Spinning Silver

De: Naomi Novik

Narrado por: Lisa Flanagan

New York Times best seller

“One of the year’s strongest fantasy novels” (NPR), an imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the best-selling author of Uprooted.

Nebula and Hugo Award Finalist

Named one of Paste's Best Fantasy Books of the Decade

Named one of the top 10 books of the year by The New York Public Library and one of the best books of the year by: The New York Times Book Review; NPR; Time; Tor.com; PopSugar; Vox; Vulture; Paste; Bustle; Library Journal

With the Nebula Award-winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws listeners deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty - until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk - grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh - Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered.

She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike.

Praise for Spinning Silver:

'“A perfect tale.... A big and meaty novel, rich in both ideas and people, with the vastness of Tolkien and the empathy and joy in daily life of Le Guin.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Gorgeous, complex, and magical.... This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Cool and clever and . . . dire and wonderful.” (Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer)

“The Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale has never been as captivating.... Spinning Silver further cements [Novik’s] place as one of the genre greats.” (Paste)

©2018 Naomi Novik (P)2018 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A perfect tale... This book is about the determination and quiet competence of women doing remarkable things without knowing first that they can do them.... A big and meaty novel, rich in both ideas and people, with the vastness of Tolkien and the empathy and joy in daily life of Le Guin." (The New York Times Book Review)

"Gorgeous, complex, and magical... This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“Cool and clever and... dire and wonderful.” (Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer)

“A book as cool and mysterious as a winter’s night, with two marvelous heroines at its heart, Spinning Silver pits the cold of endless winter against the fires of duty, love, and sacrifice. I couldn’t put it down.” (Katherine Arden, New York Times best-selling author of The Bear and the Nightingale)

Started out great

I loved the first third of the book. The narrator sometimes forgot and lost her accent, but it was otherwise great. Loved the premise and the feminist take. It was promising to be a great story.

Then the story gets a few too points of view. Too many voices. Too many characters telling the story from their perspective - and one of those characters is 100% extraneous and does nothing for the story.

The last third of the book gets strange. It's like it should have been two separate (unrelated) stories instead of an odd smash up. Also the ending is rushed.

Maybe my expectations were too high?

As Expected

Russian-twisted retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. Add in a demon named Chernabog, a whole ice kingdom full of ice people with never-really-explained magics and rules, and some pretty well managed point of view hopping between a main cast of characters? It was good.

If you’re looking for a beautiful love story, look elsewhere. The main character, Miriam, is a stone cold pragmatist. She starts collecting money because her father (who is a money lender) is too soft hearted to do it, especially with ever worsening winters making life difficult. The secondary characters - whose names I have forgotten in the ten minutes I’ve sat thinking about the story before writing this review - are both similarly pragmatic. One, a Russian peasant blonde who escapes an abusive father by becoming indentured to Miriam’s family. The other, a rupunzel-long haired duke’s daughter who gets a personality when she’s frosted with a magic silver crown, necklace, and ring.

The story itself is somewhat long winded, but the descriptions are good. All the action really happens in the last three hours of the book - before then it drags through these three women being manipulated by the mysterious ice king.

Speaking of the ice king - like I said, if you’re looking for a romance? Look elsewhere. He is |-| this close to murdering Miriam for most of the book, he has as much flexibility as a frozen lamp post, and is frustratingly non-magical in the ways that matter. Even melting to death, he is non budging. Only in the very last two minutes of listening is ANY sort of romance hinted at.

Spoilers ahead***
The tsarina character ends up with the tsar after she shows him affection for the first time in his life, not because they are in love.
The blonde peasant girl is just happy to have a safe home to end up in - no suggestion of love there.
Miriam supposedly marries the ice king 2 weeks after the last actual present tense scene in the book, being courted and married in the Jewish way - which isn’t shown, only barely summarised.

All in all - it is As Expected, so I give it 4 stars overall. Just like with Naomi Novik’s other novel, Uprooted, she does a VERY good job at writing an ignorant character who grows to understand more of the world as the story widens. Is the ending the most satisfying? No. Is there any story fluff of romance to curl a readers toes? Also, no. But, if you liked Uprooted, you will like this story too.

excellent story, superb narrator

The story is well written, built from the POVs of different characters. The narrator is very talented.

Once upon a midnight dreary

This felt like a Grimm fairy tale told with the cadence of The Raven: once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary... I loved the tone, and the story, although the writing could have been shorter and the narration better road-mapped.

While the narration is dark, melodic, and magical, it is also frustratingly hard to tell which POV character is speaking. I’ve never had to work so hard at deciphering what’s happening and who’s speaking. It’s difficult to knock the narration down, however, because of the stellar way she narrates the fire demon.

The story has several POVs, but primarily involves three strong women: 1) Miryam, the moneylender’s daughter, who catches the eye of a Staryk winter king, 2) Wanda, the abused daughter of a poor farmer, living at the edge of the ice forest, and 3) Irina, pledged to a Czar in the grips of a demon.

You should only listen if you enjoy mysteries developed at a glacial pace. This is twelve hours setting up the three main stories, and then slowly bringing them together in the final six hours. The author’s unique blend of Rumpelstiltskin with Slavic mythology is as striking as a still winter’s day. I don’t know that I’ll have the energy to listen to this again, but as frozen as this story is to my heart, I guess one listen was momentous enough.

Proof that Magic and Strong Women are Beautiful

Much like Uprooted the protagonist is strong and fiercely her own woman. The character development is beautiful, shifting between each character who is strong in her own right and in her own way. The landscapes and the settings are wonderfully rendered, you can FEEL the frost. The characters are flawed but redeemable which makes them all the more relatable. Yet it retains the luster of any fairy tale. Enough of a thread you can see the ties but not so much that the story doesn’t live and breathe on its own. The narration is rich and the characters voices are skillfully handled. This is the best of the best and one I know I will dive back in again with, and soon. It is too hard to leave Miriam because now I have grown to love her too.

wonderful layers

I loved the layered folk stories and themes of debt, responsibility, forgiveness and redemption. The reader was perfect from voices and accent to her read of the characters. Fantastic!

Wow!

Wow! sums this book up pretty thoroughly! I enjoyed the story, the extreme detail, the narrator more than I can describe. At first all the hardships the characters have to go through is kind of depressing, but each situation was for a specific reason. I have never met characters like this in a book, and I'm in love with all of them.

Im only sad its over!

As always the book is amazing and I loved the narration. I listen at 1.10 speed but im only sad it is over and cant wait for more!!

A bit hard to follow shifts in perspective

I adored the story, but I did have to go back and listen to sections a few times before I caught where the narrative changed between characters. Beyond that I thoroughly enjoyed the entire thing.

Very well done all around!

The story has a great mix of real life fictional world, taking twists you don’t expect but follow a logical path. I’d definitely recommend it!