Title: Spindle
Author: E.K. Johnston
Series: A Thousand Nights #2
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: December 6, 2016
Source: Publisher
In case you have missed them, I have posted reviews for book one, A Thousand Nights, HERE and for the novella, The Garden of Three Hundred Flowers, HERE.
In case you were not already aware, Spindle is the second book in a series. The first book is entitled A Thousand Nights.
Spindle is meant to be a retelling of the ever popular Sleeping Beauty tale. There is a girl, there is a curse, and there is a demon. If she spins bad things are supposed to happen. Etc.
And for the most part I would say that Spindle follows this idea fairly well. However, unlike most books it is not told from the point of view of the cursed princess. Instead it is told from the point of a view of a boy whose whole life and everything he knows has been affected by the curse.
And the curse is ravaging the whole kingdom, especially the spinners. They get sick if they spin, so they can't make the thread that makes the cloth that makes the clothes.
After finishing up the first book, I was ready to dive into more of this world and to see where the author was going to take us next. To be honest, I was kind of surprised in the differences between these books.
The main difference that I noticed in this book compared to the last is that it is written differently. Where in book 1 we had no names to characters, pretty much all of the characters in book 2 have them. I think this is in part why I feel the unique voice that I had come to think of this series to have is gone for me. It feels less like a storyteller is telling it now versus someone of the story is telling it.
Also, this book is set quite a bit after book 1 took place. Different characters, different location, different different different. It will kind of refer back to what happened in book 1 at times and there is the spinning aspect that is really holding it together. Because, yes, just like in the first book, spinning is a HUGE part of the story. I guess you could probably have figured that out though just by knowing that it is based on the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale though.
All in all though, I really felt pulled in when reading this story. And while I wasn't expecting the change in writing style, I am okay with it. It still worked.
Oh...and this book really was starting to make me want to pick up spinning!
My Rating
4 Stars
This review is based on an ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are mine and mine alone.
Giveaway!
Follow the Rest of the Tour!!
Week 1:
11/28: Such A Novel Idea - Review
Week 2:
12/6: Mundie Moms - Review
12/7: The Eater of Books - Q&A
It sounds from your review that this book doesn't live up to the first book and may be disappointing to continue with the series. Thanks for the honest review today--I like how you figured out what was missing from the book for you.
ReplyDeleteThe woes of writing a review when a toddler wants your attention...
DeleteI actually liked this book better than the first one. And it was probably due to the writing style change that I did not expect.
I just downloaded the novella!!! I cannot wait to read it!
ReplyDeleteWeirdly, I'm not very interested in reading A Thousand Nights, but I really like the sound of this one! So, I may still pick up the series so I can get to this second book. :D I would like to see how much it differs from the first book as well.
ReplyDelete