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Publication
Del Rey (2018), Edition: First Edition, 480 pages
Description
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. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar. But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love.… (more)
Media reviews
[A] book of not very comforting stories, 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.
Spinning Silver follows in the tradition set by Robin McKinley of fairy-tale worlds populated by fairy-tale characters who feel like real people, and of princesses with strength and agency. But it moves the tradition forward. It’s a bright new installment from an author who’s poised to become
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one of the definitive YA voices of her era. Show Less
I'm in awe of how Novik spins moldy, hateful straw into warm and glimmering gold.
In spare prose of great clarity Novik weaves in and out of multiple first-person narratives in sometimes-illuminating, sometimes-disconcerting or confusing ways, exploring human and alien social structures and ethnic prejudices, fathers and daughters, damaged relationships and hidden agendas,
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wringing unexpected consequences from seemingly simple choices. Show Less
This gorgeous, complex, and magical novel, grounded in Germanic, Russian, and Jewish folklore but richly overlaid with a cohesive, creative story of its own, rises well above a mere modern re- imagining of classic tales.
User reviews
LibraryThing member Stevil2001
This is a loose fairy tale retelling, and I was kind of dreading it because that kind of thing doesn't interest me, but I was soon sucked into it. Naomi Novik has constructed a fascinating world filled with a number of fully realized characters; I appreciated her ability to give us multiple
One of its most noteworthy features is that it has multiple first person narrators. Surprisingly, it rotates narrators even withing chapters, and there are no obvious indicators of the switches; you have to pick up on who the "I" of each section is, though Novik is good about putting some kind of giveaway detail within the first couple sentences of each section. Even more surprisingly, it constantly adds on narrators, even hundreds of pages in, so you never know who you'll be hearing from next. Why do this, I wondered? One is, I think, that this is a book about spinning, about twisting fibers together to form yarn. The yarn is made up of individual strands-- just as stories are. The structure of the novel reminds us how there is no such thing as a standalone story, each person's story is made up of other stories in ways both small and big.
This is reinforced in a scene where one character's mother tells another character that the most one can do is help others, and do so cheerfully. Wanda was hired as a servant by Miryem, but Wanda's aid to Miryem's family went beyond what was required. The best people do good in the world where they can, and expect nothing in return, because you don't know how your story might affect someone else's. We see this quite literally in the novel in a scene where two groups of characters are staying in the same house, but in two different worlds, and each group of characters unwittingly helps the other group through their generosity. Like the best novels, Spinning Silver encourages an ethical orientation toward the world with its form and with its plot.
There are men who are wolves inside, and want to eat up other people to fill their bellies. That is what was in your house with you, all your life. But here you are with your brothers, and you are not eaten up, and there is not a wolf inside you. You have fed each other, and you kept the wolf away. That is all we can do for each other in the world, to keep the wolf away. (308)
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protagonists whose goals are at odds with one another in pretty dramatic ways without compromising our empathy with any of them. I've never read anything by her before, but she writes really compellingly-- there were a couple sequences where I was utterly enthralled, on the edge of my seat with suspense. It helps that it's a very unpredictable novel (in a good way); it's not regurgitating some kind of stock plot you've seen a million times.One of its most noteworthy features is that it has multiple first person narrators. Surprisingly, it rotates narrators even withing chapters, and there are no obvious indicators of the switches; you have to pick up on who the "I" of each section is, though Novik is good about putting some kind of giveaway detail within the first couple sentences of each section. Even more surprisingly, it constantly adds on narrators, even hundreds of pages in, so you never know who you'll be hearing from next. Why do this, I wondered? One is, I think, that this is a book about spinning, about twisting fibers together to form yarn. The yarn is made up of individual strands-- just as stories are. The structure of the novel reminds us how there is no such thing as a standalone story, each person's story is made up of other stories in ways both small and big.
This is reinforced in a scene where one character's mother tells another character that the most one can do is help others, and do so cheerfully. Wanda was hired as a servant by Miryem, but Wanda's aid to Miryem's family went beyond what was required. The best people do good in the world where they can, and expect nothing in return, because you don't know how your story might affect someone else's. We see this quite literally in the novel in a scene where two groups of characters are staying in the same house, but in two different worlds, and each group of characters unwittingly helps the other group through their generosity. Like the best novels, Spinning Silver encourages an ethical orientation toward the world with its form and with its plot.
There are men who are wolves inside, and want to eat up other people to fill their bellies. That is what was in your house with you, all your life. But here you are with your brothers, and you are not eaten up, and there is not a wolf inside you. You have fed each other, and you kept the wolf away. That is all we can do for each other in the world, to keep the wolf away. (308)
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LibraryThing member Narilka
Spinning Silver is Naomi Novik's loose retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale. It reads exactly like a fairy tale you've known all your life, a world filled with magic and danger. Novik takes the core of the story and gives it a twist, adding in other familiar fairy tale elements for good
Miryem is the moneylender's daughter. Her father is not a very good moneylender, having lent out all the family's money but unable to bring himself to collect on those debts. With the family on the edge of starvation, Miryem hardens her heart and takes it upon herself to get the money back, going from door to door demanding payment from those who owe her family debts. Finding herself up to the task it's not long before Miryem realizes she has quite a talent for commerce - she is a good moneylender. If a family cannot pay in coin, she takes the equivalent in goods which she then trades in the market. Miryem's skill of turning silver into gold is such that it catches the eye of the King of the Staryk, creatures of cold who desire gold above all else.
The story is very clever if on the complicated side. Miryem is both the monster and the princess. As the moneylender who turns silver into gold, Miryem acts as the stand in for Rumpelstiltskin and is also the princess in trouble when the Staryk King steals her away for his own purposes. It's a fascinating dichotomy that shouldn't work but does. Miryem's story isn't the only thread, though it is the main one. There are two additional "main" characters, Wanda, a farm girl in the employ of Miryem who is working to better herself and who's family ends up in trouble for reasons, and Irina, a Duke's daughter who marries the Tsar that is being controlled by a demon. Like I said, it gets complicated. Each lady is also the hero and the monster in their story threads, with the motivations to go with. All three plots weave together into one magical whole that ends in quite a satisfying conclusion.
The story is a slow burn. Novik takes her time building up the characters and the situation. I enjoyed the slow reveal, learning more about our characters and their world as the book wound on. The world building is rich and detailed. The magic system make sense for the setting and helps give the world that fairy tale feel.
On the downside, Novik chose one of my least favorite story telling styles for this book: multiple first person points of view. Yep, you read that right. When the story was alternating between just two POVs, I was OK with it. As the book progresses more POVs are added in, both main and side characters, until we end up with 6 different first person POVs. At times it can be hard to determine who's POV the story has been shifted to.
I listened to the audio book narrated by Lisa Flanagan. I love the sound of her voice. Flanagan does a pretty good job of keeping each character separate with different accents but it's not perfect and sometimes it took me a few to realize that the POV had switched characters.
There is just something about fairy tales. Even with the irritation of multiple first person points of view, this retelling hit all the right notes for me. I definitely need to read check out Uprooted.
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measure, transforming the whole into something new.Miryem is the moneylender's daughter. Her father is not a very good moneylender, having lent out all the family's money but unable to bring himself to collect on those debts. With the family on the edge of starvation, Miryem hardens her heart and takes it upon herself to get the money back, going from door to door demanding payment from those who owe her family debts. Finding herself up to the task it's not long before Miryem realizes she has quite a talent for commerce - she is a good moneylender. If a family cannot pay in coin, she takes the equivalent in goods which she then trades in the market. Miryem's skill of turning silver into gold is such that it catches the eye of the King of the Staryk, creatures of cold who desire gold above all else.
The story is very clever if on the complicated side. Miryem is both the monster and the princess. As the moneylender who turns silver into gold, Miryem acts as the stand in for Rumpelstiltskin and is also the princess in trouble when the Staryk King steals her away for his own purposes. It's a fascinating dichotomy that shouldn't work but does. Miryem's story isn't the only thread, though it is the main one. There are two additional "main" characters, Wanda, a farm girl in the employ of Miryem who is working to better herself and who's family ends up in trouble for reasons, and Irina, a Duke's daughter who marries the Tsar that is being controlled by a demon. Like I said, it gets complicated. Each lady is also the hero and the monster in their story threads, with the motivations to go with. All three plots weave together into one magical whole that ends in quite a satisfying conclusion.
The story is a slow burn. Novik takes her time building up the characters and the situation. I enjoyed the slow reveal, learning more about our characters and their world as the book wound on. The world building is rich and detailed. The magic system make sense for the setting and helps give the world that fairy tale feel.
On the downside, Novik chose one of my least favorite story telling styles for this book: multiple first person points of view. Yep, you read that right. When the story was alternating between just two POVs, I was OK with it. As the book progresses more POVs are added in, both main and side characters, until we end up with 6 different first person POVs. At times it can be hard to determine who's POV the story has been shifted to.
I listened to the audio book narrated by Lisa Flanagan. I love the sound of her voice. Flanagan does a pretty good job of keeping each character separate with different accents but it's not perfect and sometimes it took me a few to realize that the POV had switched characters.
There is just something about fairy tales. Even with the irritation of multiple first person points of view, this retelling hit all the right notes for me. I definitely need to read check out Uprooted.
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LibraryThing member Kanarthi
In short: engaging mixture of settings and influences, but inadequately explored themes or characters and incredibly creepy romance elements.
Spinning Silver's fictional Eastern European setting includes poor farmsteads, rich towns, and royal courts. There are many realistic setting details,
Ultimately, the mixing of influences and tone weakens the themes of the book. One of the biggest themes is centered around the idea of repaying debts. This theme appears especially in the stories of Miryem, the Jewish moneylender who gets caught up with the Staryk after she boasts about her ability to "turn silver into gold", and Wanda, a poor farmer's daughter who starts working for Miryem and her family. There are different perspectives on repaying debts and kindness, as characters range from the overly altruistic to the merciless but honest. But this theme is inadequately explored as we follow Irina, a duke's daughter who gets trapped in a dangerous marriage. She is a chip used in others' negotiations but ultimately doesn't fully engage with the theme of debt repayment because she's too busy fighting a fire demon. This incomplete exploration is shared by the other themes, including heritage, the struggle of an individual to establish themself in a hostile society, and the (supernatural) perversion of domestic environments.
Although the settings are distinct, the characters begin to blur together after the book hits its halfway mark. The point-of-view switches are jarring when they jump forward or backward in time, and the characters' voices don't vary. I appreciated that following so many different characters allowed so many different settings to come into play, but the point-of-view sections of the more minor characters probably should have been edited out. Each of the three main characters discovers her strengths and her priorities as the story develops, but Wanda especially was neglected towards the end of the book because she was more tangentially related to the fantastical elements that drive the plot.
Finally, Spinning Silver contains not one but two incredibly creepy romances. After reading Uprooted, I am really perplexed about Novik's perspectives on love and companionship. Her romances are icy, full of control issues, and include oddly timed sexual tension. Perhaps these elements mesh well with the fantastical parts of her story, but they contrast wildly with the realistic character interactions between Miryem, her family, and the villagers. She needs to stop including romance at all if she insists on writing it this way.
Spinning Silver's fictional Eastern European setting includes poor farmsteads, rich towns, and royal courts. There are many realistic setting details,
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including the anti-Semitism faced by the main character Miryem and her work as a moneylender and trader. There are also elements of folklore-inspired fantasy provided by the rule-bound snow people (the Staryk) and a fire demon. Domestic and fantastical scenes are juxtaposed nicely against one another. Each setting is distinct and well-described. The rapid switching of point-of-view and settings means that the book is a quick, suspenseful read.Ultimately, the mixing of influences and tone weakens the themes of the book. One of the biggest themes is centered around the idea of repaying debts. This theme appears especially in the stories of Miryem, the Jewish moneylender who gets caught up with the Staryk after she boasts about her ability to "turn silver into gold", and Wanda, a poor farmer's daughter who starts working for Miryem and her family. There are different perspectives on repaying debts and kindness, as characters range from the overly altruistic to the merciless but honest. But this theme is inadequately explored as we follow Irina, a duke's daughter who gets trapped in a dangerous marriage. She is a chip used in others' negotiations but ultimately doesn't fully engage with the theme of debt repayment because she's too busy fighting a fire demon. This incomplete exploration is shared by the other themes, including heritage, the struggle of an individual to establish themself in a hostile society, and the (supernatural) perversion of domestic environments.
Although the settings are distinct, the characters begin to blur together after the book hits its halfway mark. The point-of-view switches are jarring when they jump forward or backward in time, and the characters' voices don't vary. I appreciated that following so many different characters allowed so many different settings to come into play, but the point-of-view sections of the more minor characters probably should have been edited out. Each of the three main characters discovers her strengths and her priorities as the story develops, but Wanda especially was neglected towards the end of the book because she was more tangentially related to the fantastical elements that drive the plot.
Finally, Spinning Silver contains not one but two incredibly creepy romances. After reading Uprooted, I am really perplexed about Novik's perspectives on love and companionship. Her romances are icy, full of control issues, and include oddly timed sexual tension. Perhaps these elements mesh well with the fantastical parts of her story, but they contrast wildly with the realistic character interactions between Miryem, her family, and the villagers. She needs to stop including romance at all if she insists on writing it this way.
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LibraryThing member foggidawn
Miryem’s father is a moneylender, and he’s hopeless at it. When Miryem’s mother falls ill and it looks like the family won’t survive the winter, Miryem examines her father’s account books and marches to the homes of the neighbors who have borrowed money with no intention of returning it.
Oh, so good. This book hit all the right notes with me. Intricate plot, great characters, delicious writing, with fairy-tale connections and an Eastern European flavor. Probably my favorite book so far this year. If you like fantasy, get this book and read it!
Also, that last line? Perfection.
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On that day, she becomes the moneylender in her village. She finds she’s very good at it, too, and at trading the goods that she sometimes gets as payment. In fact, after a particularly successful transaction, she jokes about turning silver into gold... and something hears her. When a purse of elvish silver appears, Miryem must find a way to change it to gold — but if she does, what will happen then? Oh, so good. This book hit all the right notes with me. Intricate plot, great characters, delicious writing, with fairy-tale connections and an Eastern European flavor. Probably my favorite book so far this year. If you like fantasy, get this book and read it!
Also, that last line? Perfection.
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LibraryThing member beserene
For those who read Novik's Uprooted, this new novel in the fairy-tale style will feel familiar. The world here carries much the same tone and details, although both books stand alone. This time, however, the fairy tale origin is immediately apparent, as the novel is an expansion of Novik's
That Novik weaves in more than one tale and more than one voice as the book progresses should surprise no one. Those voices, in fact, are one of the most impressive things about her writing. Starting with three POV characters -- young women, each of whom might be a fairy tale heroine in her own right -- the book teases out each story and perspective with slow care, adding in related voices unexpectedly but beautifully. By the time the book ends, we the readers have seen the story from at least six different viewpoints, not one of which feels unnecessary.
And there, in essence, is the power of this book; it is complex but not a bit of it feel difficult or overwrought. Every line of story weaves through the others with elegant connection, driving the reader from page to page but never making one feel rushed. Even so, I wanted to devour this book whole, the way a certain demon within it wants to devour... well, just about everybody, and had to hold myself back from tearing through it faster than the book itself wanted to go. The final paragraph made me weep, in all the best ways.
What else can I tell you? If you liked Novik's previous work, you're going to like this. If you haven't experienced her rich worldbuilding and magnificent character development yet, I encourage you to give this a try. To be quite frank, I could've simply written a two-word review of this book: READ IT. Because it is that wonderful.
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Rumplestiltskin retelling that appeared in The Starlit Wood, an anthology of modern-spun fairy and folk tales. Here, as in that story, Novik reclaims the core ideas of Rumplestiltskin, addresses the racist overtones of the traditional tale, and creates something deeper and more beautiful in doing so.That Novik weaves in more than one tale and more than one voice as the book progresses should surprise no one. Those voices, in fact, are one of the most impressive things about her writing. Starting with three POV characters -- young women, each of whom might be a fairy tale heroine in her own right -- the book teases out each story and perspective with slow care, adding in related voices unexpectedly but beautifully. By the time the book ends, we the readers have seen the story from at least six different viewpoints, not one of which feels unnecessary.
And there, in essence, is the power of this book; it is complex but not a bit of it feel difficult or overwrought. Every line of story weaves through the others with elegant connection, driving the reader from page to page but never making one feel rushed. Even so, I wanted to devour this book whole, the way a certain demon within it wants to devour... well, just about everybody, and had to hold myself back from tearing through it faster than the book itself wanted to go. The final paragraph made me weep, in all the best ways.
What else can I tell you? If you liked Novik's previous work, you're going to like this. If you haven't experienced her rich worldbuilding and magnificent character development yet, I encourage you to give this a try. To be quite frank, I could've simply written a two-word review of this book: READ IT. Because it is that wonderful.
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LibraryThing member bibliovermis
I did not expect a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin (with several other tales woven in) to be about the lives of women and anti-semitism in an alternate medieval Russia, because my imagination is much more limited than that of Naomi Novik. This was really, really well done.
LibraryThing member rosalita
I did not want this book to end. Following up on 2015's [Uprooted], a tale of magic and witches based on old East European folk tales, Novik has created another gem of a story. This time, the tale is an imaginative take-off on Rumpelsiltskin, in which a young Jewish girl is commanded by the king of
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the fairy people to turn silver into gold. What the silver signifies, why the Staryk need so much gold, and how Miryem will walk the tightrope between two worlds is magic all its own in Novik's hands. I don't want to say too much, because every reader deserves to discover the delights hidden between these two covers for themselves. Highly recommended, in case it wasn't clear. Show Less
LibraryThing member krau0098
Uprooted was one of my favorite books of 2017, so I was very excited to read Spinning Silver. I ended up really struggling with this book, it was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I didn't enjoy it all that much.
The book switches POV constantly, with little warning and I was stuck
The plot itself was incredibly slow moving and predictable. The story basically follows two “kings” and the women who end up bound to them. One is the winter king of a fae-like race, the Staryk, who marries himself to a young woman who is a money lender. The other is the Tsar who harbors a fire demon and marries a young noblewoman who is part Staryk. The two brides endeavor to save the country from both Staryk and demon by playing the two off each other.
The story constantly takes long detours into areas that don’t have much impact on the plot. It makes for a long and wandering read that I really struggled to engage with. I kept hoping things would get better but they never did.
Overall. while this was an okay fantasy, I was expecting so much more. This book was a huge disappointment for me; partly because I loved “Uprooted” soooo much. I will be approaching Novik’s future books with a bit more caution.
The book switches POV constantly, with little warning and I was stuck
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struggling to figure out whose POV we had switched to. I always had to read into the next section a few paragraphs to figure out whose POV we were reading from and it was done willy nilly. Because of this I never really engaged with the characters or the story.The plot itself was incredibly slow moving and predictable. The story basically follows two “kings” and the women who end up bound to them. One is the winter king of a fae-like race, the Staryk, who marries himself to a young woman who is a money lender. The other is the Tsar who harbors a fire demon and marries a young noblewoman who is part Staryk. The two brides endeavor to save the country from both Staryk and demon by playing the two off each other.
The story constantly takes long detours into areas that don’t have much impact on the plot. It makes for a long and wandering read that I really struggled to engage with. I kept hoping things would get better but they never did.
Overall. while this was an okay fantasy, I was expecting so much more. This book was a huge disappointment for me; partly because I loved “Uprooted” soooo much. I will be approaching Novik’s future books with a bit more caution.
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LibraryThing member Citizenjoyce
I very much enjoyed Spinning Silver. Usually I don’t want to know too much about a book before I start it, I like to be completely surprised. I’d read that the book was a fairy tale retold, Rumplestiltskin, and this is one of my favorite genres. I was pleasantly surprised by the Judaic
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underpinning of the story. Is there much Judaism in most fairy tales? I can’t think of any. So that aspect completely drew me in. I’m also enthralled when clever women discover their own power and when characters can change the way they view life and other people. Alas, I found the story dragged in parts. I can’t say I like long or short stories better, I like them to be as long as they need to be. I thought Spinning Silver had a little padding, but other than that was delighted by it. Show Less
LibraryThing member bragan
This tale of a Jewish moneylender's daughter and the ruler of a wintery fairy kingdom is heavily inspired by, and makes frequent reference to, the story of Rumpelstiltskin, but it's not a retelling of the fairy tale. It's something much more original and fascinating, and I say that as someone who
It's also the best fantasy novel I have read in recent memory. The writing is marvelously assured, the characters are complex and strong and clever, the worldbuilding is subtle and excellent, and the plot utterly gripping. And every time I thought I knew where it was going, it surprised me, in ways that felt utterly right. I did find it a bit slow, but not remotely in a bad way, rather in the way that makes you want to stop and savor it and not let it be over too soon.
Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
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dearly loves a good fairy tale retelling.It's also the best fantasy novel I have read in recent memory. The writing is marvelously assured, the characters are complex and strong and clever, the worldbuilding is subtle and excellent, and the plot utterly gripping. And every time I thought I knew where it was going, it surprised me, in ways that felt utterly right. I did find it a bit slow, but not remotely in a bad way, rather in the way that makes you want to stop and savor it and not let it be over too soon.
Wonderful, wonderful stuff.
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LibraryThing member rivkat
Really deserves all the praise it’s been getting. Miryem, a Jewish moneylender eking out an ok existence in a small village in Poland-like Litvak, is captured by a Staryk (basically an ice elf) lord who threatens her to get her to turn silver into gold, which she begins doing by trading and ends
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with magic. Meanwhile, Miryem’s Staryk silver helps get Irina, a duke’s daughter, married off to the tsar, who’s possessed by a fire demon who’d like to eat the world and especially the Staryk. There’s also Wanda, a motherless girl abused by her father and hired by Miryem, and her brothers and the mysterious white tree where their mother was buried, and by the end a variety of snips and bits of other fairytales have visited. Humans are plausibly motivated and their circles of caring vary widely; even the protagonists make decisions that they know will hurt others in the belief that it’s the least bad thing they can do. There’s a question mark about Irina and the tsar at the end which I wouldn’t mind having answered for Yuletide, but Miryem and Wanda’s arcs both are quite satisfying. Show Less
LibraryThing member ecataldi
This book is more than likely to end up in my Christmas card top picks. I ADORED this book; the stars aligned and everything about it made me happy. I'm already anticipating reading it again, that's how much I liked it! Spinning Silver is a Russian folk tale/medieval-fantasy with bad ass heroines.
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The first of these heroines and the star of the whole show is, Miryem. Miryem has a great sense for bookkeeping and scheming and once she takes over her father's money lending trade in town and starts calling in debts (with interest) and investing them in other items, her family becomes relatively wealthy (rather then dirt poor like she had been raised). Next is Wanda. Wanda grew up even poorer than Miryem and when Miryem comes to collect her father's debt, her father basically sells her out as an indentured servant and Wanda starts working for Miryem and her family. Finally we have Irina, a wealthy Duke's daughter in a city a day's ride away. In the kingdom where they live, their lies a dark force, the Staryk. Whenever a shining white road appears and the snow thickens, the Staryk are near. Legends of their barbarity and thirst for gold are well known. One day Miryem's money skills are noticed and a Staryk leaves behind a small white coin pouch filled with three silver coins. Miryem knows that she needs to find a way to turn them into gold. Will she be able to fend off the Staryk? These three women will find their lives drawn together in unexpected ways. Although none of them were valued for their skills initials, they are more valuable then all the knights and gold in the kingdom. They are no damsels in distress! The "villains" if you will are also wonderful! I imagined the Staryk Lord as Jareth the Goblin King (which obviously makes Miryem Jennifer Connelly) and the demon possessed tsar as Lord Farquaad from Shrek. There's not too much fantasy, not really any romance to speak, but plenty of adventure and wit. BRB I'm going to go voraciously read all this author's others books! Show Less
LibraryThing member eyes.2c
Courage sparkles!
A gripping story that seems to combine Rumpelstiltskin with overtones of several other traditional tales and comes up with something completely different.
The lands of Lithvasn are under perpetual winter, frozen in place by the Staryk, a deadly race that remind me of high elves, far
A young Jewish girl, Miryem, daughter of a moneylender, takes it upon herself to regain debts owed the family. Debts that have left the family close to starvation. In doing this she shows a solid business head and the family fortunes are turned around. She turns dross into gold. And this is exactly why she attracts the attention of the Staryk King, who seems to be a cross between an arrogant Elf Lord and the male equivalent of the wicked Ice Queen.
Another young woman from the same village is hired by Mirym to work off her father's debts. This is a turning point for Wanda. Her father is physically abusive and this new position enables Wanda to not only secret away some money, but she learns the magic of reading and numbers. And has at least one meal a day.
Meanwhile at the nearby city of Vysnia where Miryem's grandparents live, the Duke's plain daughter, Irina, captures the interest of the Tsar. Staryk silver that Mireym has had made into jewelry plays no small part. The Tsar it seems is possessed by a demon. Of course all three women's lives become entangled, magic, devastating continual cold and the demon's insatiably loom large. Death by winter or demonic assault seem the only choices. Continual surprises kept me focused. Just as events look like being resolved, another pathway opens up, another layer is added.
I loved Novik's steady building of tension and creative turns in the story. I loved the way all three families intertwine. We are privy to their stories and the consequences of actions and choices in all three families. Just when I could see what was happening, an unpredictable turn would be taken.
At times I was left feeling sorry for the Staryk King, and then the Tsar who's possessed by a fire demon. The resolution had me glued to the final word.
A fascinating read!
A NetGalley ARC
A gripping story that seems to combine Rumpelstiltskin with overtones of several other traditional tales and comes up with something completely different.
The lands of Lithvasn are under perpetual winter, frozen in place by the Staryk, a deadly race that remind me of high elves, far
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above humanity in their scale of being.A young Jewish girl, Miryem, daughter of a moneylender, takes it upon herself to regain debts owed the family. Debts that have left the family close to starvation. In doing this she shows a solid business head and the family fortunes are turned around. She turns dross into gold. And this is exactly why she attracts the attention of the Staryk King, who seems to be a cross between an arrogant Elf Lord and the male equivalent of the wicked Ice Queen.
Another young woman from the same village is hired by Mirym to work off her father's debts. This is a turning point for Wanda. Her father is physically abusive and this new position enables Wanda to not only secret away some money, but she learns the magic of reading and numbers. And has at least one meal a day.
Meanwhile at the nearby city of Vysnia where Miryem's grandparents live, the Duke's plain daughter, Irina, captures the interest of the Tsar. Staryk silver that Mireym has had made into jewelry plays no small part. The Tsar it seems is possessed by a demon. Of course all three women's lives become entangled, magic, devastating continual cold and the demon's insatiably loom large. Death by winter or demonic assault seem the only choices. Continual surprises kept me focused. Just as events look like being resolved, another pathway opens up, another layer is added.
I loved Novik's steady building of tension and creative turns in the story. I loved the way all three families intertwine. We are privy to their stories and the consequences of actions and choices in all three families. Just when I could see what was happening, an unpredictable turn would be taken.
At times I was left feeling sorry for the Staryk King, and then the Tsar who's possessed by a fire demon. The resolution had me glued to the final word.
A fascinating read!
A NetGalley ARC
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LibraryThing member MinDea
Spinning Silver is a dark and twisty retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. This story is about a money lenderer's daughter, Miryem, who decides she can no longer watch her family suffer while other families thrive off of their money. So, she decides to take over her father's business. While she is busy
I have to admit that I had a hard time getting into this book. I wasn't really connecting with the characters or the story itself at the beginning. I also found the switching of the povs to be very confusing. I would be almost done with a section before I fully realized who was talking.
I was more than half way through the book before I started to really enjoy it. The ending is so good. The strength of the these female characters is very empowering. In the end, I loved this book. I may have gotten through Uprooted and connected with those characters quicker but this story will be the one I will remember and will stick with me.
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turning silver to gold she attracts the attention of The Staryk (I pictured them as White Walkers). This is a story of family, loyalty and getting what you are owed. I have to admit that I had a hard time getting into this book. I wasn't really connecting with the characters or the story itself at the beginning. I also found the switching of the povs to be very confusing. I would be almost done with a section before I fully realized who was talking.
I was more than half way through the book before I started to really enjoy it. The ending is so good. The strength of the these female characters is very empowering. In the end, I loved this book. I may have gotten through Uprooted and connected with those characters quicker but this story will be the one I will remember and will stick with me.
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LibraryThing member PattyLouise
Spinning Silver
By
Naomi Novik
What it's all about...
Three young women who don’t seem to have a connection end up with a powerful connection that will unite them forever. This is not an ordinary retelling of Rumpelstiltskin but rather a story of cold chilling power, demons, and three young women who
Why I wanted to read it...
I love this author’s work...plain and simple. It’s incredible.
What made me truly enjoy this book...
I loved each girl’s story...I even loved the Staryk...the sort of ice creatures that ruled. I loved the adventure. I loved the world that everyone lived in and I loved the ending.
Why you should read it, too...
Readers who want a harsh yet beautiful fantasy...well...those readers will love this book!
I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, Edelweiss and Amazon. It was my choice to read it and review it.
By
Naomi Novik
What it's all about...
Three young women who don’t seem to have a connection end up with a powerful connection that will unite them forever. This is not an ordinary retelling of Rumpelstiltskin but rather a story of cold chilling power, demons, and three young women who
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are willing to fight for others. Irina, Wanda and Miryem...one noble, one an underdog and one a money lender. All have special talents. When they come together...their force is a mighty one.Why I wanted to read it...
I love this author’s work...plain and simple. It’s incredible.
What made me truly enjoy this book...
I loved each girl’s story...I even loved the Staryk...the sort of ice creatures that ruled. I loved the adventure. I loved the world that everyone lived in and I loved the ending.
Why you should read it, too...
Readers who want a harsh yet beautiful fantasy...well...those readers will love this book!
I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley, Edelweiss and Amazon. It was my choice to read it and review it.
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LibraryThing member jenspirko
Absolutely irresistible -- I read this at lightning speed (luckily I had a day off to give me extra reading time). This is my favorite Naomi Novik book yet, and that's saying something because I really love her other books. She weaves together the story of three different families, with three chief
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protagonists, all young women of very different stations but about the same age. They are all remarkably complicated and believable characters, and their narrative voices are compelling. So are their stories, which interweave in important and fascinating ways. Class, anti-Semitism, domestic violence, sexism/patriarchy -- all these inform the story and the characters' lives. There is also magic (including the mundane sort -- literacy!) and a cold fairy race that kills with winter cold. I am fascinated with how Novik manages to bring together threads from Russian folklore and history along with her own brilliant worldbuilding. I can not praise this novel highly enough. Show Less
LibraryThing member senbei
I enjoyed this story. It wasn't Novik's best work (far from it), but it wasn't her worst. I place the blame of its faults squarely with its editor. The modern publishing industry is exactly that, an industry, and editing is no longer considered an art. As expected, Spinning Silver starts out strong
I do like the setting and the characters of Spinning Silver, and if each protagonist were given their own linear book in a three book series, the story would have woven together well. Attempting to cram a three book series into one book was a serious mistake that isn't Novik's fault. Spinning Silver's publisher wouldn't take the gamble on a three book series and she was forced to attempt to cram multiple disparate stories into one unwieldy book with an absent editor. It's very sad that readers are expected to put up with this new form of business-centered publishing. ANALYSIS REQUIRES SPOILERS WHICH FOLLOW!
The bulk of the story suffers from too many protagonists. There's something like six? It's hard to tell who is being treated as a protagonist and who's perspective we're being given simply to understand the character better (which is rarely necessary in a linear story, but this far from a linear story). The theme of the story also loses focus quickly. In the beginning it feels like a strong feminist text with the three protagonists (Wanda, Irina and Miryem) all fighting for control of their destiny and kicking ass and taking names. By half way through, the reader is asked to empathize with all the villains: Mirnatius didn't actually make a deal with a devil, he's just a victim and Irina's task is to save him? Rumple(?), the Staryk King, is revealed to be simply a hard-to-love prideful Fitzwilliam Darcy wannabe from a culture that's difficult to understand. If it was really necessary to have multiple protagonists, this guy should have been one of them... but he wasn't. Wanda's abusive father is killed off quite early and her story is turned into a kind of Hansel and Gretal with no obvious struggle apart from the fact that she and her brothers are never clued in to what's going on, but they manage to somehow save the day anyway? It's great that all the struggles have been resolved and the demon defeated (accomplished through some sort of underwritten hand-wave), etc... but through it all, the men never really show the girls tenderness or love, just pity and occasional kindness and the reader is supposed to get behind that Irina and Miryem fell in love with them somewhere during their shared struggle? Without being overly ethnocentric, it feels like a recognizable feminist theme is definitely lost along the way.
If Spinning Silver had been given full editing, it's doubtful it would have reached 450 pages. Many scenes are simply viewed over from multiple perspectives for no compelling reason (which again wouldn't have been as problematic if spread across three books). Generally when a young adult novel is this long, it's because the reader can be assumed to be absorbed in the plot, but that's hard to imagine with such a complicated diffuse story like this. If Spinning Silver's publisher had wanted to do it justice, it should have been billed as an adult fantasy where a higher word count can be allowed for world making and exposition. Again, the first 100 pages are well paced, but then Novik is given to go off on cul de sac tangents that a young adult readership is usually not expected to slog through but would've been fine if Spinning Silver were sold as an adult novel.
I really feel sorry for Naomi Novik. Her ideas are wonderful and her Near East mythology and legend are always compelling and interesting... but her publisher obviously hates her.
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and has a tight, mysterious opening. Around page 100 though, the publisher assumes if you're still reading it, you must be hooked and stops editing, and like an engineer that falls asleep, things go straight off the rails. I do like the setting and the characters of Spinning Silver, and if each protagonist were given their own linear book in a three book series, the story would have woven together well. Attempting to cram a three book series into one book was a serious mistake that isn't Novik's fault. Spinning Silver's publisher wouldn't take the gamble on a three book series and she was forced to attempt to cram multiple disparate stories into one unwieldy book with an absent editor. It's very sad that readers are expected to put up with this new form of business-centered publishing. ANALYSIS REQUIRES SPOILERS WHICH FOLLOW!
The bulk of the story suffers from too many protagonists. There's something like six? It's hard to tell who is being treated as a protagonist and who's perspective we're being given simply to understand the character better (which is rarely necessary in a linear story, but this far from a linear story). The theme of the story also loses focus quickly. In the beginning it feels like a strong feminist text with the three protagonists (Wanda, Irina and Miryem) all fighting for control of their destiny and kicking ass and taking names. By half way through, the reader is asked to empathize with all the villains: Mirnatius didn't actually make a deal with a devil, he's just a victim and Irina's task is to save him? Rumple(?), the Staryk King, is revealed to be simply a hard-to-love prideful Fitzwilliam Darcy wannabe from a culture that's difficult to understand. If it was really necessary to have multiple protagonists, this guy should have been one of them... but he wasn't. Wanda's abusive father is killed off quite early and her story is turned into a kind of Hansel and Gretal with no obvious struggle apart from the fact that she and her brothers are never clued in to what's going on, but they manage to somehow save the day anyway? It's great that all the struggles have been resolved and the demon defeated (accomplished through some sort of underwritten hand-wave), etc... but through it all, the men never really show the girls tenderness or love, just pity and occasional kindness and the reader is supposed to get behind that Irina and Miryem fell in love with them somewhere during their shared struggle? Without being overly ethnocentric, it feels like a recognizable feminist theme is definitely lost along the way.
If Spinning Silver had been given full editing, it's doubtful it would have reached 450 pages. Many scenes are simply viewed over from multiple perspectives for no compelling reason (which again wouldn't have been as problematic if spread across three books). Generally when a young adult novel is this long, it's because the reader can be assumed to be absorbed in the plot, but that's hard to imagine with such a complicated diffuse story like this. If Spinning Silver's publisher had wanted to do it justice, it should have been billed as an adult fantasy where a higher word count can be allowed for world making and exposition. Again, the first 100 pages are well paced, but then Novik is given to go off on cul de sac tangents that a young adult readership is usually not expected to slog through but would've been fine if Spinning Silver were sold as an adult novel.
I really feel sorry for Naomi Novik. Her ideas are wonderful and her Near East mythology and legend are always compelling and interesting... but her publisher obviously hates her.
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LibraryThing member BrilliantGlow
I loved this! What a fantastic retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, spinning silver to gold. I love the character growth and the way the story developed and the ending was perfect.
LibraryThing member acargile
I had to read this novel because I loved Uprooted, also by Ms. Novik. Like Uprooted, this novel is fantasy as well and has the Slavik, eastern European setting, which I love. It's the story of two women and their families.
Miryem's father loans money to people of their town, but he is so kind that
Wanda is the young girl Miryem hires to help in their household. She has a horrible home life, and she doesn't want her father to know that she is making money or he'll take it to buy drinks. She worries about her brothers. They all talk to mom who is buried beneath the tree. Miryem begins to teach Wanda how to collect and record payments in the record book. Only Wanda and Miryem realizez the Staryk are visiting. Even if people see them, they quickly forget and have no recollection. Wanda replaces Miryem when she's with the Staryk.
This novel has a lot of perspectives. I'm just mentioning two. The lives of the king and his wife intersect with Miryem as the Staryk must fight the dark evil. For fear of giving too much away, I'm stopping there. This novel is very vivid in my mind. I wrote a review when I finished the novel eons ago, but I can't find it!!! I'm doing everything from memory, so names are hazy but the images the novel paints in my mind are clear. Images of cold, fire, journeys, opulence, a simple village, and a magical forest permeate my mind. The ending was powerful, as the characters and various stories all come together. The novel is complex and interesting. I honestly didn't like is as well as Uprooted, but I still really enjoyed this novel.
Miryem's father loans money to people of their town, but he is so kind that
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he cannot force people to pay him back, which is why Miryem steps in and becomes the moneylender after her mother becomes ill. Miryem doesn't like that people borrow money and buy things while her family barely gets by, often being hungry or sick without affording medicine. She isn't mean when she collects funds, but she is firm. She also takes trade as payment. Her maternal grandfather is the moneylender in a much larger city. He gives Miryem silver, which she returns as gold. She is as talented as her grandfather, so he continually gives her advice. The town Miryem lives in lies next to a forest where the Staryk live. The Staryk hear of her abilities and bring her silver to turn into gold. She's clever, but can she meet this challenge? The Staryk are not known for being kind. Each time they come to her, there's danger.Wanda is the young girl Miryem hires to help in their household. She has a horrible home life, and she doesn't want her father to know that she is making money or he'll take it to buy drinks. She worries about her brothers. They all talk to mom who is buried beneath the tree. Miryem begins to teach Wanda how to collect and record payments in the record book. Only Wanda and Miryem realizez the Staryk are visiting. Even if people see them, they quickly forget and have no recollection. Wanda replaces Miryem when she's with the Staryk.
This novel has a lot of perspectives. I'm just mentioning two. The lives of the king and his wife intersect with Miryem as the Staryk must fight the dark evil. For fear of giving too much away, I'm stopping there. This novel is very vivid in my mind. I wrote a review when I finished the novel eons ago, but I can't find it!!! I'm doing everything from memory, so names are hazy but the images the novel paints in my mind are clear. Images of cold, fire, journeys, opulence, a simple village, and a magical forest permeate my mind. The ending was powerful, as the characters and various stories all come together. The novel is complex and interesting. I honestly didn't like is as well as Uprooted, but I still really enjoyed this novel.
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LibraryThing member mamzel
Naomi Novik gives us another wonderful retelling of a fairy tale, this time with a Siberian-ish winter setting with Jews portrayed as evil money lenders.
Three young girls of different backgrounds independently fight against a species of beings called Staryk who live in a frozen world. They dash
Girl power is definitely a theme of this book as these three young women do what they have to for their families and their country.
Three young girls of different backgrounds independently fight against a species of beings called Staryk who live in a frozen world. They dash
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into the real world kidnapping people and threatening to keep spring from ever returning. Miryem is the daughter of a money lender who had no problem loaning money but had a big problem collecting even though his own family was starving. She draws the attention of the king of the Staryk because she apparently can change silver into gold. Actually she does that at the bank. But when she is taken to the cold world apparently she can actually make the change by touching it. He (refuses to tell her his name) wants more and more gold to the point where she has to hide the silver. Wanda's family is dirt poor, especially since the father takes what little money they ever has, drinks it, then returns home and beats everyone. Irina is the daughter of the duke, bound to marry the tsar who is possessed by a demon.Girl power is definitely a theme of this book as these three young women do what they have to for their families and their country.
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LibraryThing member quondame
Three young women make decisions for themselves, take on forces within and beyond their world and save a kingdom. Responsibility, pride, survival, agency drive the young women, each with different situations and characters. Their roles limit their vision but not their drive and they eventually see
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past first assumptions. The plot spirals outward from Miryem's decision to take on the responsibility of money lending that her father is too kindhearted to pursue and catches up Wanda, who welcomes any way of escaping the abuses of her drunken father or being sold away as a wife and when Miryam is required to turn Staryk silver to gold, Irina, the local duke's daughter is caught up with her father's designs to use the Staryk silver jewelry to captivate the Tsar. So many of the plots work but the results are not always according to plan. There are at least 6 viewpoint characters, and figuring out which sometimes pulled me out of the story, but not for long. Show Less
LibraryThing member justagirlwithabook
I really, really loved this book for a handful of reasons. I am not one to enjoy the cold, personally, but I love reading about it. I think with the heat of summer this year, I didn’t mind reading about characters half freezing to death. Just saying. [They didn’t actually freeze to death, in
I loved the multiple points-of-view that caught me by surprise the first time it happened, and then just made me happy all the times after that. Miryem is the main narrator, but about 70 pages in, with no warning other than a little “next scene” spindle symbol, another character’s perspective is introduced. And like clockwork, every 50-70 pages or so, another new perspective jumps in. They’re never perspectives from characters we haven’t already met, but because these switches aren’t labeled, it takes the reader a minute to figure out, “Hey wait a second! That’s so-and-so!” I personally loved that.
The other part about this book I loved was the Russian storytelling aspect. It felt like The Bear and the Nightingale (Katherine Arden) but so much better. I enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale but this book made it seem so much less good than what I had remembered. So, I’m glad I read the other one first, otherwise I think I would’ve been disappointed that it didn’t match up to the expectations Spinning Silver has now set.
This book has been described as a loose retelling of Rumplestiltskin, but I am here to say it is a very loose retelling. Of the things that are similar, there’s a name issue (the Staryk will never tell his name), someone can turn something that is not gold (in this case, silver) into gold, and that someone is demanded to change large qualities of that something into gold in an impossible amount of time. That’s it as far as I can tell, though there might be more subtle similarities that I didn’t catch on to. For me, the bulk of the story was very original.
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case you were wondering.]I loved the multiple points-of-view that caught me by surprise the first time it happened, and then just made me happy all the times after that. Miryem is the main narrator, but about 70 pages in, with no warning other than a little “next scene” spindle symbol, another character’s perspective is introduced. And like clockwork, every 50-70 pages or so, another new perspective jumps in. They’re never perspectives from characters we haven’t already met, but because these switches aren’t labeled, it takes the reader a minute to figure out, “Hey wait a second! That’s so-and-so!” I personally loved that.
The other part about this book I loved was the Russian storytelling aspect. It felt like The Bear and the Nightingale (Katherine Arden) but so much better. I enjoyed The Bear and the Nightingale but this book made it seem so much less good than what I had remembered. So, I’m glad I read the other one first, otherwise I think I would’ve been disappointed that it didn’t match up to the expectations Spinning Silver has now set.
This book has been described as a loose retelling of Rumplestiltskin, but I am here to say it is a very loose retelling. Of the things that are similar, there’s a name issue (the Staryk will never tell his name), someone can turn something that is not gold (in this case, silver) into gold, and that someone is demanded to change large qualities of that something into gold in an impossible amount of time. That’s it as far as I can tell, though there might be more subtle similarities that I didn’t catch on to. For me, the bulk of the story was very original.
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LibraryThing member Herenya
A story about winter, silver and girls who make themselves cold to protect those they love. It is most obviously drawing upon the tale of “Rumpelstiltskin”, but I also recognised elements from “East of the Sun and West of the Moon” and “The Wonderful Birch”.
Miryem is a moneylender’s
One day a dangerous elven lord leaves her Staryk silver, expecting her to change into gold.
Wanda is a farmer’s daughter. Her alcoholic father can’t repay what he owes, so it is arranged that Wanda will work for Miryem’s family in payment of his debt.
Irina is a duke’s daughter. Her father buys the jewellery made from Staryk silver and insists Irina that wears it when the tsar visits.
This is compelling and beautifully written. I liked the way the girls’ stories fit together and echo each other, and how the girls themselves have to work together (and would have liked the story even more if there had been more of that). They come from different classes and different family situations, but they each have to navigate limited choices, unwelcome offers of marriage and taking on unexpected responsibilities.
Their most important and most positive relationships are familial ones, and are a source of warmth in this wintry story; I particularly liked how affectionate Miryem’s family is, and the way Wanda learns to care about, and work together with, her younger brothers.
I also liked the way Miryem being Jewish was woven into the story, and how that is centrally important not just in terms of her family’s culture and the place they occupy within society, but in terms of her own identity. Even when she finds herself in a fairy-land.
In the end, all things considered, I didn’t love how romance was handled in this story, but neither was I disappointed by it -- just no strong feelings either way.
Instead I watched Irina’s face in the mirror, pale and thin and transported as she looked at herself in her crown, and I wondered if she would be glad to marry the tsar, to leave her quiet small rooms for a distant palace and a throne. As she dropped her hand and turned back into the room, our eyes met: we didn’t speak, but for a moment I felt her a sister, our lives in the hands of others. She wasn’t likely to have any more choice in the matter than I did.
Miryem is a moneylender’s
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daughter. Her kind-hearted father is not good at making people repay their debts, and with the household facing poverty and her mother in poor health, Miryem takes over his job. One day a dangerous elven lord leaves her Staryk silver, expecting her to change into gold.
Wanda is a farmer’s daughter. Her alcoholic father can’t repay what he owes, so it is arranged that Wanda will work for Miryem’s family in payment of his debt.
Irina is a duke’s daughter. Her father buys the jewellery made from Staryk silver and insists Irina that wears it when the tsar visits.
This is compelling and beautifully written. I liked the way the girls’ stories fit together and echo each other, and how the girls themselves have to work together (and would have liked the story even more if there had been more of that). They come from different classes and different family situations, but they each have to navigate limited choices, unwelcome offers of marriage and taking on unexpected responsibilities.
Their most important and most positive relationships are familial ones, and are a source of warmth in this wintry story; I particularly liked how affectionate Miryem’s family is, and the way Wanda learns to care about, and work together with, her younger brothers.
I also liked the way Miryem being Jewish was woven into the story, and how that is centrally important not just in terms of her family’s culture and the place they occupy within society, but in terms of her own identity. Even when she finds herself in a fairy-land.
In the end, all things considered, I didn’t love how romance was handled in this story, but neither was I disappointed by it -- just no strong feelings either way.
Instead I watched Irina’s face in the mirror, pale and thin and transported as she looked at herself in her crown, and I wondered if she would be glad to marry the tsar, to leave her quiet small rooms for a distant palace and a throne. As she dropped her hand and turned back into the room, our eyes met: we didn’t speak, but for a moment I felt her a sister, our lives in the hands of others. She wasn’t likely to have any more choice in the matter than I did.
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LibraryThing member infjsarah
Very, very enjoyable. Great characters - I particularly liked Miryam who decides to take no shite from anyone and when faced with the ultimate strange opponent in an ice prince takes no shite from him either. I've liked Ms Novik's writing since Temeraire and this is probably her best novel so far.
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If you like fantasy and especially if you want a single volume read, then pick this up. Show Less
LibraryThing member brangwinn
A fairy tale for adults, the story includes Jews and Gentiles, hot and cold, rich and poor, men and women. The story line about how the daughter of a poor Jewish moneylender, the daughter of a duke and an illiterate strong and brave daughter of a vicious, miserly farmer save their kingdom from
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being torn apart by a demon who lives in fire and a winter king who is destroying the kingdom by bringing winter to it year-round is satisfying reading. Show Less
Awards
Hugo Award (Nominee — Novel — 2019)
Nebula Award (Nominee — Novel — 2018)
Audie Award (Finalist — Fantasy — 2019)
Locus Award (Finalist — Fantasy Novel — 2019)
Mythopoeic Awards (Finalist — Adult Literature — 2019)
Alex Award (2019)
Grand Prix de l'Imaginaire (Shortlist — 2021)
Dragon Award (Finalist — Fantasy Novel — 2019)
NPR: Books We Love (2018)
The New York Times Notable Books of the Year (Fiction — 2018)
Los Angeles Public Library Best of the Year (Fiction — 2018)
Rise: A Feminist Book Project for Ages 0-18 (Selection — 2019)
Chicago Public Library Best of the Best: Adults (Selection — 2018)
New York Public Library Best Books: For Adults (Top Ten — 2018)
Original language
English
Original publication date
2018-07-10
Physical description
480 p.; 5.85 inches
ISBN
0399180982 / 9780399180989