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bettysbookishworld's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Miscarriage and Grief
emkplatts's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
I enjoyed the world that was created in this book. I liked the characters even though they weren't super likable lol, but I liked how they seemed dynamic and real. I thought the portrayal of women and their roles in society in a variety of different lives was realistic, nuanced, and interesting. I did feel like the book was confusing at times and because it is based off of a folktale, it was hard to wrap my brain around certain plot points (I'm not super well versed in the source material). I am excited to read more from this author because I enjoyed how she wrote the characters and I think with a different plot, I would really love her books!
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual violence
readwithde's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
inspiring
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Miscarriage, Torture, Violence, Blood, Antisemitism, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, and Classism
Minor: Confinement, Gore, Kidnapping, and Gaslighting
maeverose's review against another edition
slow-paced
3.0
TL;DR: I’m sad because I really liked some aspects of this and it had the potential to be a favorite, but it needed to be shorter, have less povs, and have the romance not be toxic, and then make it a little more of a focus. I also don’t care for the gratuitous violence…
The toxic romances. First I should say that this isn’t a romance book. I went into this with the expectations of it being a fantasy romance and it’s definitely not. That’s my bad, I thought I’d heard people talk about it as if it was. There’s only a tiny tiny bit of romance at the very end, but the way the two male love interests treat their eventual partners is incredibly toxic. I made some lists to illustrate the point (spoilers, obviously & tw for rape and sa):
The Staryk king threatened to kill Miryem if she didn’t complete his tasks, threatened to kill her family, forced her to marry him, was physically aggressive with her, nearly raped her, trapped her in her room with no food or water for a day, used her to lengthen winter in turn harming people from her world, generally treated her like shit, it’s also made clear that his people killed and raped innocent people in the sunlit world for centuries, and he had no problem with it. Mirnatius scared Irina as a child by leaving her dead squirrels, clearly had no issues with the demon trying to kill her, touched her sexually without her consent and might’ve raped her if she hadn’t stopped him, generally treated her like shit
And it’s so sad because both of those relationships could have been really fun if they hadn’t been horrible to each other. I love a good enemies to lovers but this is not how you do it.
Gratuitous violence. Mostly from Wendy and Stepon’s povs, where they had to bring up at every opportunity that their father abused them. It felt like the author was just throwing it in there to keep the book feeling dark and gritty but there was no real purpose to it. We already know from the first few chapters that their father is a despicable human being, it didn’t need to be mentioned repeatedly every single time it switched to one of their povs.
The multiple povs. I only cared about Miryem’s and Irina’s a little bit towards the second half of the book. However I wouldn’t say the others were unnecessary (well, Magreta’s maybe) or couldn’t be interesting to other readers. I felt that it was usually pretty clear who’s pov it was right away, but the book does switch povs multiple times in every chapter, so it could get annoying.
Bad autism rep? I wanted to talk about one of the perspectives in particular: Wanda’s younger brother Stepon. His narrative voice is especially different from the others and I can’t tell if it’s just supposed to be that he’s young, abused and had a very isolated upbringing, or if he’s autistic coded. He has sensory issues with noise too, which could be a trauma response from his abuse, I’m not sure, but it felt like an attempt at a very stereotypical representation of autism, and if it was I don’t like that. It’s a very narrow minded interpretation of autism, not to mention it was just so tedious to read.
It’s overwritten. It definitely could’ve (should’ve, imo) been at least 100 pages shorter. Maybe its just because I wasn’t enjoying it that much but it felt like a drag to get through. I was bored for a lot of it.
The writing. Her style just doesn’t work for me. I liked the winter descriptions, and the folktale style of it, but I found certain sentences to be worded awkwardly to where I’d have to read them multiple times to get what she meant. It was the same with Uprooted for me. Like she’s trying to make it sound pretty but it’s just awkward to read. Could just be me. I did find some sentences that were actually grammatically incorrect though…
Homophobic?? This one was easy to miss, but the only - very minor side character - that’s gay has a crush on his own cousin. I feel like I don’t need to explain how that’s problematic.
Gratuitous violence. Mostly from Wendy and Stepon’s povs, where they had to bring up at every opportunity that their father abused them. It felt like the author was just throwing it in there to keep the book feeling dark and gritty but there was no real purpose to it. We already know from the first few chapters that their father is a despicable human being, it didn’t need to be mentioned repeatedly every single time it switched to one of their povs.
The multiple povs. I only cared about Miryem’s and Irina’s a little bit towards the second half of the book. However I wouldn’t say the others were unnecessary (well, Magreta’s maybe) or couldn’t be interesting to other readers. I felt that it was usually pretty clear who’s pov it was right away, but the book does switch povs multiple times in every chapter, so it could get annoying.
Bad autism rep? I wanted to talk about one of the perspectives in particular: Wanda’s younger brother Stepon. His narrative voice is especially different from the others and I can’t tell if it’s just supposed to be that he’s young, abused and had a very isolated upbringing, or if he’s autistic coded. He has sensory issues with noise too, which could be a trauma response from his abuse, I’m not sure, but it felt like an attempt at a very stereotypical representation of autism, and if it was I don’t like that. It’s a very narrow minded interpretation of autism, not to mention it was just so tedious to read.
It’s overwritten. It definitely could’ve (should’ve, imo) been at least 100 pages shorter. Maybe its just because I wasn’t enjoying it that much but it felt like a drag to get through. I was bored for a lot of it.
The writing. Her style just doesn’t work for me. I liked the winter descriptions, and the folktale style of it, but I found certain sentences to be worded awkwardly to where I’d have to read them multiple times to get what she meant. It was the same with Uprooted for me. Like she’s trying to make it sound pretty but it’s just awkward to read. Could just be me. I did find some sentences that were actually grammatically incorrect though…
Homophobic?? This one was easy to miss, but the only - very minor side character - that’s gay has a crush on his own cousin. I feel like I don’t need to explain how that’s problematic.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Child abuse, Child death, Gore, Misogyny, Physical abuse, Violence, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Domestic abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Blood, Antisemitism, Death of parent, and Alcohol
Minor: Incest, Miscarriage, and Classism
Graphic: Eye trauma Moderate: mentioned child rapebrie333's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I have a ton of thoughts so just rapid fire bullet-points:
- the book was a bit too long, but somehow the ending was too short. I wish we could’ve gotten a more fleshed out ending. I came to love these characters and it was hard walking away when they were so unsettled. I also feel like some of the lore or the whys behind actions was not discussed enough, but we have whole flashbacks or memories on the clothing everyone wore. Sometimes it felt like the author focused undue attention on building the setting/visuals.
- that being said I loved the set up to the overall story, the world building, and Miryems storyline in particular. Novik is brilliant at details and really bring everything to life for you. Her descriptions felt familiar and well explored. I just wish this wasn’t always at the expense of explanations of how things came to be.
- I purposely picked this book because it was a standalone but I’m now wishing for a sequel to flesh out the ending and explain some of the castoff plot lines.
- I can handle multi-povs but with nothing more than a page break, sometimes I would be deep in a paragraph before getting clarity on who was speaking. I think maybe the intention was to keep time moving and explain everything while keeping the reader a little on the outside of the story. But for me, it was a little dizzying. I understand that there was language choices and symbols that differentiated the povs but while each person had a distinct voice I will admit to being a little lost at some points of the story.
- Overall, a great story, one of the best I’ve read this year. Well crafted and complex. One I would read again but the pacing and abrupt ending to all but one plotlline took away a star. I don’t want to leave the impression that this is not a book to pickup. It absolutely is and I highly recommend it. Novik can write and write well. I just found myself wanting to walk in her cold winter woods a little longer and with a little more knowledge of how we got there.
- this has nothing to do with the author but I was told this was a fantasy with romance and I completely disagree. It’s a fantasy retelling that speaks on love, found family, and how far someone/anyone is willing to go when more is demanded of you. From any side. What little romance there is, and I do mean little, it’s serviceable to the story but not important enough to merit a claim
- the book was a bit too long, but somehow the ending was too short. I wish we could’ve gotten a more fleshed out ending. I came to love these characters and it was hard walking away when they were so unsettled. I also feel like some of the lore or the whys behind actions was not discussed enough, but we have whole flashbacks or memories on the clothing everyone wore. Sometimes it felt like the author focused undue attention on building the setting/visuals.
- that being said I loved the set up to the overall story, the world building, and Miryems storyline in particular. Novik is brilliant at details and really bring everything to life for you. Her descriptions felt familiar and well explored. I just wish this wasn’t always at the expense of explanations of how things came to be.
- I purposely picked this book because it was a standalone but I’m now wishing for a sequel to flesh out the ending and explain some of the castoff plot lines.
- I can handle multi-povs but with nothing more than a page break, sometimes I would be deep in a paragraph before getting clarity on who was speaking. I think maybe the intention was to keep time moving and explain everything while keeping the reader a little on the outside of the story. But for me, it was a little dizzying. I understand that there was language choices and symbols that differentiated the povs but while each person had a distinct voice I will admit to being a little lost at some points of the story.
- Overall, a great story, one of the best I’ve read this year. Well crafted and complex. One I would read again but the pacing and abrupt ending to all but one plotlline took away a star. I don’t want to leave the impression that this is not a book to pickup. It absolutely is and I highly recommend it. Novik can write and write well. I just found myself wanting to walk in her cold winter woods a little longer and with a little more knowledge of how we got there.
- this has nothing to do with the author but I was told this was a fantasy with romance and I completely disagree. It’s a fantasy retelling that speaks on love, found family, and how far someone/anyone is willing to go when more is demanded of you. From any side. What little romance there is, and I do mean little, it’s serviceable to the story but not important enough to merit a claim
Content Warnings
Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Emotional abuse, and Death of parent
Moderate: Alcoholism, Animal death, Physical abuse, Violence, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, and War
rockyroadbutch's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Racism, Sexism, Violence, Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Alcoholism, Miscarriage, Sexism, Violence, and Murder
Minor: Animal cruelty
epsyphus's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
I loved this! I can't wait to read her other book based on Eastern European folktales. It was utterly enchanting. I stayed up way later than I should have reading this, it was fantastic.
Update for reread: I just really love how well the storylines intersect. Like all of my favorites, I feel very satisfied with the end and still I wish there was more.
Update for reread: I just really love how well the storylines intersect. Like all of my favorites, I feel very satisfied with the end and still I wish there was more.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse
Moderate: Antisemitism, Religious bigotry, and Fire/Fire injury
flyintothestorm's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Un mundo helado, para mí, tiene todo el sabor de un cuento de hadas bastante oscuro y me ha parecido maravilloso (aún no he leído Un cuento oscuro, pero sé que existe).
Pensaba que las tres historias iban a estar más separadas y que se iban a juntar solo en ciertos puntos, pero se van juntando y separando, lo que hace que sea muy orgánico.
Y pese a los cambios en los puntos de vista, la narración hace que sea bastante fácil saber a quién se está siguiendo en cada momento, aun sin especificarlo (creo que una vez dudé un poco, pero ya).
En resumen, merece mucho la pena.
Pensaba que las tres historias iban a estar más separadas y que se iban a juntar solo en ciertos puntos, pero se van juntando y separando, lo que hace que sea muy orgánico.
Y pese a los cambios en los puntos de vista, la narración hace que sea bastante fácil saber a quién se está siguiendo en cada momento, aun sin especificarlo (creo que una vez dudé un poco, pero ya).
En resumen, merece mucho la pena.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Physical abuse, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Domestic abuse, and Genocide
Minor: Animal death and Bullying
therainbowshelf's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Reads like a fairytale! I loved the many interconnected elements, and it was great having a Jewish main character in the cast. The way the author expertly wove in themes of supportive and toxic family, good and evil (and neutral), magic, antisemitism, misogyny, poverty, and others really called back to folktales. My biggest complaint is that it took me a long time (an hour of listening) to realize the narrative was switching between characters.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Emotional abuse, Misogyny, Sexism, Antisemitism, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism
Minor: Animal death
kaziaroo's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
I’ll begin by admitting I was disappointed in this book because I was hoping it would be like Uprooted (by the same author), which I enjoyed a few years ago, and given the rave reviews I was sure I’d enjoy it even though the blurb didn’t sound very interesting to me. And in the first half, I was optimistic; it was nothing like Uprooted, but I still held out hope that I could enjoy it because it was well written if a bit slow. My attention was wandering, but I was sure that as the plot progressed and I got more into it I’d be more interested.
Unfortunately, the second half was only worse. By the time I was two thirds of the way through, I was thoroughly bored and couldn’t wait for it to end. I didn’t warm (pardon the pun) to any of the characters, and by the end I was sick of them. Unlike most reviewers, I enjoyed the unlabelled point of view (POV) transitions – that is, until the number of POVs kept increasing and I was dragged back to the perspective of side characters who had no reason to have so much time in the spotlight. None of the character relationships were convincing or fleshed out enough to be interesting, and the characters themselves were unlikeable. It seemed like no matter whose perspective was next, I was still disappointed.
I also want to mention some more serious flaws in this book (avoiding spoilers as much as I can). This book tries very hard to make certain characters forgivable, even for horrible sins, making their sins not only forgiven but also forgotten as if they never did anything wrong. This makes the ending very uncomfortable as the author clearly wants you to believe that the characters will live happily ever after, but there’s just no precedent for this. Characters who hated each other (for good reason) throughout the book suddenly love each other with no build-up, further shattering any remaining suspension of disbelief. Everything is tidied up into a neat happy ending with no negative consequences, even when they are justly deserved. This left me feeling sour and unsatisfied.
Despite this, I gave Spinning Silver three stars because it was still well written on a sentence level and the characters had distinctive voices (although I did forget who was talking halfway through a chapter once or twice, so maybe not always!), and the first half was decent. There were some nice domestic scenes which, while they slowed the book down, I found enjoyable to sink into. I’m now teetering between 2 and 3 stars, so who knows, maybe I’ll go back and edit this later after thinking further. On the other hand, I feel like I've spent more than enough time with this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Xenophobia, Blood, Antisemitism, Kidnapping, and Fire/Fire injury
Moderate: Ableism, Animal death, Child death, Sexism, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Sexual harassment