^I will also be in Asia for the first 2 weeks of December. Since I will be traveling quite a bit while there, I won’t have reliable internet access. I guess I will be joining the discussion much later. 
I will be traveling in the beginning of Dec as well and probably won’t participate much till mid-Dec either.
Well, since I am still on the wait list, I’ll join the late comers, too.
I’ll be in Madison, WI for a long weekend, but I don’t think that’s quite as interesting. Got the book, read the book, ready to go.
I’m ready!
It’s December 1st! Welcome to our discussion of Spinning Silver. Sounds like many of you are busy traipsing across the globe, but you know where to find us whenever you’re ready. Safe travels to one and all.
This would have been a great February selection, especially for those of us in the colder climes. I was actually pleased with our snowstorm and temperature drop last weekend because it was the perfect environment for reading this story.
What I loved: strong women, a panoply of interesting characters, a (magical) escape from reality, and the mixture of history, myth, religion, legend. Novik draws from multiple sources.
What I didn’t love: so many narrative voices. They weren’t different enough in tone/vocabulary/sentence structure, etc. (except for Stepon). I wanted to be able to distinguish between the narrators immediately and I couldn’t always do that.
There are no official discussion questions online, so let’s just jump in! What did you think? Any character that particularly resonated with you?
^ mary13, I too, was in Chicago area last weekend, Barrington, where 8 inches of snow fell, electricity went out, fireplace glowing and reading about the cold,cold world in Spinning Silver- added to the experience for sure -
I kept reaching for more blankets as I read this!
I liked Miryem the best, since she just took the bull by the horns and went to collect her father’s debts. She was amazingly creative at turning nothing into something, and I admire people like that. I also liked Wanda, since she wasn’t cowed by her dismal circumstances and how, once she had the opportunity with Miryem’s family, she figured out her long-term plan and kept at it. I loved that she was getting paid with real money but kept that from her father.
That said, this genre is not my genre. I’m not into fantasy/sci fi/ magical beasts. Everytime I picked up the book again, I had to remind myself who was who, and which monster they were married to. And I had to make myself care about who would win.
When did we get an “agree” button on CC? But @VeryHappy, I agree. Although I have to say that even though fantasy is not my genre, there is something very freeing about it. It made me realize that when I read books set in “real life,” I am keenly aware of historical inaccuracies, inadvertent errors in the timeline, inconsistencies, small holes in the plot, etc. I didn’t have to think about any of that with Spinning Silver. I just chalked it all up to magic. 
I agree that I found the constant change in narrator distracting. I did enjoy the book and strong women in it.
I also enjoyed the return to fairy tales of my youth with twists of course.
Because several of the reviews I read after finishing Spinning Silver mentioned the book “Uprooted” by the same author, I borrowed and read that book as well. It also had a very strong heroine as a central character but was quite different in many respects.
I couldn’t really understand how Miryam was able to seal the mountain at the end. Somehow it felt very rushed, like hey the book needs to end so here it is.
By contrast, Uprooted did not change narrators, so was much less confusing.
Having a lot of different narrators in Spinning Silver could have been done more clearly if there was something to immediately clue you in as to whom the narrator was and when it changed.
Miryem reminds me of a loved one who is generally able to make money in a huge array of situations — like when selling and buying books at the end of the term. I admired her grit and determination. I was also impressed by Wanda. I didn’t feel many of others had as much devoted to fleshing them out.
magic ¯_(ツ)_/¯
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I had forgotten how much I used to enjoy the Fantasy genre. It’s been a long while since I’ve dug into one. Harry Potter maybe?
Strong intelligent female characters driving the story line without excessive focus on their emotions & feelings & weaknesses was also a refreshing change of pace.
The story did not go in the direction I thought it would. I thought Irina would end up in the Starek kingdom! She seemed destined for it.
I wished for more details about Irina’s life towards the end of the book. Curious how she would manage that Tsar husband of hers & if they would be able to cohabitate as well as co-rule.
The ending was the weakest part of the book, IMO. The pace seemed off compared to the rest of the book. Rushed to tie up loose ends?
I liked the magical cabin in the woods as it seemed to emphasis how these characters would continue to cross paths. Small world and all that.
I listened to the book on audio & did not have trouble discerning which character was speaking. If it wasn’t apparent immediately, it only took a few sentences & I knew. The narrator used slightly different voices for the characters which obviously helps.
It was very sweet to see Wanda & her brothers find peace & happiness with Miryem’s family.
I would definitely read more by this author and in this genre. Good story without it being “heavy”.
Yeah, I know “Magic,” but somehow it felt like it skipped a bunch of steps to finish in the last 50 pages.
I really loved this book - I didn’t even mind the change of narrators once I got used to the whole thing. I needed a fantasy, and I loved that it revolved around three vulnerable women finding their strengths. Miryem was my personal favorite - she had me when she stepped up to protect her frail mother. I even liked how the novel ended up as a romance at the end, and I totally smiled to myself at the last line of the book (when Miryem wouldn’t reveal the Staryk King’s name).
Thank you to whoever recommended this book in the first place, and thank you, Mary, for choosing it!
I finished it about two weeks ago and I’ve already forgotten most of it.
@VeryHappy, I just finished the book last night and perhaps that’s the way it will go with me, too, but I blame that on my own foggy brain, not on Spinning Silver. That reminds me of a favorite Billy Collins poem. I’m sure I’ve posted it before (although maybe not, lol – given the subject matter, who can say), but here it is:
Forgetfulness
By Billy Collins
The name of the author is the first to go
followed obediently by the title, the plot,
the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel
which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of,
as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor
decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain,
to a little fishing village where there are no phones.
Long ago you kissed the names of the nine muses goodbye
and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag,
and even now as you memorize the order of the planets,
something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps,
the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay.
Whatever it is you are struggling to remember,
it is not poised on the tip of your tongue
or even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen.
It has floated away down a dark mythological river
whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall
well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those
who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle.
No wonder you rise in the middle of the night
to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war.
No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted
out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.
@Mary13 —thanks for that poem. It is very apt for me and H, sometimes more than others. 8-}
I don’t know how much depth we’ll get into with this discussion. To me, it’s more of an escapist type read where I don’t necessarily feel the need to dissect/analyze, similar to my experience with fantasy movies. I picture us all getting together for a lunch buffet where we bring various hot and cold/icy dishes and have a few laughs.
I finished the book about two weeks ago as well but remember quite a bit of it. There were quite a few story lines to keep track of. It is one of few leisure books I’ve read and is something my sister said that my D and hers like—magic. 
We really have no idea what the czar’s character is at all, since he was possessed throughout the entire story, from birth until near the end of the novel.