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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Interesting twist on the traditional Sleeping Beauty story set in a magical world. Strong female characters and a descriptive but easy-to-read writing style. Funny and intriguing.
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
hmm idk. beautiful prose, but also written so passively...i kinda skimmed the whole battle climax bc it's meandering made the action feel flat and drawn out? it made me tear up sometimes, but I'm kind of dissatisfied with the ending. im glad rosie got to live the life she wanted but making it only happen bc of a magical lie/rewriting of everyone's memories and expectations felt..... idk. wrong. i guess life is sacrifice or whatever. i wish her mom didn't forget her though. that detail kinda pissed me off
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
There were parts about this book I liked. The way magic is portrayed is interesting and unique; and the remix of the fairy tale was good. But oh my goodness, the words!! There are so many of them!! Parts just go on and on and on . . . I found myself skipping over pages because it just got so tedious. Some people might like the style, and McKinley is a great storyteller, so I wouldn't say NOT to give the book a try. (I've read another book by her that I liked, and I plan on reading more by her.) You get an idea of the way the prose just kind of goes of on superfluous and elaborate tangents right away so if you're not into it within the first 20-30 pages you can put it down and walk away.
I feel bad giving this book so few stars. But I honestly can't say that I enjoyed it. I actually skipped parts, and the darn thing was only 300 or so pages long.
McKinley is a good writer; she produces gorgeous and very funny prose, she's a master worldbuilder, and she creates believable characters and complex plots. I would have happily read the short story version of this novel. But I got bored at about the hundred page mark.
The reason I got bored is that this novel began with Rosie's birth (as it had to) and ended with the events surrounding her twenty-first birthday (as it had to). In the meantime, we had to watch Rosie grow up. And it was BORING.
It was boring, first of all, because of the style. McKinley *tells* the story rather than shows it, especially in the middle, and she is such a lovely writer that it almost works. Except that all of her pretty words actually form a barrier between us and the characters. Rosie and the others are interesting enough that we really could have fallen in love with them and rooted for them at the end. However, we're told what Rosie is like rather than witnessing what she's like, and as a result reading about her is not very compelling. In addition, whenever McKinley tries to create an emotional response with dramatic language, the subtle beauty of the words falls flat because it comes out of nowhere; all of a sudden this character who we don't really know all that well is having a poetical life-changing moment, and I'm left wondering, why? And so what?
Conclusion: Even writers who are super brilliant aren't allowed to break the "show don't tell" rule in long form fiction unless the story demands it. Not the story they think they're telling, the story that they're actually telling.
The other problem was that, oh yeah, NOTHING HAPPENED. It was about the characters and not the plot, and these characters were not dynamic enough to carry the story. Of course good characters don't have to be dynamic. In Coraline, the titular character is not, when you stop to think about it, a super dynamic or complex character, but she's believable and likable and as a result we're rooting for her every moment. The difference is that Coraline is always doing something, always in danger. By giving us a long middle in which there's only occasional danger, McKinley put the onus of interest on her characters, and thus fails.
I also have found that I generally dislike stories with friendly animal helpers. Did she really expect us to remember all of the names of the different animals? But I can accept that this might just be my problem.
I know a lot of people really like Spindle's End, and I do think it had a lot to like (how 'bout that worldbuilding)? I also know that it's often shelved as a children's or YA book (although I got it from the adult's section), so faulting it for a lack of complexity is perhaps not fair. But there are so many children's books that are super enjoyable for adults to read that I'm not going to give this one a pass on that account.
Not writing off McKinley entirely - I liked Beauty when I read it in high school! But I think I'll skip ahead a hundred pages in the next thing I read by her, to make sure that abrupt boredom does not ensue.
McKinley is a good writer; she produces gorgeous and very funny prose, she's a master worldbuilder, and she creates believable characters and complex plots. I would have happily read the short story version of this novel. But I got bored at about the hundred page mark.
The reason I got bored is that this novel began with Rosie's birth (as it had to) and ended with the events surrounding her twenty-first birthday (as it had to). In the meantime, we had to watch Rosie grow up. And it was BORING.
It was boring, first of all, because of the style. McKinley *tells* the story rather than shows it, especially in the middle, and she is such a lovely writer that it almost works. Except that all of her pretty words actually form a barrier between us and the characters. Rosie and the others are interesting enough that we really could have fallen in love with them and rooted for them at the end. However, we're told what Rosie is like rather than witnessing what she's like, and as a result reading about her is not very compelling. In addition, whenever McKinley tries to create an emotional response with dramatic language, the subtle beauty of the words falls flat because it comes out of nowhere; all of a sudden this character who we don't really know all that well is having a poetical life-changing moment, and I'm left wondering, why? And so what?
Conclusion: Even writers who are super brilliant aren't allowed to break the "show don't tell" rule in long form fiction unless the story demands it. Not the story they think they're telling, the story that they're actually telling.
The other problem was that, oh yeah, NOTHING HAPPENED. It was about the characters and not the plot, and these characters were not dynamic enough to carry the story. Of course good characters don't have to be dynamic. In Coraline, the titular character is not, when you stop to think about it, a super dynamic or complex character, but she's believable and likable and as a result we're rooting for her every moment. The difference is that Coraline is always doing something, always in danger. By giving us a long middle in which there's only occasional danger, McKinley put the onus of interest on her characters, and thus fails.
I also have found that I generally dislike stories with friendly animal helpers. Did she really expect us to remember all of the names of the different animals? But I can accept that this might just be my problem.
I know a lot of people really like Spindle's End, and I do think it had a lot to like (how 'bout that worldbuilding)? I also know that it's often shelved as a children's or YA book (although I got it from the adult's section), so faulting it for a lack of complexity is perhaps not fair. But there are so many children's books that are super enjoyable for adults to read that I'm not going to give this one a pass on that account.
Not writing off McKinley entirely - I liked Beauty when I read it in high school! But I think I'll skip ahead a hundred pages in the next thing I read by her, to make sure that abrupt boredom does not ensue.
I love this book for the story. I could really identify with the lead character as she searches for herself, and I appreciated the ways that the author made the classic Sleeping Beauty tale her own while staying true to the original tale. I call this book my comfort read - when I'm stressed, this is the first book I go to in order to relax.
That said, someone needed to run a spelling/grammar check on this book. The more times I read it (and I've read it at least 7 or 8!), the more distracting the errors become.
That said, someone needed to run a spelling/grammar check on this book. The more times I read it (and I've read it at least 7 or 8!), the more distracting the errors become.
A somewhat interesting retelling of Sleeping Beauty. . . I enjoyed it, but I've read better retellings. Still, I've always loved fairy tales and adaptations of fairy tales, so it was fun to read.
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A feminist retelling of Sleeping Beauty where the women are strong and don't wait for a man's kiss to save them. The plot was a nice mix of familiar and new elements, and I greatly preferred this interpretation to the original.