❥ Stepon– Wanda’s younger brother who’s POV is sporadic at first, but becomes more prevalent in the latter half of the book. I just appreciated this story on angry girls being unapologetically angry, doing what needs to be done because no one will do it for them, because in a world where women only have one job, they’re underestimated.īut like I mentioned above, they’re not the only perspectives we get to see. All found a way to make lemonade out of lemons… for a lack of a better term. These three came from some kind of oppressed background, paying for the things the men in their lives have done- whether it be silencing their voices of being discriminated against, but all managed to rise to the occasion. I had to do the work first, not knowing.” “But I had not known that I was strong enough to do any of those things until they were over and I had done them. While I liked her scheming and how she manipulated her way to safety, she was my least favorite. No, I’m not wording this right- out of the main three, I was looking forward to being in her head the least. ❥ Irinushka– daughter of the duke who is overlooked and pawned over to a possessed prince, someone who has to be cunning and ruthless in her survival and the welfare of her people. Her story arc was probably the most hard hitting and one that really stuck with me. ❥ Wanda– a girl Miryem takes in to pay off her father debt, who comes from an abusive home and has to take care of her two brothers. Her relationship with her family, with money, with her religion- which was amazing to see in a Fantasy. Her story arc was probably my favorite not only because we spend more time with her, but because her storyline had a lot of things going for it.

❥ Miryem– the main character of the story- a Jewish moneylender providing for her family who has surrounded her heart with ice because no one else will do it. We follow quite a few POV’s, though three are the focal point: “Anger was a fire in a grate, and I’d never had any wood to burn.

Yet even then, her writing is poetic and tells like a tale being passed on from person to person- my favorite kind of storytelling. maybe because it’s winter and this book is set in the freezing cold, but I felt it. The writing was so lush and atmospheric and vivid.

This is a very intimidating book. Dialogue is limited, POV’s are abundant, and pacing is slow… but after I finished I loved it.This is a very loose Rumplestiltskin retelling- I loved the spin Novik put on the spinning gold aspect and how though that was a major plot point, so much is happening in the story that there’s never a dull moment. “Because that’s what the story’s really about: getting out of paying your debts.

Naomi novik spinning silver review