So this Rumpelstiltskin retelling… I had high hopes. Usually retellings don’t vibe strongly with me, but I ADORED her prior standalone Uprooted. I had hyped myself up so much for this, I thought it’d be a 5 star read for me. There are six perspectives in Spinning Silver and all of them spliced together closer to the end added so many intriguing layers to the story. This is where the story turned for me, I thought there’d be banter and fast paced action.

The Staryk are a magical winter folk who eventually seek Miryem out. I honestly thought the magic would be more prolific, but like the ice and snow in this wintry setting, the magic crept in gradually. We follow (initially) Miryem whose father has failed at being a moneylender, so she must step up and convert her family’s poor, derelict situation into one brimming with wealth and warmth. The descriptions in this book were absolutely beautiful, Naomi Novik’s writing is so whimsical and picturesque. Genre: fantasy, adult, fairy tales, retelling When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold.īut 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. 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. 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. Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders… but her father isn’t a very good one.

Goodreads spinning silver