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Book Summary and Reviews of Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Spinning Silver

by Naomi Novik

  • Published:
  • Jul 2018, 480 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

"One of the year's strongest fantasy novels" (NPR), an imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the bestselling author of Uprooted.

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 readers 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.

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Reviews

Media Reviews

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

"Masterly ... Novik addresses weighty questions of power, choice, prejudice, beauty, and identity with aplomb." —Library Journal (starred review)

"A thoughtful, emotionally complex, absorbing drama." —Kirkus Reviews

"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 bestselling author of The Bear and the Nightingale

This information about Spinning Silver was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

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More Information

Naomi Novik is the New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate, and The Golden Enclaves, the award-winning novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver, and the Temeraire series. She is a founder of the Organization for Transformative Works and the Archive of Our Own. She lives in New York City with her family and six computers.

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