cindylindy's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
4.75
rebeccazh's review against another edition
finished this in one afternoon. i really enjoyed this! it's quite different from the first book (what i remember of it anyway) but this book was very atmospheric and captured the feeling of a fairytale well.
i didn't really like the number of characters narrating. i'm really not a fan of ensemble casts. this book starts out with a single first person narrator and it then branches out into five(?) first-person perspectives. further confusing things is the fact that the narrators of each new scene aren't labelled so i had to guess. i really liked one of later additions to the cast though. the tsar's chapters were very entertaining. also, nearly all the female characters were women or girls who had little power or choice over their lives and they had fathers, husbands or lords who made choices for them, who then began to work together.
i liked the motif of giving/receiving (for free or for a price) and i wish we could've seen how love works in the staryk kingdom (which i found very interesting because it's a society based totally on transactions and i wish it was explored in more detail). also, i wish the whole book was focused on miryem because her chapters were the most compelling. i skimmed a lot of the other subplots.
there was also a motif about coldness of heart / being calculating vs. being overly indulgent / soft-hearted. being able to shut off one's heart is associated with personal power, such as being able to stand up for oneself and protect one's best interests, and being soft-hearted was portrayed as a weakness as it allowed others to take advantage of oneself (i thought at first that miryem's arc would be about balancing these two opposing viewpoints but it wasn't), and i kind of wish that had been explored as well.
overall, i really like novik's fairytale series and hope she does more stuff like this
i didn't really like the number of characters narrating. i'm really not a fan of ensemble casts. this book starts out with a single first person narrator and it then branches out into five(?) first-person perspectives. further confusing things is the fact that the narrators of each new scene aren't labelled so i had to guess. i really liked one of later additions to the cast though. the tsar's chapters were very entertaining. also, nearly all the female characters were women or girls who had little power or choice over their lives and they had fathers, husbands or lords who made choices for them, who then began to work together.
i liked the motif of giving/receiving (for free or for a price) and i wish we could've seen how love works in the staryk kingdom (which i found very interesting because it's a society based totally on transactions and i wish it was explored in more detail). also, i wish the whole book was focused on miryem because her chapters were the most compelling. i skimmed a lot of the other subplots.
there was also a motif about coldness of heart / being calculating vs. being overly indulgent / soft-hearted. being able to shut off one's heart is associated with personal power, such as being able to stand up for oneself and protect one's best interests, and being soft-hearted was portrayed as a weakness as it allowed others to take advantage of oneself (i thought at first that miryem's arc would be about balancing these two opposing viewpoints but it wasn't), and i kind of wish that had been explored as well.
overall, i really like novik's fairytale series and hope she does more stuff like this
jxriggle's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
5.0
einaselesnia's review against another edition
3.0
The story was a bit dragging here and there. The different PoV's are nice but they come and go without a warning and that makes reading the book confusing. Though luckily all ends well and as expected. Though the most emotional part was the ending even that was just an awww and not full on emotions, it's what I missed in the story. It felt flat and not important enough. Still liked reading the story and happy I finished the book.
anna_pardo's review against another edition
2.0
Anava a sumar-li una estrella més, perquè a un llibre tan llarg que no t'està agradant però et manté llegint, se li ha d'aplaudir el mèrit, però revisant altres llibres que he valorat amb 3⭐, no em semblava just.
Comencem amb coses bones: com us dic, és àgil i entretingut, i prou ben escrit com perquè en vulguis saber més fins al final. I la construcció de món és força bona, sobre tot tota la part dels staryk (tot i que en el fons era com llegir sobre Més Enllà del Mur a Joc de Trons).
La part més negativa és que fins al final no saps quina història et vol explicar l'autora, però no en el bon sentit. No en el sentit de meravella, de girs que no t'esperes, no et porta de la mà... Senzillament de sobte l'història és una altra. Una que podria ser potent i bona, però que no ha explotat en les 400 pàgines anteriors. A més, passem d'una primera part amb protagonistes femenines fortes, per veure com després són mers instruments de la història més gran, protagonitzada per Ells, i acabant convertides en "les dones de". Sumem-hi un to moralitzant al final, segons la visió religiosa de l'autora, i tenim un gran còctel en el que un llibre amb moltíssim potencial acaba convertit en una anècdota.
Comencem amb coses bones: com us dic, és àgil i entretingut, i prou ben escrit com perquè en vulguis saber més fins al final. I la construcció de món és força bona, sobre tot tota la part dels staryk (tot i que en el fons era com llegir sobre Més Enllà del Mur a Joc de Trons).
La part més negativa és que fins al final no saps quina història et vol explicar l'autora, però no en el bon sentit. No en el sentit de meravella, de girs que no t'esperes, no et porta de la mà... Senzillament de sobte l'història és una altra. Una que podria ser potent i bona, però que no ha explotat en les 400 pàgines anteriors. A més, passem d'una primera part amb protagonistes femenines fortes, per veure com després són mers instruments de la història més gran, protagonitzada per Ells, i acabant convertides en "les dones de". Sumem-hi un to moralitzant al final, segons la visió religiosa de l'autora, i tenim un gran còctel en el que un llibre amb moltíssim potencial acaba convertit en una anècdota.
silentrequiem's review against another edition
5.0
Spinning Silver is a very different take on Rumpelstiltskin, and there are ice elves. ICE ELVES.
The story is told in shifting POVs, mainly three women: the daughter of a moneylender who takes on her father's job, the plain daughter of an ambitious duke, and the daughter of a poor farmer who goes to work for the moneylender to pay off her father's debt. There are others, but those three are the heart of the story.
This is a slow burn. It took me a while to read the first half of the book, and I then read the last half in one sitting and didn't look up until it was over. I loved how the author tied all the story threads together. All three women start out being passive (notice that they're all described as a relation to a man?) and become the strong heroes of the story. And all three find their happiness and their place in the world that is their own.
(Also there's a fire demon!!!)
The story is told in shifting POVs, mainly three women: the daughter of a moneylender who takes on her father's job, the plain daughter of an ambitious duke, and the daughter of a poor farmer who goes to work for the moneylender to pay off her father's debt. There are others, but those three are the heart of the story.
This is a slow burn. It took me a while to read the first half of the book, and I then read the last half in one sitting and didn't look up until it was over. I loved how the author tied all the story threads together. All three women start out being passive (notice that they're all described as a relation to a man?) and become the strong heroes of the story. And all three find their happiness and their place in the world that is their own.
(Also there's a fire demon!!!)
luna_rondo's review against another edition
2.0
Oay, so here's my deal. This book started out pretty strong (same with Uprooted) and then out of nowhere started changing perspectives. Which is fine, BUT NOT WHEN YOU DON'T PREFACE IT WITH WHO'S POV IT IS. The writing style stayed the same too, so I would be reading long paragraphs and then hear another name and finally be greeted by the new protagonist.
While I think it had some good ideas, I honestly couldn't tell you who did what and that's really not okay.
While I think it had some good ideas, I honestly couldn't tell you who did what and that's really not okay.
alicjaz's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
alliepeduto's review against another edition
4.0
This book is like meandering along in a icy wood. It’s pretty and interesting, but the whole time you’re wondering where the hell am I and when am I ever going to get to the nice warm hearth!?! Luckily I trusted our guide (aka Naomi Novik) to not lead me astray, but I am fairly certain I was lost there for a bit.
I did respect the harkening to the story Rumpelstiltskin, of which this is a retelling; it cropped up in several different ways with a lot of the original elements fleshed out into the fantasy lore. But the world building and fantastical elements weren’t quite enough to push it over from a 4.5 to a 5 for me.
That being said, I did like all the characters, though I was very thrown off by the roaming first person. It took some guess work to figure out who was who, which on top of figuring out the world and the rules for magic was a little more than I bargained for. A bad deal, as the Staryk would recognize.
But I still really enjoyed this! It wasn’t my favorite by the author, but I would definitely read another fantasy retelling from her, though only once she’s finished with the Scholomance series because I’m still so pissed about the cliffhanger that I’m adding that rant again to this review. September can’t come soon enough…so I suppose I’m also glad this was a standalone!
I did respect the harkening to the story Rumpelstiltskin, of which this is a retelling; it cropped up in several different ways with a lot of the original elements fleshed out into the fantasy lore. But the world building and fantastical elements weren’t quite enough to push it over from a 4.5 to a 5 for me.
That being said, I did like all the characters, though I was very thrown off by the roaming first person. It took some guess work to figure out who was who, which on top of figuring out the world and the rules for magic was a little more than I bargained for. A bad deal, as the Staryk would recognize.
But I still really enjoyed this! It wasn’t my favorite by the author, but I would definitely read another fantasy retelling from her, though only once she’s finished with the Scholomance series because I’m still so pissed about the cliffhanger that I’m adding that rant again to this review. September can’t come soon enough…so I suppose I’m also glad this was a standalone!
__klara__'s review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0