Review - Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Published 10th July 2018 by Macmillian

Star Rating - ****

Goodreads Challenge - 16/75

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for and honest review.

Synopsis (From Goodreads)

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders... but her father isn't a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife's dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers' pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed--and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold.

But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it's worth--especially when her fate becomes tangled with the cold creatures that haunt the wood, and whose king has learned of her reputation and wants to exploit it for reasons Miryem cannot understand.

My Thoughts

When this turned up unexpectedly through my letterbox from the publisher I was absolutely thrilled! I've not read Uprooted, Naomi Novik's first novel, but I've heard so many good things about it and when I heard this one was based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin I was excited to dive into this one too. As I said I've not read Uprooted but as far as I'm aware Spinning Silver isn't a sequel it's just set in the same world so your okay to read this one first, as I did. 

This whole book was highly atmospheric and magical. The fantasy world that Naomi Novik created was fantastic. She weaved familiar folklore and fairytale with some more unique elements to create a truly magical story. The writing was wonderfully lyrical and flowed so well. As a reader you felt truly immersed in the story. This wasn't a rip roaring fast paced adventure story and at times the writing could be described as a little bit slow however, I think this fit well with the story and it enabled you to fully experience the world building and thoughts and feelings of the characters. 

The story is told from several perspectives however, there are three main female characters that we follow. These three females all have their own story to tell and slowly but surely these stories begin to intertwine and continue to merge until we reach the climax of the story. Each of these three characters begin their stories following along in other peoples footsteps and as the story progresses they all grow into themselves. They become much stronger and independent individuals and this character development was done really well. 

Overall I really enjoyed this story. It was a really magical read with beautiful writing and strong female characters. After this I will definitely be checking out Uprooted and anything else Naomi Novik writes.

Overall Rating