Spinning Silver

By: Naomi Novik

Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan

Length: 17 hrs and 56 mins

Publisher's summary

New York Times best seller

“One of the year’s strongest fantasy novels” (NPR), an imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the best-selling author of Uprooted.

Nebula and Hugo Award Finalist

Named one of Paste's Best Fantasy Books of the Decade

Named one of the top 10 books of the year by The New York Public Library and one of the best books of the year by: The New York Times Book Review; NPR; Time; Tor.com; PopSugar; Vox; Vulture; Paste; Bustle; Library Journal

With the Nebula Award-winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws listeners deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss.

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.

She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike.

Praise for Spinning Silver:

'“A perfect tale.... A big and meaty novel, rich in both ideas and people, with the vastness of Tolkien and the empathy and joy in daily life of Le Guin.” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Gorgeous, complex, and magical.... This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever.” (Publishers Weekly)

“Cool and clever and . . . dire and wonderful.” (Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer)

“The Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale has never been as captivating.... Spinning Silver further cements [Novik’s] place as one of the genre greats.” (Paste)

©2018 Naomi Novik (P)2018 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

"A perfect tale... This book is about the determination and quiet competence of women doing remarkable things without knowing first that they can do them.... A big and meaty novel, rich in both ideas and people, with the vastness of Tolkien and the empathy and joy in daily life of Le Guin." (The New York Times Book Review)

"Gorgeous, complex, and magical... This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever." (Publishers Weekly, starred review)

“Cool and clever and... dire and wonderful.” (Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer)

“A book as cool and mysterious as a winter’s night, with two marvelous heroines at its heart, Spinning Silver pits the cold of endless winter against the fires of duty, love, and sacrifice. I couldn’t put it down.” (Katherine Arden, New York Times best-selling author of The Bear and the Nightingale)

A well-written story.

I really enjoyed this story even though it was hard to tell sometimes who was speaking. If the narrator had given just a little more pause in between character shifts I would have given her more stars.

Thoroughly enjoyable

Excellently drawn characters, a story with depth and development, a fairy tale with an edge. Very good.

Great storytelling with a caveat

I’ve read/ listened to two bikes by this author. Great stories , writing , themes and characters. I’m eagerly awaiting her new release this year. I will say I’m irritated-saddened by the repeating theme of such strong characters falling in love with very openly abusive characters. Maybe it’s intentionally reminiscent of old fashioned fairy tales, but it really is a characteristic at which I cringe.

The narration is tough because there’s really no change to the style of the three women, so until you’re familiar with their storylines it takes a moment to figure out there’s been a change from one storyline to another.

I can’t stand one of the characters evil generic Russian accent, but that could just be me.

Intriguing with a few issues

I thought the reader was excellent, but the differences among most of the character voices were quite subtle (except for the demon, of course!). It would have helped if the character's name were announced at the beginning of each chapter and whenever there was a change.
A good way into the novel, just when I got really interested in the three women's stories and how they were starting to intertwine, more characters with their own first person narratives started popping up all over the place, and it got a bit confusing.
The czar and the staryk king could have both been a bit nuanced from the start, they were totally one-dimensional (read: unlikable), but I appreciated that the novel was dominated by strong female characters who stood up for themselves, and the guys finally did get to show their better sides / why they were so unpleasant.
Overall I really enjoyed the novel. I'm not usually a fantasy fan, but I decided to try something different, and I'm glad I did. I think I will give Uprooted a try.

Great book!

I really enjoyed this book and its non-traditional look at heroes and villains. The narrator was excellent. Terrific voice acting. However, this book had 1st person writing from six different characters. While the writing made it so it didn’t take long to figure out that a new person was talking and who was whom, a bit more variation by the narrator for each character’s voices would have been nice. Another helpful device might have been some sort of audio queue when a new chapter started to warn the reader that a different character might be talking.

Beautiful, dark story that I would listen to again

This story has unexpected turns and is fun to listen to. Definitely a book that was hard to stop reading, even if I should have gone to bed. I also liked the narrator.
#fairytale #unexpected #tagsgiving #sweepstakes

Love the narration.

The narrator really brings the characters to life. I enjoyed her performance of the villains.

Fantastic performance

I loved this book, the story is a complex tapestry of realism and magic with beautifully-integrated echoes of Russian folk tales and Jewish traditions. And the narrator gave an absolutely stellar performance, differentiating perfectly between the many characters and adding just the right flavor with her accents and voices—especially when it came to the supernatural characters! 10 out of 10.

Amazing

My favorite of Novik's novels so far! I would listen to this narrator and this novel again!

Great read

Compelling story I loved that a promise made and kept thrice over makes it real.