Spinning Silver

I wasn't as immediately engrossed by Spinning Silver as I was by Uprooted. It starts a little slower, and it took me a while to really get into the book. But by the time I was halfway through I was completely engrossed and couldn't wait to see how it all came together in the end.

Novik switches the narrative between six characters, though three have them have significantly more chapters than the other three. And it takes a while for all the different points of view to show up. Still, she does an impressive job of giving everyone a distinct voice. I was never confused about whose head I was in, even without obvious clues like chapter titles. This is probably the most subtly impressive part of the entire book.

And the three main women are all fascinating. Miryem is ruthless, first in her pursuit of money for her family and then in trying to escape from her captor-husband. Wanda is brilliant and strong and I only want good things for her. But my favorite character by far was Irina, who finds herself thrust into a life she never expected or wanted and has to protect both herself and her kingdom from her demon-possessed husband.

Novik weaves everything together brilliantly, with just enough magic to enchant. But she also equates math with magic, or at least Wanda does, in what is maybe my favorite motif in the book. Magic is whatever gives you power, and that includes being able to read and do sums.

I can't wait to see what Novik writes next. I hope she keeps up with these hodge-podge fairytale adaptations for a while.

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