Book · 2018
Spinning Silver
by Naomi Novik
A moneylender's daughter out-bargains a winter king to save her family, in a Rumpelstiltskin retelling with a Jewish heroine at its center.
What does Reddit think of Spinning Silver?
r/Fantasy keeps slotting Spinning Silver into recommendation lists next to The Traitor Baru Cormorant, The City of Brass, Ninefox Gambit, and the Locked Tomb books, the kind of company that tells you more than a star rating would. What nobody agrees on is what kind of book this actually is. One reader in r/Fantasy warns that loving Uprooted doesn't guarantee you'll love this one, since Novik apparently reinvents her approach every time out. Nobody here is arguing about the prose itself.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · A Jewish protagonist reframing a European fairy-tale structure
- · Moneylending and debt as the engine of a Rumpelstiltskin retelling
- · Genre ambiguity between fantasy-romance and secondary-world fantasy
- · Reader uncertainty about whether Novik's books share a throughline
Common praise
- + r/suggestmeabook's top mention (↑269) is a reader in her fifties who says she jumped up and down seeing a Jewish protagonist in a fairy-tale fantasy.
- + r/Fantasy keeps it in company with The Traitor Baru Cormorant and the Locked Tomb books, genre-defining shelfmates rather than a runner-up pick.
- + One r/Fantasy commenter recommends it over Lies of Locke Lamora specifically for a reader who wanted something less violent and less male-coded.
Common criticism
- − A r/Fantasy commenter warns that liking Uprooted doesn't guarantee you'll like this one, since Novik reinvents her approach with nearly every book.
- − r/RomanceBooks discusses it often despite one commenter admitting it "doesn't contain that much romance," which muddies who the book is actually being recommended to.
- − Most of the top-upvoted quotes are one-line list mentions rather than developed reviews, so it's hard to know why people vote them up beyond simple familiarity.
Who it's for
Pick this up if you want a fairy-tale retelling that treats moneylending as plot machinery, not metaphor. Readers who bounced off Uprooted keep showing up in r/Fantasy anyway, insisting the two books don't behave the same way. If you've been told fantasy-romance and secondary-world fantasy are separate aisles, r/RomanceBooks disagrees enough to keep recommending it, romance content or not. Representation matters here too: more than one Redditor names it as the rare European fairy-tale with a Jewish lead, and treats that as reason enough on its own.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
- r/suggestmeabook 2,771
- r/Fantasy 2,294
- r/booksuggestions 960
- r/YAlit 587
- r/RomanceBooks 532
- r/printSF 73
- r/horrorlit 7
- r/TrueLit 3
Which Reddit comments matter for Spinning Silver?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik The City of Brass by S A Chakraborty Ninefox Gambit by Yoon Ha Lee The Locked Tomb books by Tamsyn Muir The Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden The Lady Trent Memoirs by Marie Brennan
“My impression from other people’s reviews is that everything by Novik seems to be different enough that if you like one, you aren’t guaranteed to like her other works, or don’t like one you might still like another. I’ve read Uprooted, Spinning Silver, and Deadly Education and really enjoyed all t…
“>Naomi Novik (*Uprooted*) will publish *A Deadly Education* this fall, the first in an epic new trilogy that publisher Del Rey calls “a twisted, super dark, super modern, female-led *Harry Potter*.” After Temerarie, Uprooted and Spinning Silver, I'm here for anything she writes. But beyond that, I…
“I am woman too and into travel, yoga and politics, also similar age. So maybe I would have a similar taste like your girlfriend. While I did like Lies of Locke Lamora, I thought it was very violent and geared to a male audience. I wouldn't suggest it as a starting point. I would recommend Spinning …
“Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik. Her other books are also really good, but no Judaism in them.
“Spinning silver by Naomi Novik I will also say it’s the first time I ever saw a main character in a European fairy tale be Jewish and I JUMPED UP AND DOWN FOR EXCITEMENT. I am in my 50s.
“You should take a look at Spinning Silver by Namoi Novik. One of the main characters is of the nobility and faces some issues exactly as you describe.
“Spinning Silver is of my favourites, I'm in awe of how clear each character voice is. You immediately can tell whose POV each chapter is from despite it never being labelled. Fun fact, Naomi Novik is one of the founders of the Archive of Our Own fanfiction archive, and has written some absolutely a…
“The first Kushiel trilogy by Carey is my personal gold standard. I really liked Naomi Noviks Spinning Silver and Uprooted. The Winternight Trilogy by Arden. The seven waters trilogy, I’m drawing a blank on the author. All of these have various trigger warnings, so I would check those out if that’s i…
“May I suggest Naomi Novik maybe? Spinning Silver especially. It’s like fairytales I grew up on but with adult themes.
“Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik is a 3 for 1 deal! The story is loosely based on Russian history and a retelling of Rumpelstiltskin. It features three FMC POVs: a business woman, a noblewoman in an arranged marriage to the Tsar, and a disadvantaged farm girl. Each brings a unique flavour of cunning a…
“Spinning Silver and Uprooted, both by Naomi Novik. Both are amazing. Spinning Silver is loosely a retelling of Rumplestiltskin, and Uprooted draws from stories about Baba Yaga. They are shorter for stand alone fantasy and both have really interesting magic systems.
“This is exactly the sort of books I enjoy reading, so here are my favourites: Literally everything by V.E. Schwab *The Bear and the Nightingale* by Katherine Arden *Uprooted* and *Spinning Silver* by Naomi Novik *The Witch's Heart* by Genevieve Gornichec *The City of Brass* by S.A. Chakrabort…
“Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik follows the stories of three girls that exhibition different kinds of strength, one of them is a traditional lady and she is quite capable!
“I suggest Naomi Novik: I recently read several of her books and I really liked all of them. Uprooted is a good starting point, although it's not all that egalitarian. Spinning Silver is definitely not that as it deals with several female protagonists trying to be more than what male society wants …
Convinced? Pick up Spinning Silver
Readers also mention
All books like Spinning Silver →Books that share discussion threads with Spinning Silver — counted from the comments, not curated.
Spinning Silver — frequently asked
Is Spinning Silver as good as Uprooted?+
Reddit won't promise you that. A r/Fantasy commenter explicitly warns that liking one Novik book doesn't guarantee you'll like another, since her books apparently vary a lot in approach. Go in judging Spinning Silver on its own, not as a repeat of Uprooted's formula.
Is Spinning Silver a romance novel?+
Not really, per Reddit's own account of it. r/RomanceBooks discusses it often and it turns up in fantasy-romance recommendation threads, but one commenter there admits it "doesn't contain that much romance." Read it for the fairy-tale economics and the Jewish protagonist, not for a romance plot.
What is Spinning Silver actually about?+
A moneylender's daughter who outmaneuvers a winter king, told through a lens Reddit repeatedly flags as rare: a Jewish protagonist inside a European fairy-tale structure. r/suggestmeabook's top mention (↑269) is a reader in her fifties saying she'd never seen that before and was thrilled to find it here.
What should I read after Spinning Silver?+
r/Fantasy's highest-upvoted list (↑366) pairs it with The Traitor Baru Cormorant, The City of Brass, Ninefox Gambit, the Locked Tomb books, and the Winternight Trilogy. That's the company Reddit keeps it in, not a formal ranking, but it's a reasonable next-read list if you liked the fairy-tale-with-teeth quality.