What a great adventure. I’ve always loved fairy tales, but they never moved me like this one. I read through the first few Temeraire books by this author, and then kind of drifted on to other interests. When Net Galley offered me a chance to read this, I decided to see what Naomi Novak was up to these days. I had been aware that she was tinkering with folk tales and the like. Welllll - this one grabbed me and my wife from the very start (I shared it as a read aloud book), and by the end we were totally in tears, happy tears, because we had been totally drawn into this world that she created. This was one of the most satisfying reads in a long time - so inventive, and yet true to its sources. Needless to say, I have just picked up Uprooted, her previous folk tale novel, and I can’t wait to see what it’s like. I find it hard to believe it is better than Spinning Silver, bit if it’s anywhere nearly as good, I will be totally satisfied. Spinning Silver is one of my favorite reads so far this year.

Miryem is the daughter of a money lender so tender-hearted he would sooner see his family starve than collect on a debt. Irina's father the duke hopes to marry her off advantageously but she's too plain for a good catch. Wanda's lout of a father beats her whenever he's not in a drunken stupor. On top of their paternal difficulties, their land is besieged by the icy Staryk, who leave frost and death in their insatiable hunt for gold. All three must summon unsuspected depths of strength and cunning to overcome their fates. A rich and satisfying tapestry drawing on traditional lore but stuffed with strong, clearly distinguished female characters.

Spinning Silver is the fairy tale you always wanted to read and never want to end. Beginning with the story of Rumpelstiltskin, it weaves in many fairy tale plots and elements before a stunning conclusion of fire and ice. Told from the shifting point of view of multiple characters this wonderful story shares the lives of three girls who couldn't be more different. Radiating overarching themes of debt, gratitude, and deceiving appearances, Naomi Novik has written pure art.

Another fantastic tale from Naomi Novik! I so enjoy a tale with strong females that aren't made out to be strong. They are just doing what they do.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me a digital ARC of "Spinning Silver" by Naomi Novik. I adore "Uprooted" and this book is just as wonderful. I love that the author chose a less popular fairy tale for her second book. Rumpelstiltskin is not a commonly used source and this made the book all the more interesting. This book has an old fairy tale world feeling but is fresh and exciting which is not easily achieved these days. I will be purchasing a copy for myself and for the library!

I LOVED THIS BOOK. The characters were unique and their perspectives varied with their situations. I thought it was written with careful consideration and cultural accuracy, which is extremely important.

A brilliant and unique twist on a classic fairytale. The characters are diverse and well-written, and the story is full of intrigue and plot-twists. It really hinges on young people, particularly 3 different young women, who seize agency for themselves in different ways, and use their knowledge and understanding of the world to enact changes for themselves and the people around them.

This book was superb! Flawless writing, intricate characters, steady plot, lots of great-world building. There aren't words enough to describe how great this book was. Fairy tale retellings are tricky--stick too much to the original, and the book becomes predictable and boring. Stray too far away, and it loses its "fairy tale" feel. Novik is a master--she gives deep enough nods to existing fairy tales that one never feels as if they have strayed too far from the genre, but she adds so much detail and depth, that you are kept continuously guessing and craving more.

Note for the editor: It took me until the 13th chapter to realize that the pictures at the beginning of the chapter were what indicated the narrator for the chapter. I was very confused for a good while. However, I tend to not pick up on small details in general, so this may not be an issue for others with that skill.

I received an advance reader copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
This book was completely worth the wait! Miryem is a smart, strong heroine that hooked me from the very start. The multiple narrators, particularly the strong female characters, each add their own fascinating layers to a story that includes a girl who can spin silver into gold, mysterious winter warriors, a fire demon, and a fight to save an entire kingdom. I didn’t want it to end!

First line: The real story isn’t half as pretty as the one you’ve heard.

Summary: When Miryem takes over her father’s money lending business she excels at it. She has a talent for making silver into gold. Slowly bringing her family out of poverty, she garners a reputation but it may not be as all she thought it would be. She draws the attention of the Staryk king, a creature of ice and cold who preys on the people of Vysnia.

Highlights: This book is beautiful! It has classic fairy tale themes, Rumpelstiltskin, and the feeling of a Russian folktale. I wish that I had read this in the dead of winter because it is very atmospheric. The story is dark and rich. So much detail and story is packed into it that it takes a while to digest. This is not a summery beach read but one that needs to be savored.

There are at least six points of view throughout the plot and each character has a symbol to represent them. It is a nice touch to separate the narratives. Each character brings their own voice and thoughts to the story. Miryem is the moneylender’s daughter who is stolen away by the Staryk king. Wanda, the servant girl, gives us a peak into the prejudices of the village folk but also the wonder of girl who has been given a chance to better herself. Her younger brother, Stepon, is the innocent who watches and does not completely understand what is happening around him. Irina, the daughter of a duke, has been forgotten and neglected until her father hatches a plan to ensnare the Tsar and therefore putting her in danger. The young tsar, Mirnatius, has a dark secret. And finally Magreta, the nurse who raised Irina and is determined to keep her young charge safe.

With so many plot lines intertwining you would think it would get confusing but it does not. They all come together and conclude the story. The last few chapters are fast paced and the perfect way to end. Be prepared to spend time with these characters in this world. It is a hearty read but worth it.

The Staryk was a tale for a winter's night.



Lowlights: I love the detail of the story and the characters. Every few chapters though felt a little longer than they needed to be. I am a fan of short chapters so when one stretched on for 50+ pages it took me a little longer to get through.

FYI: Read Uprooted by Naomi Novik. It is fantastic! It is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast which is my favorite fairy tale.

Spinning Silver is a fantasy with a construct that at times felt a little flimsy. Fire and ice are personified as characters with magical interactions with silver and gold that were sort of arbitrary (like those common in traditional fairy tales). That said, I enjoyed it immensely. The narration shifts from character to character, driving along a shiny road of peril and drama. The conclusion of the book made me realize how much the story plays to the idea of a strong, pure woman making a real man out of a male, but, hey, why not?

Naomi Novik delivers another fairytale-inspired fantasy novel sure to delight fans of Uprooted! Looking forward to sharing this with our fantasy readers this summer!

I received an e-ARC from NetGalley.
I wanted to read this because I enjoyed Uprooted. I'm a fantasy fan and enjoy a fairy tale retelling. She's good at it. There's not much recognizable from the original plot line (Rumpelstiltskin) but it doesn't matter because you really like these people, even with their flaws. None of our main characters (a young moneylender, a poor farm girl, her brother, a Duke's daughter) are perfect. They are all clearly dealing with things in their past (abuse, poverty, abandonment). There's all kinds of culture shock running through this book (country folk, city folk, Jewish quarter folk, Staryk). I'm not sure we finish dealing with it all, especially with our Staryk friends. The story feels incomplete in some ways, we meet and avoid disaster but certainly leave many other options open. This doesn't end in utopia. Oppression still exists.
Why not 5 stars? I'm ambivalent about the Jewish line running through the book. There are no other religions, Judaism alone, and other than our main character, we mostly meet a stereotype of Judaism: Moneylenders. If there had been a note at the end giving some background, I would have felt better. The thing is that we have to stop pretending that everyone knows about religions and the persecution they've been through. Yes, I know the history and it is a part of my family tree, but, sorry folks, unfortunately many people do not, so I'm afraid people can read this and instead of seeing hints that pograms are coming, they see Jews are moneylenders. It's not a good place to be. It feels like something that should either not be there or be better fleshed out. Still, that was my main concern and it was more of an ambivalence than a demerit.
The story is enjoyable. I would definitely recommend it. I'm curious to find out what other people think.

I lived the uniqueness of the retwlling of rumplestiltskin. Well-written, imaginative world building. The storytelling jumped from a number of different characters, but mever lost the flow of the tale. Higjly recommend.

Truly wonderful. Novik expands her fantastic short story of the same name (from 2016's The Starlit Wood: New Fairytales collection) into a rich, satisfying novel, which the original concept more than deserved. In this twist on Rumpelstiltskin, the heroine, Miryem comes from a long line of Jewish moneylenders in a Russia-like (Lithuanian?) setting. Unlike her overly kind-hearted father, she has a talent for turning the silver the family lends out into gold, which draws the attention of the lord of the Staryk, a fey creature of the winter. In addition to Miryem, the novel version also follows the intertwining paths of Wanda, the abused daughter of a local farmer Miryem takes as a servant as repayment for a debt, and Irina, the daughter of a local duke. I won't spoil any more of the plot, and if you've read Uprooted or any of the Temeraire books, you don't need to be sold on Novik's wonderful writing, which grows stronger and richer with each book.

This book was exactly what I expected from Naomi Novik! It was not only a lyrical retelling of a familiar fairytale but it had enough that made its own book. If you loved Uprooted you definitly will love this book. Not just one strong heroine but three!

Reading a book like this and being able to recommend it to patrons is why I joined this site. A truly stunning, almost visual tale, in a folkloric style that is truly compelling. I literally could not put this down until I finished it. The twists and turns and the almost familiar details felt like hearing a Hans Christian Anderson or Grimm's Fairy Tale story as a child for the first time. However, it had a visceral and gritty realism that speaks to adults. I loved it and in fact intend to buy it as a hardback for my personal collection.

This book is enchanting enthralling and not easy to put down . Ms. Novik creates a world with her beautiful descriptions and unforgettable characters .this seems to be a take on Rumplestilskin but make no mistake it is thoroughly original

This book was pretty interesting. It had a fun concept, not too familiar, but enough. It wasn't a fast read for me, but it was a great story overall.

After reading "Uprooted" I was incredibly excited to see another book by Novik coming out. Having now read "Spinning Silver", Novik is firmly rooted as one of my all time favorite authors. The world she has created here is fantastical, but the themes are so similar to what we deal with in the real world. Prejudice, social division, fatal misunderstandings between two different types of people, etc. There are great lessons to be learned from this book, and it is heart-wrenching to see how prevalent the prejudice seen in this book is present in our world today.
All of the characters in this book have important parts to add to the story, but as with all books that switch between different points of view, I developed a favorite and would occasionally become a little irate having to read through another of Wanda's chapters when I wanted an update on Miryem. However, the way all of their different viewpoints built the story was so well done I couldn't be too irritated. Stepon's viewpoint in particular reminded me quite a bit of reading "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" despite the two books being so completely different in subject matter. It's the voice that these characters were speaking with that felt similar to me, and not in a bad way.
It would seem odd to call this book a love story, but in many ways it was. Not just romantic love, but familial love and how it binds us together. Miryem's family is extremely loving and the way that they remain kind despite the prejudice they live with is deeply inspiring.
Hands-down, this is one of my favorite books of all time. I highly recommend it!