Scan barcode
A review by nprtotebag
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik
5.0
The Faulkner of fantasy novels! Haha jk...unless? Novik manages to juggle not one, not two, but three and then eventually SIX POVs - all without the classic name header at the beginning of a new POV section. That's right - you must pick up on context and descriptions in the text itself to identify whose POV it is. The first time this happened, I did a book double take - I had to go back a few pages to confirm. But over time, I began adept at picking up on the subtle cues that would tell me who it was. There isn't a ton of difference in the voices themselves, which would perhaps bother some (and weakens my Faulkner comparison), but I liked having to pay attention to the locations, actions, and even clothes that signified certain characters.
I sometimes find multi-POVs in books to be a bit...tacky. But I love how she slowly incorporates more POV as we meet new characters. She often does this amazing transition effect where you'll get one POV, a different one, and then a new one that directly connects to how the first POV ended. It creates this really incredible, unique sense of continuity and connectedness between everything, while allowing for a ton of suspense.
Moving on from the POVs - This is much more than just a fairy tale "retelling," though by that metric alone it is still very good. To me, this is primarily a story of the transition from girlhood to womanhood, found family, and healing trauma. It's bittersweet and so hopeful. This quote has stuck with me, and made me tear up when I read it (though context is important so...read the book and you'll understand!)
While Novik's other standalone, Uprooted, was very enjoyable with its greater focus on an "enemies" to lovers type romance, that books feels more commercially appealing and I can see how the maturity in her storytelling has evolved from that book to this one. I highly recommend checking this out.
I sometimes find multi-POVs in books to be a bit...tacky. But I love how she slowly incorporates more POV as we meet new characters. She often does this amazing transition effect where you'll get one POV, a different one, and then a new one that directly connects to how the first POV ended. It creates this really incredible, unique sense of continuity and connectedness between everything, while allowing for a ton of suspense.
Moving on from the POVs - This is much more than just a fairy tale "retelling," though by that metric alone it is still very good. To me, this is primarily a story of the transition from girlhood to womanhood, found family, and healing trauma. It's bittersweet and so hopeful. This quote has stuck with me, and made me tear up when I read it (though context is important so...read the book and you'll understand!)
I reached out my hands to them, suddenly: I put out my hand to Sergey on one side, and to Stepon on the other, and they put out their hands to me, and to each other, and we held tight, tight; we made a circle together, my brothers and me, around the food that we had been given, and there was no wolf in the room.
While Novik's other standalone, Uprooted, was very enjoyable with its greater focus on an "enemies" to lovers type romance, that books feels more commercially appealing and I can see how the maturity in her storytelling has evolved from that book to this one. I highly recommend checking this out.