Spinning Silver
by Naomi Novik
Synopsis:
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. nd up finding what they never knew they needed—each other.
Synopsis:
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.
Series: Standalone
Publisher: Del Rey
Publication date: July 10th 2018
Source/Format: eARC/Netgalley
Purchase links: Amazon | Barnes&Noble | iBooks | Book Depository
My Rating: ★★★★★
My Thoughts:
I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about “Spinning Silver” but it’s been a while since I’ve read an epic fantasy. I wasn’t sure if I’d be up to it so I actively searched for an excerpt, found one, and wow! With just the first line alone, I was completely convinced that I need to read this. And now here I am having just finished the book, utterly amazed with its magic.
The book started with Miryem telling us how they are ostracized because of her family’s moneylending business and how they are driven to poverty because his father is not very good with it. Miryem’s mother got sick and the thought of losing her made Miryem took over her father’s job. She began knocking on the houses of people who took a loan from his father to collect what’s been owed to them. It’s been a hard and long winter for everyone in their small town so most of the time, Miryem took goods and services as payment. Here enters Wanda. Her deadbeat farmer of a dad owed Miryem’s dad but has no money to settle the loan so he agreed to pay through his daughter’s housekeeping services. Miryem proved to be an ace moneylender, literally turning silver into gold. And with the business growing, she took on Wanda as her apprentice. Later, their lives intersect with that of Irina, the daughter of a duke who thinks that his daughter has no royal marriage prospects because of her plain looks.
With these women, the book showcased strong characters who do not cower even when they realized that the world can be such an unfair place. Miryem harnessed the anger from years of prejudice against her people to be the cold and calculating successful moneylender that she became. Growing up in a castle, Irina knew the power plays surrounding her and when fate had it that she become a pawn, she in turn used her calm and cunning to outsmart them all. The pleb in me can so much relate to Wanda. Among the three of them, she has the least prospects in life but there is this shining moment when she finally found what her inner strength is about and I felt my soul washed and healed from all the happy tears I shed for her. All three of them are not straight up righteous heroines, but their flaws combined with their virtues made their characters stand out more. They have their own set of biases and morally gray choices, but they always try to do right by the people around them.
And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, other precious characters are given the chance to narrate. Wanda’s younger brother, Stepon, made me cry because who wouldn’t weep for an orphan? And Irina’s aging personal attendant, Magreta, also made me cry because of her loyalty and motherly love. They provide the insular view of things as the three lead women’s world gets wider, with their alliances forming and ever shifting. Soon our power trio are not only fighting for their survival but for the fate of the humanity itself when a king of an ice kingdom and a tsar hosting a fire demon inside him are thrown into the mix.
I know beforehand that this is a re-imagined Rumpelstiltskin. But even a reader who is familiar with its source would find it hard to foresee how everything’s gonna end up as the plot gets thicker and the stakes get higher. Gah, there is so much to like that I haven't talk about yet: how the book explored the price of power, the complex family dynamics and the subtle romantic subplots. And finally, without spoiling anything, let me just say that the ending is perfectly inevitable. Set in a lush fairy tale world with Jewish and Russian inspirations, "Spinning Silver" is magical.
Miryem is described as a skinny with dark brown hair.
Irina is described as plain-looking with brown hair and eyes.
Mirnatius the Tsar is described as handsome with green eyes, dark skin and black hair.
My Thoughts:
I’ve been hearing a lot of buzz about “Spinning Silver” but it’s been a while since I’ve read an epic fantasy. I wasn’t sure if I’d be up to it so I actively searched for an excerpt, found one, and wow! With just the first line alone, I was completely convinced that I need to read this. And now here I am having just finished the book, utterly amazed with its magic.
The book started with Miryem telling us how they are ostracized because of her family’s moneylending business and how they are driven to poverty because his father is not very good with it. Miryem’s mother got sick and the thought of losing her made Miryem took over her father’s job. She began knocking on the houses of people who took a loan from his father to collect what’s been owed to them. It’s been a hard and long winter for everyone in their small town so most of the time, Miryem took goods and services as payment. Here enters Wanda. Her deadbeat farmer of a dad owed Miryem’s dad but has no money to settle the loan so he agreed to pay through his daughter’s housekeeping services. Miryem proved to be an ace moneylender, literally turning silver into gold. And with the business growing, she took on Wanda as her apprentice. Later, their lives intersect with that of Irina, the daughter of a duke who thinks that his daughter has no royal marriage prospects because of her plain looks.
With these women, the book showcased strong characters who do not cower even when they realized that the world can be such an unfair place. Miryem harnessed the anger from years of prejudice against her people to be the cold and calculating successful moneylender that she became. Growing up in a castle, Irina knew the power plays surrounding her and when fate had it that she become a pawn, she in turn used her calm and cunning to outsmart them all. The pleb in me can so much relate to Wanda. Among the three of them, she has the least prospects in life but there is this shining moment when she finally found what her inner strength is about and I felt my soul washed and healed from all the happy tears I shed for her. All three of them are not straight up righteous heroines, but their flaws combined with their virtues made their characters stand out more. They have their own set of biases and morally gray choices, but they always try to do right by the people around them.
And just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, other precious characters are given the chance to narrate. Wanda’s younger brother, Stepon, made me cry because who wouldn’t weep for an orphan? And Irina’s aging personal attendant, Magreta, also made me cry because of her loyalty and motherly love. They provide the insular view of things as the three lead women’s world gets wider, with their alliances forming and ever shifting. Soon our power trio are not only fighting for their survival but for the fate of the humanity itself when a king of an ice kingdom and a tsar hosting a fire demon inside him are thrown into the mix.
I know beforehand that this is a re-imagined Rumpelstiltskin. But even a reader who is familiar with its source would find it hard to foresee how everything’s gonna end up as the plot gets thicker and the stakes get higher. Gah, there is so much to like that I haven't talk about yet: how the book explored the price of power, the complex family dynamics and the subtle romantic subplots. And finally, without spoiling anything, let me just say that the ending is perfectly inevitable. Set in a lush fairy tale world with Jewish and Russian inspirations, "Spinning Silver" is magical.
Diversity Watch:
Wanda is described as tall and broad-shouldered with long yellow braids.Miryem is described as a skinny with dark brown hair.
Irina is described as plain-looking with brown hair and eyes.
Mirnatius the Tsar is described as handsome with green eyes, dark skin and black hair.
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I'd love to hear from you! Have you read this book yet or the other works of this author? I’ve heard about one of her book, Uprooted, is also excellent so I am excited to dive into that. Which epic fantasy retellings are your favorites? Throw me your recs in the comments.
