Spinning Silver is a true treat for fans of Novik’s early fairytale inspired Uprooted, as well as those looking for something to follow up Katherine Arden’s Winternight Trilogy. The story follows three young women in the kingdom of Lithvas, where kings and peasants alike live in fear of the Staryk, cold elven beings that populate a kingdom of winter and cross the barrier between worlds only to raid and murder. The protagonists, Miryem, Wanda, and Irina all have inherited a unique set of problems based on the flaws of their fathers. As they seek to gain agency in their world, they become embroiled in the supernatural issues plaguing their country. Each woman must forge her own path, with the help of those around her to save not only themselves, but their families and their lives.
I was especially delighted by the treatment of Miryem’s Judaism in this novel. The realities of diaspora Jews living in Baltic/Eastern Europe during this medieval time period were incorporated into the plot in such a way that felt appropriate and integral. The setting overall sings, with vibrant details that make it come alive. I was sad to see it end and I can only hope Novik will write another like this.

This was a slow read with a beautiful slow burning romance! Slow in that way that you wish to savor every word rather than gobbling them up quickly. I adored Uprooted, and Spinning Silver was a glorious follow-up! Wholly unrelated, but similar in the way that it clings to your heart after you close the book.

I can't wait to see what Novik does next!

3.5 stars. Overall, this was a good book, but not a great one. The book has a great premise and started off great. But, much like Novik's Uprooted, I felt like the author lost her way about halfway through the book. One of the major problems I found with the book was the number of POVs. The book started off with just one POV, but as the book progressed she kept adding more and more POVs until she was up to 6 or 7. I felt like there were way too many, and that some of the POVs were unnecessary. I think she could have stuck to the three lead female POVs (Miryem, Wanda, and Irina) and still been able to successfully tell the story. It felt like the other POVs were just filler (like the many pages about the maid making a dress for Irina) or a convenient way for the author to get information across to the reader. The author also needs to work on her relationship development, another issue I found with Uprooted. All of a sudden the Winter King and Miryem were in love? It didn't make much sense to me. I also would have liked a little bit more story at the end with Irina and her husband. Their story just ended suddenly and it wasn't clear to me how they felt about each other in the end. Despite all of this, the book kept me interested, and the writing was quite good at times.

In Spinning Silver, Novik has produced what will surely be the hit of the summer with fans of fantasy and fairytales. She has taken the bones from multiple folk and fairy tales and built them into a wholly original and compelling skeleton of a story that is told from several perspectives. Typically in a story with so many protagonists, a couple of them suffer from poor characterization and neglect. No so here. Every character has a role to play, whether it’s our “Queens” Mirayem and Irina or little Stepon or old Magreta, all provide the threads that Novik weaves into a luscious, fascinating story. The base story of Rumpelstiltskin where a maiden must turn straw (in this case, silver) to gold is the foundation of the tale, but Novik weaves elements of European folktales in all over the place. The mountain of glass, the neverending battle between fire and ice/summer and winter, even the moneylender from Shakespeare gets a nod. Oddly enough, the archtype that kept coming to mind towards the end was of the holiday cartoon characters Heat Miser and Cold Miser. The last few chapters could have been that cartoon reworked as an action/adventure movie.

I do hope there’s some editing done before the final version is published. It was just a bit too long - around 80% through I started skimming through to the end. Some of the build up to Mirayem’s turning the massive amounts of silver to gold could be trimmed, as could some of the early chapters. The real action happens in the last quarter, which is where I started to get impatient. Otherwise, this is sure to be on all the “Best of” lists for 2018. Very well done and recommended.

Like a good fairy tale, Spinning Silver begins with a strong foundation of historical fiction. Miryem is a moneylender's daughter in the Jewish ghetto of a small town. She takes over her father's accounts while still a young girl in order to put food on the table, thus "turning silver to gold." Wanda is the daughter of a spendthrift, who is thrilled to work off her father's debt to Miryem's family because it will mean freedom from her father's abuse. Irina is a plain Duke's daughter who feels she is a disappointment to her father because she will not be attractive enough to bring him a powerful alliance. Hard lives in a hard world.
But... there is another world that sometimes overlaps this one. A silvery road, the Staryk road, glimmers into existence in the forest, and sometimes knights from that icy kingdom ride it to raid for human gold, destroying all obstacles in their path. And they have heard of a girl who turns silver into gold....
This is but the beginning to a rich and layered tale of survival, adaptation, debt and payment, family, heartbreak and flickers of love and hope. The author tells the story through the eyes of her characters, mostly from the three girls' viewpoints, but occasionally from more minor characters, including Wanda's little brother, and Irina's elderly nanny. These changes in viewpoint help create an intricate tapestry of experience, adding still more depth to the story. An emotionally involving, complex and beautifully written story. Highly recommended.

I loved this magical fantasy based loosely on the tale of Rumpelstiltskin. It is wonderfully written, and I grew to really care about all of the characters. I think Naomi Novik does an excellent job weaving the story lines together and I liked how the characters end up being tied together. There is excellent world building in this book and I loved learning about the Staryk people and their kingdom.

Spinning Silver is a unique fantasy, with a background that feels medieval and one main character who is Jewish. Using this world grounds the book in a recognized world with room for invention. The three main female characters are individual each with unique problems.
Spinning Silver stands head and shoulders above most of todays fantasy. The next book by Novik cannot come to soon for me.

Wow! I could not stop thinking about this book when I wasn't reading it. I love stories that are a retelling with a twist and this story is definitely that! I love how there are different strong female perspectives and yet they are represented in a way that will not leave you confused. Very creative and so different from any other fairy tale versions that I have read. Great job!

I'm thrilled with this book. What a powerful story. I particularly appreciated the ways in which the main characters were strong in different and real ways, and how they interchange of their strengths is what saved their kingdoms.

Engrossing. Fleshes out the Rumpelstiltskin tale in unexpected ways, and - as expected after Uprooted - introduces fairy folk in a way that's both terrifying and fascinating. Sticks to a strong theme of debt and repayment without veering into pedantry.

I did not expect a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin (with several other tales woven in) to be about the lives of women and anti-semitism in an alternate medieval Russia, because my imagination is much more limited than that of Naomi Novik. This was really, really well done.

5 stars, only because Goodreads doesn't offer a higher rating.

About a quarter of the way through this book, I paused to email a friend with the following line: "This book is so good I want to cry." And I felt that way the entire time I was reading it. I had thought that Uprooted was the best of Naomi Novik's work that I'd read, but Spinning Silver blows it out of the water.

I'm honestly not sure I could point to a single thing, either, that makes it so good. Is it the main characters, each of whom is a completely different woman with her own ambitions and inner lives? The cooperation between them, even when their goals are sometimes at cross-purposes? The setting that springs* to life with Novik's evocative language? The really awesome magic battles near the end of the book, complete with ice swords?

One thing I do want to single out is Novik's focus on Judaism and Jewish culture. I loved that Jewish traditions and customs were woven into the story (and explicitly named as being Jewish!) as well as seeing how important Miryem's religious and cultural heritage was to her. It was meaningful to me to see that kind of steadfast faith rewarded, even though I am not Jewish. I would guess it'd be even more meaningful to someone who is part of the Jewish culture.

I do not buy hardcover books very often, but for this one, I'm definitely making an exception.

This review is based on an advance copy provided by the publisher, through NetGalley.

*this pun will be hilarious after you read the book. or groan-worthy. same thing.

This book, guys. What can I even say?

The advanced reader copy I got from Netgalley said it would be about Rumpelstiltskin, so I went into this armed with that knowledge and my love for Novik's previous novel, Uprooted. At no point during this was a unhappy with the novel (obviously, I gave it five stars), but it was so different from Uprooted that I didn't know how to judge it at first.

I'm awful with reviews, so all I can say is read it if you have ever fought to protect people and places you love. Read it if you've ever made a decision that came with hidden consequences. Read it if you feel like a placeholder for the ambitions of others, if you feel like you have to prove your worth every moment -- if you feel like you can't.

Absolutely fantastic! I was a huge fan of Uprooted and was, therefore, very hopeful about Spinning Silver. It did not disappoint. It was a little confusing at times with the multiple viewpoints in first person, but once I figured out (probably later than I should have) that the symbols at the chapter/section head told me who was narrating, that issue was quickly resolved. I loved her take on the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale, though it is not a strict retelling (and all the better for it, in my opinion.)

I loved the message of knowing you have to do the work, even if you don't know what the outcome will be, as Wanda says. Sometimes you have to be bigger, stronger, faster, cleverer than you think you can be, and by acting as though you are (putting that work in), that skill is gained. So good!

*I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year! I read and loved Uprooted, and couldn't wait for another retelling! While I initially felt like there was a slow start in the beginning, I think it was more of me just getting used to the characters' voices, as this story is told from multiple perspectives. The author does a great job of taking a well-known fairy tale--"Rumplestiltskin," in this case--and weaving a completely different story from it. The main character, Miryem, is tired of her father's overly charitable moneylending causing the ruin of their household, and decides to become a moneylender herself. This catches the eye of the feared Staryk lord, who values gold above all else. In addition, the other female main characters have similar arcs involving finding their own voices and standing up for themselves. I feel like I can't discuss much of the plot without giving away spoilers, so I'll just say that it was a delightful read with many twists and turns. None of the characters are completely good, but many are incredibly likable. Another excellent book from Novik!

Novik's second stand-alone fantasy novel is, like "Uprooted," entrenched in fairy tales. But as much as I liked "Uprooted," "Spinning Silver" is a far better story that shines with excellent characterization, inventive use of the Rumpelstiltskin story, and an immersive plot.

"Spinning Silver" begins with Miryem, a young Jewish moneylender with a shrewd business sense. When a bitter boast that Miryem can change silver coins into gold (through the power of interest), she gains the notice of the cold creatures who live in the wood--and soon her skill is tied up with the magic of winter, demons, politics, and faith.

Somewhat miraculously, the novel is told from six different first-person perspectives. While these perspectives aren't marked--they can occur over the space of a paragraph break--each voice is so distinct that it's easy to follow along, and each story is as intricately told as the last. I enjoyed this book so much that as soon as I finished it, I immediately read it again. I cannot recommend it highly enough, especially to fans of Robin McKinley, Neil Gaiman, and Katherine Arden. Most of all, this will appeal to lovers of intricate stories that combine action, peril, and politics seamlessly with farm life. it's the kind of magic that should also appeal to readers whoa rent sure if they enjoy fantasy--it's more practical than it is fantastic.

Netgalley review.

Uprooted is one of my all-time favorite books. I've been looking forward to Naomi Novik's next new book ever since I read it...and yet I worried that she couldn't live up to the magic of the first one. I didn't need to worry. Spinning Silver is just as beautiful, just as fantastical, as Uprooted. It was sometimes difficult to keep track of the large cast of characters and it started a little bit slower than many other books, but the buildup was worth it. Spinning Silver is a gorgeous work, and I cannot wait for Novik's next book.

Thanks to Random House via Netgalley for a copy of the book in exchange for my honest review.

An absolutely stunning novel. Loved it. Will recommend both professionally and personally.

This book is magic.

Miryem is the daughter of a moneylender who is soft-hearted and bad at his job. Furious at the village folk for taking advantage of her family, Miryem starts collecting debts in his place. In time, she becomes so good at lending and investing that shedevelops a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold - a reputation that gets her kidnapped by the King of the Staryk, the winter people, to be his bride. Her story becomes connected with that of Irina, the daughter of a Duke, and Wanda, a poor girl from her village.

"Spinning Silver" is another stellar fairy tale based novel from Naomi Novik. The story is once again grounded in Eastern European story traditions (drawing heavily from the tale of Rumpelstiltskin), although this time with a stronger grounding in the historical setting. The story is told from three main viewpoints, with three less extensive viewpoints introduced later in the book. Much like "Uprooted" this is a beautifully written fairy tale, full of complex characters.

The first main character that we are introduced to is Miryem, the daughter of a Jewish moneylender (though not a very successful one). Miryem takes over the family business when it becomes clear that her father doesn't have the personality necessary to demand the payments due to him from his neighbors. Her abilities in this area bring her to the attention of the Staryk King, ruler of some sort of faerie court that is obsessed with gold. Miryem's profession also brings her into contact with our other two main characters: Wanda, oldest child of a drunken and abusive father, and Irina, a young noblewoman whose perceived value increases astonishingly when she is suddenly engaged to the Tsar.

I don't want to talk too much about the plot details because they are best discovered as you read the story. As much as "Uprooted" came with a palpable feeling of menace from the cursed wood, "Spinning Silver" is full of ice and fire. The middle third of the book dragged a little bit for me, but overall it was a beautiful and satisfying read.

I do want to touch on one thing in this book that I almost never see in fantasy: the very obvious and important part that being Jewish plays in the story of Miryem and her family. There is always an awareness of this aspect of her character, and the story frequently touches on the precariousness of her family's position. There are several mentions of the fact that Miryem and her family are fully aware that the town (which tolerates their presence uneasily) could turn on them in a second if provoked. Even Miryem's Uncle, a wealthy and well respected city man, has plans and secret exits for leaving the city in a hurry if necessary. I have never seen this much attention paid to the daily lives of Jewish families in this era, and it was a nice thing to see. It also made parts of the book slightly uncomfortable for me to get through, just because it is once again becoming less safe to be openly Jewish these days and Miryem's story often felt just a bit too real to me.

"Spinning Silver" is a worthy successor to "Uprooted" (although the two do not share any characters or settings), and I hope the Naomi Novik continues to write such lovely fairy tale novels in the future.