Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fairy Tale, Fantasy
Content: Physical abuse, One pretty gruesome death

 
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.

This is the second Naomi Novik book I've read. While I enjoyed Uprooted despite it's flaws, this one is much better. While on the surface this seems to be a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin, there are in fact elements from several fairy tales woven into this story. I was really impressed with the way this was done. The three female protagonists are all strong and clever woman who were able to make the most out of their bad situations. My only complaint would be that I would have liked something to denote the change of the points of view at the beginning of each chapter.

It seems that Novik likes to write about disagreeable male love interests. While the love interest in Uprooted was widely criticized for being verbally abusive (I felt like maybe the author was going for grumpy in that case, but went too far and he came off abusive unintentionally), this time around the male leads are more complicated, but still not immediately likable. I'm not even sure one of them ever could be likable, as he sort of redeems himself, but doesn't really. I think it's a case of a fey creature not viewing humans the same as we view ourselves. In the end, I do think he learns a lot, and comes to appreciate qualities that he did not see before.

The things I loved about this book were the ways the three women's stories interconnected. The scenes in the house that crossed from one realm to the other were wonderful. The way one woman's family adopts another one's was heartwarming. When one woman learns to read and do sums from another, which in turns helps her to change her life for the better, was inspirational. The way one women turns the tables on her husband to protect herself and her lady's maid was clever. The way one of the women outsmarts her husband by accomplishing an impossible task was brilliant. And the way the husbands eventually come to see their wives in a different light was the icing on top of the cake.

“I wouldn't hold myself that cheap, to marry a man who'd love me less than everything else he had, even if what he had was a winter kingdom.”