Spinning Silver

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 PASTES 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

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Published May 7, 2019

480 pages

Average rating: 7.45

203 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

RubyReads
Jun 06, 2025
4/10 stars
okay….

The book was okay, around the 65% mark I started to zone and felt bored and wanted it to be over. I felt not much was happening interesting wise. Truthfully, this book could have been better. The story and setting were definitely interesting but I think the author didn’t explore much outside of the setting. A lot was due to lack of dialogue and huge chunks of paragraphs where characters are doing and thinking stuff but weren’t saying much. I think the story could have improved soo much by just having that alone. There was also no separating chapters or indicators that a new character voice was taking over, all we got was a spindle as a way to start a new storyline, so that always snapped me out of the story because then I had to guess who was talking. I do think at some point the characters she chose were useless (yes i said that) we didn’t need their point or view for the story to progress
JT Penguin
Jun 02, 2025
1/10 star
DNF'd at 36%. I read it for two weeks. I just could not get into this story enough to care about what was happening. I was only mildly interested. The story wasn't moving along fast enough for me. Too much miscellaneous detail that wasn't driving the story forward. Too many books on my TBR shelf to spend more time on this.
CHare!
May 14, 2025
7/10 stars
It was long and started slow. I didn't understand the rules but chat GPT helped a bit. Overall a really good story and I liked the ending.
Kelkhiyari
Apr 30, 2025
7/10 stars
A good, easy read. Enjoyed it
AmJam
Apr 03, 2025
2/10 stars
Not good :(

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