I'm not sure how I read Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik a little over two months ago and haven't gotten around to writing about it here until now! It's been a busy autumn, I guess. Anyway, I quite enjoyed Spinning Silver and definitely plan on reading more by Novik, particularly Uprooted, which I'd heard good things about anyway and seems to be in the same vein as Spinning Silver, which is to say a re-telling or re-imagining of a fairy tale. In the case of Spinning Silver, it is a story that seems mainly inspired by Rumpelstiltskin and what seem to me to be elements of Russian folklore, as well as elements that seem to be of Novik's own creation (mainly the Staryk, a vicious people of winter who have been menacing the society in the book for years).
It is told from many perspectives, which I really enjoy, and the three main perspectives offer a great variety of experiences: Miryem, a young Jewish woman whose family goes from poverty to moderate wealth all the while being ostracized for their religion, Wanda, a very poor young woman who escapes a brutal father by working for Miryem, and Irina, the wealthy but isolated daughter of a nobleman. Their stories, plus those of other people, end up being incredibly intertwined, and the telling is all the more nuanced for the multiplicity of perspectives. In fact, in general Spinning Silver, unlike its fairy tale inspiration, is not a black-and-white story of good versus evil but rather a layered story of sticky situations and difficult choices, for which I greatly appreciate it.
I wasn't super satisfied with the putative romantic aspects of the plot, which tended to follow far more closely than I would like the fairy tale tropes of clever women needing to tame dangerous men in order to avoid death and falling in love (or at least in lust) with their oppressors, but one can't have it all, can one? Still, it would be nice to see more romantic relationships, especially in fantasy, that are based on respect rather than fear...
Still, on the whole, I really did enjoy reading Spinning Silver. If you enjoy fantasy or fairy tales, it's definitely worth your while to try.
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