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Spindle's End Review

I will admit it took me a few tries to get into it. I'm very surprised it did. Robin McKinley is perhaps one of the most ardent authors, and this book was no exception. Spindle' End is the story of Sleeping Beauty. But this book doesn't follow the typical Sleeping Beauty story. Yes, there's a witch looking for the baby princess who's party she was not invited to. Yes, she is taken away, to safety. The girl who takes her is quite special. Katrina takes her to her home which is in a small village easily overlooked. This first half of the book is Katrina's perspective and a beautiful one at that. The baby grows up to be not so beautiful and somewhat of a rebellious tomboy. The second half of the book is her perspective. This book was positively beautiful, and I don't believe there was one character I didn't like. The ending had a very interesting twist, one that I thoroughly enjoyed. I recommend this book to all who have previously read Robin McKinley's books.

Spindle's End Overview

The evil fairy Pernicia has set a curse on Princess Briar-Rose: she is fated to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into an endless, poisoned sleep. Katriona, a young fairy, kidnaps the princess in order to save her; she and her aunt raise the child in their small village, where no one knows her true identity. But Pernicia is looking for her, intent on revenge for a defeat four hundred years old. Robin McKinley's masterful version of Sleeping Beauty is, like all of her work, a remarkable literary feat.

Spindle's End Specifications

Renowned fantasy writer Robin McKinley, author of the lush "Beauty and the Beast" retellings Beauty and Rose Daughter, has produced another re-mastered fairy tale, this time about the dreamy Sleeping Beauty. Much like in the original story, the infant princess, here named Rosie, is cursed by an evil fairy to die on her 21st birthday by pricking her finger on a spindle. That same day, Rosie is whisked away into hiding by a peasant fairy who raises her and conceals her royal identity. From that point on, McKinley's plot and characterization become wildly inventive. She imagines Rosie growing up into a strapping young woman who despises her golden hair, prefers leather breeches to ball gowns, and can communicate with animals. And on that fateful birthday, with no help from a prince, Rosie saves herself and her entire sleeping village from destruction, although she pays a realistic price. In a final master stroke, McKinley cleverly takes creative license when the spell-breaking kiss (made famous in "Sleeping Beauty") comes from a surprising source and is bestowed upon the character least expected.

Although the entire novel is well written, McKinley's characterization of Rosie's animal friends is exceptionally fine. Observations such as "...foxes generally wanted to talk about butterflies and grasses and weather for a long time while they sized you up," will spark reader's imaginations. It won't be hard to persuade readers of any age to become lost in this marvelous tale; the difficult part will be convincing them to come back from McKinley's country, where "the magic... was so thick and tenacious that it settled over the land like chalk dust...." Highly recommended. (Ages 12 and older) --Jennifer Hubert

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Customer Reviews

Oh, how it dragged.... - E. Smiley - USA
This book has one of those rare first chapters that completely pulled me in, even though it's all about describing the nameless country where the story takes place and its affliction with magic, and no main characters are introduced. I settled down for a fun, whimsical read. Alas, it was not to be.

Spindle's End is a "Sleeping Beauty" retelling, starring Rosie, an unlikely, energetic heroine who can talk to animals. I picked the book up due to fond memories of McKinley's YA novels (I highly recommend The Blue Sword). And for the first half of the story, I was charmed. I agree with other reviewers that we don't quite get to know the characters; most of the charm is in the quirky setting. Think of the first time you read about Hogwarts Castle, and you'll know what I mean. The character development is quite unimpressive as the story continues; particularly glaring is Narl, who makes the leap from never saying anything to anyone to saying things like "I don't know any reason why not" (where a shrug would do) all in the space of about two pages.

For me, the book took a sharp turn downhill about halfway through, when Rosie discovers her true heritage. When the plot takes over from the setting as the driving force of the book, when we go from a story about a girl growing up to a story driven by action, the book loses its charm and failed to hold my attention (I did finish it... slowly). Especially frustrating for me was that McKinley doesn't seem to realize where the true potential for drama lies. It's not just that there's little conflict, although that's part of it. Rosie's final decision, I thought, should have been the climax and was the most interesting thing that happened in the book, but it's treated as an afterthought, while pages upon pages of a ridiculous assault on a McGuffin castle take center stage instead. When the final confrontation with the villain is boring, you know you're in trouble.

Finally, the animal characters take up too much page time. There are dozens of them, thus none have time to be interesting or endearing. Besides, the unfortunate truth is that on the page, people are always going to be more interesting than animals; it's easy to love an animal you can see and touch and interact with, but hard for an author to translate that to the page in a way that makes readers care. McKinley does not do so here, so the animals provide merely an irksome distraction from the humans.

Although this book began well, sadly I would not recommend it to anyone.

Borring Sleeping Beauty Retelling - Morgan N. Young -
I love retellings of fairy tales especially ones based on Sleeping Beauty, but this story was very borring. I once tried to read this book and I was barely able to make it to the ending and when I tried to read it for a second time I couldn't make it half way throgh the book. The characters are borring, especially Rosie the princess. She was portrayed as a tom boy who cuts off her hair and hates anything feminine, I like any princess as being portrayed as inependant, but I still think that it would good for them to still be feminine. The ending left me coufused. If you want to read a retelling of Sleeping Beauty I would suggest Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, it is different but it is also a very good book.

Amazing Retelling of Sleeping Beauty - Princepessa -
I love this book! McKinley is one of my favorite authors, and this is mostly due to this single work. Though it is a retelling of a classic, well-known tale (we've all seen Disney's retelling), it is in no way a simple retelling with a few tiny details changed. Except for the beginning, and the part about the spindle, I probably wouldn't even recognize this as Sleeping Beauty. It's new, it's fresh, and it's completely intriguing - I couldn't put it down! The ending is also completely unexpected - it took me a few minutes to completely understand what happened. If you like fairy tales, or fantasy, or even books, you will love this!

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Aug 29, 2010 16:50:05

Children's Books

Sunday, August 29, 2010