Book Review: SPINNING SILVER by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


"That much had lived in my heart all my life, a promise between me and my people, that my children would be Israel no matter where they lived... 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."

So my last book for 2018 was Naomi Novik's UPROOTED, and it seemed fitting that my first book for 2019 would be Naomi Novik's SPINNING SILVER.

It's like Game of Thrones meets Rumpelstiltskin meets Lord of the Rings and Little Red Riding Hood and Goldilocks! It's a mind-boggling tale with three heroines, at times working together, and at times seemingly fighting for opposite sides. A moneylender's daughter who can (at first, figuratively, then later on, literally) turn silver into gold, a daughter of a nobleman who is wed to a tsar with a demon living inside him, and a peasant girl whose golden heart makes her overcome evil within her own family... they are all queens in their own right. And I love how Novik takes care to describe her heroines as not beautiful. They distinguish themselves through acts of self-sacrifice and bravery, not by being pretty. Feminist writing for the win!!

YOU DON'T KNOW WHO TO ROOT FOR because Novik makes you love them all! I adore stories with strong female protagonists and am delighted with even just one, so having three in one story REALLY made my day!

I love how Novik merged her Jewish roots from her dad with the Polish roots of her mom. Part of the charm of the world-building is how Novik immerses you in different cultures living side-by-side. You see, hear, and feel the differences in settings and it's not every writer who can pull that off as well as she can.

I can't help but compare this one to UPROOTED, and I think SPINNING SILVER is less adult, more suitable for Y.A. audiences because the horror is less graphic, the intimacy less explicit. This is one book that's safe for school libraries to have in their collection, and one that I'd recommend ALL girls read!

I suppose, if I had read this book before or months after UPROOTED, I would have given 5 stars. The only reason I'm giving four stars is because UPROOTED had more romance in it, and hihihi I'm a romance reader at heart. If Goodreads had a 4.5 star rating, I'd give it that! :)



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