Spinning Silver
2018
- fairy tales
- magic
- legends
- fantasy fiction
- mythology
- fiction
- fiction, fantasy, epic
- nyt:combined-print-and-e-book-fiction=2018-07-29
- rumpelstiltskin (folk tale)
- rumpelstilzchen (grimm version)
The story
"A fresh and imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairytale from the bestselling author of Uprooted, called "a very enjoyable fantasy with the air of a modern classic" by The New York Times Book Review. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father is not a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has left his family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem intercedes. Hardening her heart, she sets out to retrieve what is owed, and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. But when an ill-advised boast brings her to the attention of the cold creatures who haunt the wood, nothing will be the same again. For words have power, and the fate of a kingdom will be forever altered by the challenge she is issued. Channeling the heart of the classic fairy tale, Novik deftly interweaves six distinct narrative voices--each learning valuable lessons about sacrifice, power and love--into a rich, multilayered fantasy that readers will want to return to again and again"--
What it’s like
Cold, wintry atmosphere with frost-bitten forests, snow-muffled villages, and the glittering hard shine of silver and gold coins against dark wood and firelit Jewish households, all rendered in dense, lyrical prose that layers sensory detail thickly over the page. The voice shifts among six narrators, so the texture changes from a brisk, practical ledger-keeper's wit to slower, dreamlike passages touched by the uncanny chill of the wood. Its mood is wintry and watchful, with a folkloric menace that tightens into dread at the edges and warms into hearth-glow whenever the characters gather to talk, eat, or argue. The pacing is unhurried in the middle, built on accumulating bargains and small reversals, and the emotional register runs from wry to grave, following women and girls learning what sacrifice, power, and loyalty cost them. Violence is present and sometimes sharp, with threats, captivity, and deaths on the page, but it is not gratuitous, and there is no explicit sexual content. It suits a long winter read, a slow weekend, or anyone who wants a rich, immersive fantasy that feels like an old tale retold with weight and care, for readers who enjoy sprawling, character-driven fairy-tale worlds.
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