale either.

It is influenced by Rumplestiltskin but it is much more than a retelling. It is full of great characters most of which are capable woman full of agency. When you finish it you are left with a feeling of hope and wonder about high magic.

I have read twice already in about a month and thoroughly enjoyed it both times

I loved Uprooted and Spinning Silver is very much in the same vein. Some of the romance later in the novel felt very similar to Ms. Novik's previous work, but that should not deter readers. I will be recommending Spinning Silver and buying copies for friends, but maybe not in winter, brr...

I have enjoyed Naomi Novik's novels and have been looking forward to reading Spinning Silver. I was not disappointed. This is a wonderful book with an original story. The lead characters are compelling and the story telling kept me enthralled until the very end.

I had a mixed experience with Spinning Silver, though the overall quality of the writing, plot, and characters were good enough for a four star rating. It definitely wasn't as stellar as the other two books I've read by this author, His Majesty's Dragon and Uprooted. But this novel still had some notable highlights.

First I'll address what I liked. The three main women characters were well fleshed out and engaging. I also enjoyed the evocative and magical depiction of the winter kingdom...a great example of successful fantasy world-building. Parts of the plot were quite strong, including the interweaving of different story threads in the lead up to a satisfying ending.

Now for the things I didn't like. Although parts of this novel felt relevant or suspenseful, those were interspersed with long plodding sections that seemed mostly unnecessary. Too many peripheral individuals got introduced as point of view characters (all in first person)...some of these not until halfway through the book. This slowed the pacing down considerably, and many of their scenes felt like filler. To make matters worse, the parts told from Stepon's point of view were irritatingly awkward and simplistic, in a misguided attempt to show him having a "child's" voice. He was even given the role of narrating one of the novel's most pivotal scenes, a choice that completely baffled me.

Overall this book had the potential to be much better...edited down to about half the length. Then the ingenious plot and world-building would have a chance to shine, without being muffled in so much extraneous detail. Still, if you like fantasy with a rich fairy tale flavor, you'll probably enjoy Spinning Silver.

As I expected from Naomi Novik after reading Uprooted, this one was also wonderful . The compelling story revolves around strong female characters, and apart from having some very powerful underlying messages, it's also very fun to read.

Amazing book - I wanted it to never end - this author is ranking up there with my favorites that can make me laugh and cry and shake my head in wonder at the plot twists and depth of feeling in the characters that they create

This was a delight to read. A lovely fairytale re-telling that I didn't want to put down.

I had read Uprooted and was looking forward to this - so now I have to go and read the Temeraire series. I can't wait!

Amazing book - I wanted it to never end - this author is ranking up there with my favorites that can make me laugh and cry and shake my head in wonder at the plot twists and depth of feeling in the characters that they create

This was a delight to read. A lovely fairytale re-telling that I didn't want to put down.

I had read Uprooted and was looking forward to this - so now I have to go and read the Temeraire series. I can't wait!