A review by starrysteph
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Spinning Silver is a rich & layered fairytale with Jewish themes – it had these shining delicate moments that I loved very dearly, but also struggled with pacing that felt sluggish rather than lush ... and it was a little too forgiving to cruel men.

Miryem and her family live in poverty, because even though her father is the village’s much-needed moneylender, he’s too tender-hearted to collect on his debts. So she embraces her inner coldness and does the work herself, quickly becoming known for her ability to change silver into gold.

But the Staryk - who live in an alternate wintery realm just beyond the forest - hunger for gold. So when their fey king hears about Miryem’s skills, he whisks her away and has quite a few demands.

Luckily, she gains two unlikely allies, a local peasant girl (Wanda) with an abusive father and the neglected daughter of a duke (Irina). Together, they learn how to bargain, how to stand up for themselves & know their worth, and how to save their kingdom from fiery tsars and icy kings alike. 

My favorite part of this read might have been the developing friendships, particularly between Miryem and Wanda. Wanda fears Miryem because she’s Jewish and thinks her prayers are dark magic, but she is slowly and warmly welcomed into Miryem’s household - and begins to realize that her past line of thinking was warped. Miryem teaches her math & reading and in Wanda’s eyes, that is beautiful & transformative magic. And Miryem’s parents look out for Wanda and her brothers when they all live in fear of their own father. There’s a found family element that is so, so lovely.

I also adored the Jewish representation (there were several ‘big’ moments that made me tear up in addition to smaller things like Miryem’s insistence on keeping Shabbat and a Jewish geography scene), and the growth of the three main women as they become stronger and surer. (I had mixed-to-negative feelings on some of their conclusions, but I won’t spoil anything.) The loose rules of magic and speaking something into being because of your own strength and self assuredness were quite lovely. There is real magic in a bargain!

“You were challenged beyond the bounds of what could be done, and found a path to make it true.”

But this book feels SLOW. And I generally enjoy a slower-paced read and a rich world. The fairytale inspiration led to a lot of repetition and rules of three which I do understand, but the middle of this story felt like I was stuck in a time loop and I wanted nothing more than to gnaw my way out. I kept putting it down.

Sometimes we would read the same exact scene twice in a row from different perspectives - and that additional insight was not worth it to me. 

I liked the atmospheric world and the rules of the Staryk. It kept me intrigued, and I do feel like Miryem and the king both had a lot to teach the other. Miryem has to challenge her own assumptions about the ‘other’, just like she is othered and viewed as monstrous by her fellow villagers.

Wanda is aroace in my mind. The other romantic relationships were a disappointment to me. 

Overall, I would recommend this for the elements I love, but I’m sure there’s a lot of readers who shut this book in frustration and never picked it back up, and I completely understand that.

CW: death (parent/child), murder, child abuse, domestic abuse, antisemitism, alcoholism, fire, kidnapping, sexism, body horror, grief, torture, xenophobia, miscarriage, classism, gore, war, vomit

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