Book Review: Spinning Silver – Naomi Novik

Rating: 5/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

Review:

From the first chapter, Spinning Silver hooked me in deep and got a powerful grip over me. Naomi Novik’s writing is so beautiful, she made Miryem’s world come alive for me.

“Of course I was afraid. But I had learned to fear other things more: being despised, whittled down one small piece of myself at a time, smirked at and taken advantage of.”
― Miryem

Miryem was impressive. She didn’t let her circumstances push her down and cut her to pieces. No, she stood up on her own two feet and took the reins of her life in her own hands. I admired her so much.

The two other principle characters, Wanda and Irina, were just as inspiring with their own stories—their own trials to get through and hurdles to face.

And the Staryk Lord? Oh, my God, he was breathtaking! Yes, I have the weird tendency to fall for cold warriors with a lot of pride…and a boatload of honor and a penchant for fair deals. Miryem and the Staryk lord were my favorite part of this book.

The only complaint I have is that when the viewpoints changed, no sign was given as to whose it was. It wasn’t until you read a few paragraphs in that chapter that you realized whose head you were in and through whose eyes you were viewing the world. However, I’m glad that I could follow the story and despite that little annoyance, this book was still a full 5 stars for me.

Fantastic story-telling, absolutely brilliant world-building, beautiful writing, unforgettable characters, excellent plot-line, a climax that was so engrossing that it kept me at the edge of my seat (short of biting my fingernails) with an ending that left me in smiles. Spinning Silver was epic!

Synopsis: Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders… but her father isn’t a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife’s dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty–until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers’ pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed–and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold. But having the reputation of being able to change silver to gold can be more trouble than it’s worth–especially when her fate becomes tangled with the cold creatures that haunt the wood, and whose king has learned of her reputation and wants to exploit it for reasons Miryem cannot understand.