Review – Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik (3/5 stars)

Reading Level: Young Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Length: 480 pages
Publisher: Del Ray
Release Date: July 10, 2018
ISBN-13: 978-0399180989
Stand Alone or Series: Stand Alone
Source: Bought
Rating: 3/5 stars

“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.”

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 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.

This book goes towards the following reading challenges:
– New Release Reading Challenge
– Goodreads Reading Challenge