Once upon a time, I read a book called UPROOTED and I found it to be a fabulous novel. So, I was thrilled to get the chance to read SPINNING SILVER, a new novel by Naomi Novik. Now this novel is a stand-alone fantasy novel that in some ways feels like a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin.

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of Jewish moneylenders. While Miryem's grandfather has built up a fortune Miryem's father is too kind-hearted to demand money back. Hence, Miryem and her parents are always on the brink of starvation. So, Miryem takes it upon herself to collect money and she is really good, too good as it will turn out. She gets a reputation of turning silver into gold. Miryem catches the attention of the fairy king of winter who challenges her three times and if she fails she will die. If she wins, he takes her as his bride. Miryem strives to complete the challenges and through her efforts more lives than hers are affected.

Irina is an unhappy young daughter of a lord and her father wants her to wed the tsar. And unwittingly Miryem is helping him achieve this. The tsar, however, is not all that he seems.

There is also Wanda, whose father couldn't pay the debt he owned Miryem's father. So instead, Miryem decides Wanda should leave her father's place and work off the debt for Miryem. Wanda sees this as a chance to get away from her brutal father. These three women's fate will intertwine, and together they might even save the kingdom.

Have you ever read a book and thought, help, this one will be hard to review? I got that feeling reading this book because there is so much going on. So many characters' lives intertwine and in my opinion too many POV. It would have been enough with just Miryem and Irina. Instead, we also get Wanda and several minor characters. And, to tell everyone apart there are images before a new chapter starts, so you will know who is who. At first, it was no problem keeping the characters apart, but then more and more characters were added which was a bit of a hassle. As for the story, I felt the pacing was a bit slow; some parts were great while there were other parts that dragged a bit. And, I found myself more interested in Miryem's fate than the rest of the characters although Irina's story grew on me. Especially when one learns the truth about the tsar.

I found SPINNING SILVER to be not as captivating as UPROOTED, but there are some good parts in the book, especially towards the end. The ending of the book is really great! The big drawback was that I sometimes just felt that the story went on and on and I just wanted to get to the point. Especially when some of the minor characters took over the storytelling. I liked the book, but there were just too many ups and downs for me to love it truly.