Book 91: Spindle's End

I got to take a fun foray into twists upon fairy tales with the book Spindle’s End by Robin McKinley. It was a fun book which reminded me why I used to love the subsection of the genre. It was both extremely familiar and creative all at the same time. If you read a twist on one of your favorite fairy tales, it has to be done right.

Needless to say, I hate a couple books that used Snow White as a basis but the book failed. It was actually after reading a twist on Snow White that I hated so much, I stopped reading books based on fairy tales for a good long time and it’s one of the reasons I haven’t jumped at reading the third book in the Wicked series (but that’s also in part due to how I loved Wicked but disliked the second book). After some dabbling in the twisting of fairy tales in the early 2000s, I never explored my other favorite fairy tale, Sleeping Beauty (I did read a couple related to Snow White which is the traditional favorite). I’m so glad that the friend that loaned me Moon Called and Neverwhere also had this book in the collection she set aside for me. It was just a fun book.

I thought that Spindle’s End did a great job of merging the traditional elements of Sleeping Beauty, the romantic features that comes emanate from the ballet and yet it created something new. I love how McKinley set the story first. It was an inviting atmosphere and it really took you away from the world and you could just enjoy reading. It allowed for magic and fairies to exist.

 The ending made me so satisfied. I won’t spoil it for people. But given the characters of Rosie and Peony, this was the ending that made the most sense. It was great. It allowed for the traditional happily ever after but not the way you would have thought going into the book.

 The only downside to the book was it took me longer to read then I would have liked. It wasn’t a quick read. Highly enjoyable. My work schedule has gotten heavier as the holiday season starts to kick into high gear and I am working on my NaNoWriMo project as well. So my limited free time is now getting chipped away by yet another activity.

 Spindle’s End was fun book. So incredibly grateful for the loan and a chance to read it. It was a great slip into an old favorite genre that I felt like I had to give up on after a few misses. I’m glad.