A review by silentrequiem
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
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!!!)