Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
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Web ID: 8514425Ratings & Reviews
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First Fantasy Read
I stepped out of my comfort zone to read this book for a book club. I am happy to say this book surprised me in the way that the author made the characters feel very real. The use of multiple points of view was the highlight for me. It gave the opportunity of empathizing for characters and reflecting on how things are not always so cut and dry in real life. I felt the strongest characters were the two main ones Myriam and Wanda, Wanda more so. I liked how an event would happen and I would look forward to see what each character felt about it. It made the story feel fuller. However, there were moments and or characters who maybe had too many pages devoted to them in the middle. The setting was that of a cold and terrible winter so it was the perfect time of year for me to read this! I was pleased to see a cool use of "transportation" I will not spoil as well as a magic society of ice elves called the Staryk who are hidden in the mountains. Perhaps my favorite aspect of the story was the fire demon who is conflict with the humans and the Staryk. Possession is always a fun modus operandi and every scene with this demon and his avatar were great. Chapter 17 stood out to me as it goes into more of these troubled characters. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy or stories about royal weddings, magic, and hidden worlds!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
An enchanting and riveting fairy tale!
An enchanting and riveting fairy tale! Miryem saves her family from poverty and starvation by taking over her father’s money-lending business. She boasts near the dangerous forest of being able to spin silver into gold and is set an impossible task by the Staryk king. The Staryk of the forest were an ominous presence from their first mention in chapter one—and we don’t actually meet one until almost 15% into the tale. Fantastic tension! Wanda comes to work for Miryem to pay off her father’s debt. Everything new to Wanda is “magic”—prayers said over food, singing, reading and writing numbers and names—but her life is fraught with non-magical dangers. Irina’s father intends her to marry the tsar, but Mirnatius is cruel and hides a dark secret. These three fierce female protagonists use cunning, love, compassion, and a dash of magic to defeat their foes. This book revealed to me just how much I like a well-crafted enemies-to-lovers story.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
One-dimensional characters
Characters crafted to meet simple stereotypes. Hard to maintain interest.
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Absolutely amazing book that stole my breath away!
This book cast a spell on my fantasy-loving heart! I love the complexities of the characters, and that we get a first-person point of view from multiple characters - not a common thing! Wonderful!!
Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Draws you in and doesn't let you go
I did NOT expect to be this blown away. I picked up the book since it seemed like a fun fantasy/fairy tale… and to an extent I was right. But man, this book is stunning. The author has spun a rich story based on eastern european folklore. The main character is a young Jewish woman who has to "toughen up" to help her family thrive. By doing so, she catches the attention of a race of monsters and ends up having to prove her worth over and over again. The book flips between a few different perspectives to show that ultimately, women are so often faced by abuse, hardship, and treated like property… but women also have the strength and ability to change their own lives. This book was gorgeously written and impossible to put down!
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Heart rending sleep stealer!
This woman truly drops information at just the right moments to make them react like bombs. This is now one of my top books ever. Action. Mythos. Romance. Self empowered women. What more could you ask for?
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Just as captivating as Uprooted
“The real story isn’t half as pretty as the one you’ve heard.” In Spinning Silver by Naomi Novick, Miryem the daughter of a line of moneylenders. When her father fails to collect money and his family begins to suffer for it, Miryem takes up the family business for herself and saves her family. She winds up attracting the attention of the Staryk King, who rules a land of ice and mysterious creatures, and ends up in a deal with him that may end with her becoming his wife. The story also follows the tale of a wealthy maiden, forced to marry a prince who is allied with a demon, and a poor girl who lives her life avoiding her drunken father and trying to survive. The three women’s lives connect and they each end up depending on each other in unexpected ways. I love the way Naomi Novick writes a fantasy, with just the right amount of darkness and hope for all the characters involved. Her writing was as easily captivating in this story as in Uprooted, and I am beginning to believe she could easily become another favorite author. The twists and turns of the story, and the lessons the characters learned, had me thinking about this book for days later. It is a definite five star read for me.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com
Intricate, delightful, satisfying
I read dozens, probably hundreds, of books in a year but only a few really stand out in my mind for years afterwards. I can tell this is going to be one of them. This book is like a beautiful piece of tapestry which initially astonishes you with its beauty and the more you think about each glowing thread which makes up the whole, the more delighted you are. The virtues of kindness, generosity, and honor make up the weft, the solid female characters make the warp, and poetry of word colors every thread with beauty.
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Customer review from barnesandnoble.com