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kmesserli 's review for:
Spindle's End
by Robin McKinley
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This book had a lot of charm and not a whole lot of substance.
It was a really interesting retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and I thoroughly enjoyed the world-building and magic system. Having Rosie grow up in an adorable cottagecore village with a cast of unique supporting characters was an excellent addition to the tale. And I enjoyed the various fairies and their roles in society; the world-building really was well thought out and felt both fantastic and realistic.
But my goodness was this book hard to follow. I’ve never read a book where so much and so little were happening simultaneously. I was getting ‘Great Expectations’ flashbacks - spreading butter on a slice of bread requiring an entire backstory about the cows and the farmers who made the butter and the hills the cows grazed upon and the castle that used to stand there 😵💫.
There are also WAY too many characters. We have an entire village worth of people, plus the rotating cast of animal friends, and then the immediate family starts to grow and new names just start showing up without introduction, and THEN we eventually make our way back to the castle where we meet more characters and animal friends. There were dozens of rotating characters and it was impossible to tell who was important enough to remember or if they were just included so the author could wax poetic about the smile of a dog or the squint of a cat for three pages. Like, I’m sorry, who tf is Russell? A mouse? A guard? A dog? 🤷♀️
Second, the prose, while beautiful, is suffering from the same struggle that made ‘Masters of Death’ hard for me to enjoy; it’s trying to be too clever. I love beautiful, whimsical prose (I just read Lud-in-the-Mist and loved it) but when it detracts from the story then you have to ask yourself why are you doing this? How is this serving the narrative? And I think the writing style in this story made it more difficult to follow and enjoy. Like, the final confrontation was so challenging to follow I’m still not sure what happened.
It’s a shame that the execution of this story was muddled, because I did like the story. Rosie is such a fun remake of Briar Rose - I loved that she was gifted all of these princess-y abilities but is such a tomboy you’d never know 😂. Katriona and Aunt and Peony were such strong characters and great examples of different aspects of womanhood. It’s a good story, it’s a great idea, I just wish it was tighter 🖤
2.75 ⭐️ great idea, meh execution. And I just didn’t find the conclusion satisfying.
It was a really interesting retelling of Sleeping Beauty, and I thoroughly enjoyed the world-building and magic system. Having Rosie grow up in an adorable cottagecore village with a cast of unique supporting characters was an excellent addition to the tale. And I enjoyed the various fairies and their roles in society; the world-building really was well thought out and felt both fantastic and realistic.
But my goodness was this book hard to follow. I’ve never read a book where so much and so little were happening simultaneously. I was getting ‘Great Expectations’ flashbacks - spreading butter on a slice of bread requiring an entire backstory about the cows and the farmers who made the butter and the hills the cows grazed upon and the castle that used to stand there 😵💫.
There are also WAY too many characters. We have an entire village worth of people, plus the rotating cast of animal friends, and then the immediate family starts to grow and new names just start showing up without introduction, and THEN we eventually make our way back to the castle where we meet more characters and animal friends. There were dozens of rotating characters and it was impossible to tell who was important enough to remember or if they were just included so the author could wax poetic about the smile of a dog or the squint of a cat for three pages. Like, I’m sorry, who tf is Russell? A mouse? A guard? A dog? 🤷♀️
Second, the prose, while beautiful, is suffering from the same struggle that made ‘Masters of Death’ hard for me to enjoy; it’s trying to be too clever. I love beautiful, whimsical prose (I just read Lud-in-the-Mist and loved it) but when it detracts from the story then you have to ask yourself why are you doing this? How is this serving the narrative? And I think the writing style in this story made it more difficult to follow and enjoy. Like, the final confrontation was so challenging to follow I’m still not sure what happened.
It’s a shame that the execution of this story was muddled, because I did like the story. Rosie is such a fun remake of Briar Rose - I loved that she was gifted all of these princess-y abilities but is such a tomboy you’d never know 😂. Katriona and Aunt and Peony were such strong characters and great examples of different aspects of womanhood. It’s a good story, it’s a great idea, I just wish it was tighter 🖤
2.75 ⭐️ great idea, meh execution. And I just didn’t find the conclusion satisfying.