So Novik is excellent and the novelette this evolved out of was delightful, which meant this was basically a slam-dunk.
But seriously, it was so good.
Novik has a gift for writing within the fairy tale framework and by fairy tale rules without necessarily adapting her narrative to the beat of the fairy tale plot. The denouements are not precisely where you expect them to be, what would ordinarily be the end of the story, the beginning of the happily ever after, is just the beginning. It makes for a fun ride that keeps the reader on her toes.
Also, there was this scene where two Jewish women are waiting on line to get into the city and get to talking and discover they are going to the same wedding because they know they bride and groom respectively and their non-jewish servant is nonplussed and I hav rarely felt more seen and known by a book than in that moment.
And Miryem Mandelstam is the best. I want to hang a portrait of her in our yeshiva.