Spinning Silver Audiobook By Naomi Novik cover art

Spinning Silver

A Novel

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Spinning Silver

By: Naomi Novik
Narrated by: Lisa Flanagan
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Buy for $22.50

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “One of the year’s strongest fantasy novels” (NPR), an imaginative retelling of the Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale from the bestselling author of Uprooted.

NEBULA AND HUGO AWARD FINALIST • NAMED ONE OF PASTE’S BEST FANTASY BOOKS OF THE DECADE • ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Public Library

With the Nebula Award–winning Uprooted, Naomi Novik opened a brilliant new chapter in an already acclaimed career, delving into the magic of fairy tales to craft a love story that was both timeless and utterly of the now. Spinning Silver draws readers deeper into this glittering realm of fantasy, where the boundary between wonder and terror is thinner than a breath, and safety can be stolen as quickly as a kiss.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father’s inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty—until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk—grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh—Miryem’s fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. She will face an impossible challenge and, along with two unlikely allies, uncover a secret that threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike.

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Time, Tordotcom, Popsugar, Vox, Vulture, Paste, Bustle, Library Journal

“A perfect tale . . . A big and meaty novel, rich in both ideas and people, with the vastness of Tolkien and the empathy and joy in daily life of Le Guin.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Gorgeous, complex, and magical . . . This is the kind of book that one might wish to inhabit forever.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

“Cool and clever and . . . dire and wonderful.”—Laini Taylor, author of Strange the Dreamer

“The Rumpelstiltskin fairy tale has never been as captivating. . . . Spinning Silver further cements [Novik’s] place as one of the genre greats.”—Paste

Accolades & Awards

Fantasy Essentials
Locus Award
2019
Fairy Tales Fantasy Essentials Locus Award Fantasy Epic Action & Adventure Heartfelt Funny Feel-Good

Featured Article: The Best Fairy Tale Retelling Audiobooks


Fairy tales, mythology, and folklore have provided an endless fount of inspiration and imagination for writers for centuries. So, it’s no surprise that as sensibilities shift and these tales are revisited with a modern lens, creators feel the pull to reinvent, reimagine, and refocus. Here, we’ve gathered the best fairy and folk tale retellings of all time, from both new and best-selling writers alike. What magic will you discover within?

Featured Article The Best Fairy Tale Retelling Audiobooks
Intricate Plotting • Complex Characters • Strong Female Protagonists • Rich Worldbuilding • Clever Fairytale Reimagining

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I enjoyed the story and loved how all the threads tied together at the end. My only issue is with the performance (and it’s minor). The same actress read all the parts nicely, but sometimes when she changed from one to another that were fairly similar, she did it so quickly that, more than once, I had to jump back to try to figure out who was speaking. A longer pause between voice changes would have made it easier to follow.

Character shifts were often too subtle and too fast

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great story line but struggled when they changed characters, voices all sounded the same was difficult to keep up with who was who.

great story but character voices all sound same

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A gorgeous tapestry that weaves together elements of several fairy tails without ever losing its soul to any single one, with overarching themes that tie the storylines together and ends in an unexpected twist on an old and familiar tale.

My only complaint is that the story is told entirely in 1st person - all six (or more) points of view. Really, is that ever a good idea in a complex novel? It’s hard to keep straight which “I” is currently speaking and contextual clues sometimes take a few lines to cue into the change in POV. Who is speaking, Irena? Wanda? Miriam? One of the others? The narrator was good, but she didn’t change her voice between the POV characters, so it provides no clue when someone else was speaking.

All that being said, this is definitely a book worth listening to, and I’ll probably come back to it a couple of times. The Russian lilt and the cadence of the telling are beautiful, and I look forward to finding the bits of foreshadowing scattered through the narrative like bits of Staryk silver.

Beautiful, if a little confusing

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The story is told by at least 4 different characters, but the narrator really doesn't have a distinctive voice for any of them. It was hard to follow the story if you aren't paying close attention. Story was imaginative, and different than many of the other fantasy novels I have read.

Narrator is hard to follow

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While technically a fresh take on the Rumplestiltskin tale, there is so much added complexity and character here, it really is its own completely new story. The story intertwines three heroines who are strong and likeable and wildly disparate from one another, along with a host of other complex characters and a new kind of fey and a fresh storyline. You will very much enjoy it!

Wonderful Russian fairy tale genre

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