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Avg. Rating: 4
Pretty Good Spin on Sleeping Beauty
3.5 Stars
"Spindle's End" is a retelling of Sleeping Beauty.
I liked Robin McKinley's "Beauty." So, I thought I would give "Spindle's End" a try. Honestly, it was okay. For me, it was too wordy for my liking. At the beginning of the story, there was at least 6 pages worth of description describing magic and how everyone had to cope with it, which I concede, builds imagery and atmosphere. But seriously, I had to force myself to keep reading on while being bored out of mind. Not everything was bad of course. What I find interesting was the fact, it didn't start with Sleeping Beauty herself, but it started with the fairies and animals that help protect her from the evil witch. When the evil witch appears, that really bought spice to the story and moved things on a quicker pace. After cursing the princess, the story goes on with the life of the fairies and Rosie for the next 21 years.
I liked the princess. She wasn't a dainty, pretty, young lady. She was a tomboy that talked to animals. She hated anything that was feminine and did her best to be the complete antithesis of a lady or princess. I could totally relate to her. The actual fight between the princess and the witch was somewhat confusing at certain parts, but interesting nonetheless. I like the intrigue and the unexpected twist at the end, which I find very refreshing from the usual where the princess gets the prince.
Overall, I liked the book. But it wasn't a keeper.
Like Reading the Musings of a Rambling Old Lady...
First off, let me say that I love fantasy books and adore a variety of authors including Sharon Shinn, Patricia McKillip, Carol Berg, Dave Duncan, George R. R. Martin and zillions of others...
However this book didn't do it for me. In fact, I barely made it through it.
The way it is written reminds me of an old lady who just can't keep a thought straight. She relates conversations but stops in the middle to describe other events that happened years before or afterward, picks up the conversation and then interrupts it again. Doing this over and over til you don't know what the heck is going on. The author tries really hard to make the world "magical" but it is not, nor is it compelling. The story itself is not worth trying to slog through her wandering writing style either. The characters are cookie cutter types while there is plenty of over explanation about everything else, you never get a good grip of the character's personalities. They are paper dolls in a mess of a story. The main character of Rosie is the worst, since she does not seem to change much beyond her 12 year old self, even though a good portion of the book is told once she hits that magical birth date of 21. Very disappointing and even though I finished the novel, I can't imagine ever reading it again. The story of Sleeping Beauty deserves a better adapation than this.
The only kind words I can find for the book is that it is completely clean. There is very little action, and nothing at all risque or "adult" in nature. However I can't imagine a 10-13 year old managing to make it through this mess of a story with its boring characters and lack of action.
This re-telling of a classic fairy tale put the "sleep" in Sleeping Beauty
Wow - talk about a slow read! This re-telling of Sleeping Beauty was not very good at all. Maybe it was because I had such high hopes for it... There was some originality in the story-telling, but overall... the style was what brought it down. No action at all... the voice was SO passive.... all telling... made it very slow-going and boring!
A beautiful and believable world
I've just finished reading Spindle's End after guiltily eying it on my shelf for about a year. What put me off reading it at first were some reviews that complained that the novel was rather long-winded. Yes, it is, and I sometimes had to re-read certain sections to hold on to the thread of the story, however this does not mean that the writing is cumbersome or uninteresting.
I enjoyed reading this unusual and suspenseful re-working of Sleeping Beauty. It was not the story or the characters however that won my heart, but the setting itself. McKinley goes to great lengths to make her world and Foggy Bottom real to the reader. The magic in the air is almost tangible and I found myself enjoying reading about the little quirks of magic more than the story itself.
As one reviewer pointed out, McKinley does not focus too much on character development in this book, and I wish she would have made them more complex. Even some of the animals like Flinx, Fast and Gorse and Woodwold were more complex and affectionately characterized than Rosie, Peony, Katriona and Narl. I wonder if McKinley was more in love with the setting than her characters. Nevertheless, her rendering of the fairytale of Sleeping Beauty is certainly original.
To sum up, despite its few flaws, this book is certainly one that I would read again and encourage others to read as well. For those of you who like well conceived magical worlds this is the book for you.
A truly enjoyable read
Definitely not your everyday retelling of Sleeping Beauty. Our heroine (perhaps I should say 'heroines') is not quite what one would expect.
Rosie (the princess) is not particularly 'beautiful' as she grows up a plain village maiden who prefers being a 'horse leech' and hanging around the smithy to doing fine needlepoint and other 'girlie' things. Her best friend, Peony, *is* beautiful (and sweet and noble and all the things a princess *should* be).
Absolutely loved the ending (which I will not spoil by giving it away except to say all's well that ends well and I couldn't be happier for the entire wonderful cast of characters).
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