A review by alliepeduto
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
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!