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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Robin McKinley is one of my favorite authors. She writes with such imagination and clarity that one cannot help but fall headfirst into her worlds. The world of Spindle's End is one where magic seeps into every corner of life, and royalty is characterized by its steadfast imperviousness to it. Spindle's End is really an adaptation of the Sleeping Beauty story, but it goes above and beyond the old tale in scope and detail. McKinley's greatest gift is her ability to write strong, capable female characters. The princess, Rosie, finds her own path in the story. She does not rely on the prince to save her, but saves herself, and everyone she loves. By the end of the novel, the Sleeping Beauty story is a mere framework. The world and characters that McKinley creates take a life of their own and make the novel infinitely more engaging than the fairy tale.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
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:
Yes
Not really into the narration. Might try a print version later.
It's interesting how subtextually queer this book is -- the central relationship is female/female, and the focus is on female friendship and lasting relationships between women. Although it's explicitly heterosexual, every single straight relationship feels shoe-horned in, and the central kiss is between two women. It's an interesting precursor to Maleficent, which, while also not explicitly queer, centres female relationships, and solves the waking-the-princess problem with a kiss between women. Someone should make a study of queered Sleeping Beauty stories! Overall I enjoyed Spindle's End a lot -- McKinley achieves an entertaining and compelling narrative voice, and her characters and world-building are likeable. I love how McKinley centres animals in her stories and how she, like few writes, manages to make the animals individual and intelligent without anthropomorphising them. This book gets messy towards the end -- McKinley gets lost trying to untangle some world building that should have been worked out earlier in the story -- and I skimmed a little in the last 50 pages or so. But overall this is likeable, enjoyable to read, and very pleasing.
I think I read Spindle's End sometime in my teens. It's a great book, and especially in like 2000 when this came out, it was great having a sort of fairytale retelling with strong women characters. I lived off this kind of book, and Robin McKinley does a pretty good job. It's pretty narration-heavy so it worked well as an audiobook, but it was a pain in the butt getting a copy since Audible doesn't seem to carry it. Tracking down a CD player was even harder, lmao. It's definitely not perfect, but I really love the book, and it was nice getting a chance to reread Spindle's End. There's a lot of characters that really grow over the course of the book, not just Rosie.
Full review found at Story and Somnomancy.
3.5/5 stars
Initial thoughts: Katriona for MVP! Though the entire book is a reminder that it takes a whole village to raise a princess. No joke. Great on the characters, I'm still a little iffy about the magic.
3.5/5 stars
Initial thoughts: Katriona for MVP! Though the entire book is a reminder that it takes a whole village to raise a princess. No joke. Great on the characters, I'm still a little iffy about the magic.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
tense
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
adventurous
emotional
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I'm always a sucker for a sensible heroine (and a McKinley book, for that matter). I think one of the things I love most is whole the narrative will drift into little whimsical reflections on the nature of whatever world the author is building, like the part on teapots at the beginning of this book, or the part about the protection of moving in Sunshine. Completely random, often irrelevant, but so delightful and fascinating to read. Robin McKinley has the most wonderful imagination! I really adored the characters, and thought the plot had a nice give and take. There was build-up, let-down, build-up, and it made things more suspenseful. You sort of chuckled nervously to yourself and said, "This is based on a fairy tale, right? That means a happy endings? Er, right?"
And naturally, after reading one Robin McKinley book, I went right to my bookshelf and picked up the other one I'd picked up at a second-hand store.
And naturally, after reading one Robin McKinley book, I went right to my bookshelf and picked up the other one I'd picked up at a second-hand store.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
Yes
Robin McKinley has such a fine way of transforming ages old stories and making them more vibrant and engaging for a modern audience. Given how passive Sleeping Beauty is in her own fairy tale at times, McKinley does a phenomenal job of making Rosie a very active agent in her own story in this retelling. Her stubborn, determined, and no nonsense attitude had an odd way of making her endlessly endearing and her rise to action in the climax, as well as her sacrifices, solidified her as a strong, layered character.
The world is so mischievously magical, to the point where fish are a myth and, if you let your kettles unattended, the magic dust settling over them may lead to a surprise of snakes in the pot. McKinley's descriptive style only adds to the mysterious wonder of this land, not making it too difficult to feel yourself instantly transported within its pages.
Since I am a big fan of female friendships that are polar opposites, like the rough and tumble Rosie and the beautiful, princess-like Peony, it's always a shame when those relationships fall second place behind the romantic interests that have all the appeal of drying plaster. Also, how old exactly is Narl? He's already a smith by the time Rosie is a baby and she develops feelings for him by the time she's 16 having known him her whole life. I have no idea why large age gap romances with emotionally distant men are such a trend in fantasy but I really I think we've had enough of them.
Other than that, this was a stand out read for me, which is a welcome surprise since I found her other work, like Beauty and The Outlaws of Sherwood to be a bit middling.
The world is so mischievously magical, to the point where fish are a myth and, if you let your kettles unattended, the magic dust settling over them may lead to a surprise of snakes in the pot. McKinley's descriptive style only adds to the mysterious wonder of this land, not making it too difficult to feel yourself instantly transported within its pages.
Since I am a big fan of female friendships that are polar opposites, like the rough and tumble Rosie and the beautiful, princess-like Peony, it's always a shame when those relationships fall second place behind the romantic interests that have all the appeal of drying plaster. Also, how old exactly is Narl? He's already a smith by the time Rosie is a baby and she develops feelings for him by the time she's 16 having known him her whole life. I have no idea why large age gap romances with emotionally distant men are such a trend in fantasy but I really I think we've had enough of them.
Other than that, this was a stand out read for me, which is a welcome surprise since I found her other work, like Beauty and The Outlaws of Sherwood to be a bit middling.