Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

36 reviews

astrangewind's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Spinning Silver must be savored. It cannot be read in one sitting, as much as I would have liked to; some moments are so intense, so raw, that I had to set the book down to digest.

The characters come alive on the page: Miryem, the moneylender who pays her debts; Wanda, the strong helper who devotes herself to those she loves; Irina, the practical-minded leader who would do anything for her people. Even the more minor characters who we see a lot of later

- mainly Stepon and Magreta -

are so rich and diverse that I can't help but love them.

The villains, too - the Staryk king and even Mirnatius are likable by the end.

Each character is a victim of their circumstances and choices, and they evolve throughout the book in fascinating and sometimes unexpected ways, and I found myself genuinely rooting for them as though they were real. And they could be real.

Naomi Novik is a master of tone. Despite the number of characters who have first-person POV chapters, it is never unclear whose perspective it is. It's clever and subtle in an area where many authors falter. The writing itself, even, is the perfect level of descriptive; the world came alive around me.

The story of the fae and the moneylender lends itself well to problems of deals made, and fulfilling those deals in lateral ways, which I very much enjoy. I've heard from others (and I agree with it) that Spinning Silver has excellent reread value for this reason.

Naomi Novik's romance was a pleasure to read. It isn't overtly sexual, or even overtly romantic

; the romance is a function of the characters and their problems, not the other way around. It's far more natural than something like Twilight, for example

.

The plot evolves, twisting and turning throughout the book, ageing and maturing. It's never too much, never any surprise plot twists, but the payoff of things set up on every page.

I don't know what else to say about this book. It's absolutely phenomenal. A true joy to read. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Miscarriage, Slavery, Torture, Violence, Blood, and Murder

macliffe's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I very much enjoyed the writing of this book, how it was so creative on both a macro and a micro scale. I always wanted to pick it up again. My only nitpicks were the constant switching of POVs, and how horrible most of the men were.  But there was a lot more to those characters that you see by the end, so that ended up being better than I initially expected. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Child death, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Confinement, Racism, Sexual assault, Torture, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and War

Minor: Sexual content and Violence

carlithian's review against another edition

dark inspiring mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Misogyny, Physical abuse, Blood, Antisemitism, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Child death, Torture, Trafficking, Religious bigotry, Pregnancy, and War

erikagibson126's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Death, Physical abuse, Violence, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

Moderate: Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Blood, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, and Classism

irinalast's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny inspiring tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

An interesting and complicated world is created through several perspectives; setting is established through ‘show don’t tell.’ Great writing that establishes realistic character feelings and dialogue.  

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Content Warnings

Minor: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Racism, Toxic relationship, Violence, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lira_the_recluse's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

An expanded fairy tale. It was a treat to see the Slavic folktale inspiration. All the characters had believable and complex motivations. 

A couple minor things. I wish there were fewer point of view characters, but I don't mind that as much as th second point. I wished there was an audio marker or something to let you know when a POV switch happens mid chapter. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

kurumipanda's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Antisemitism, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Rape, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Xenophobia, Blood, and Classism

kateceratops's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Domestic abuse and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Torture, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Sexual assault

There isn't a lot of violence, but two or three scenes get very intense.

torturedreadersdept's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

letheaster's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Really enjoyed this book. The multiple POVs were well done, and each one did a good job of differentiating themselves from each other. Miryem was probably my favorite character :)

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, and Antisemitism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Violence, Death of parent, and Fire/Fire injury

Minor: Child death and Rape