Spinning Silver completely sucked me in. I fervently read most of this book in the span of 12 hours and loved every minute of it. The book is a fairytale-esque Eastern European inspired fantasy following three interwoven narratives. We primarily follow Miryem, an uncompromising moneylender trapped in a deadly bargain with the fae-like Staryk to turn silver into gold. We also see Wanda, Miryem's maid, and the daughter of a drunken brute who uses the opportunity employment provides to build a better life for herself and her brothers. And finally Irina the plain daughter of a duke ensnared in a marriage with a demon possessed prince attempting to kill her.

Everything about Spinning Silver is utterly engrossing. Novik blends fairytale trials, political machinations and interpersonal drama perfectly. As a lover of East of the Sun West of the Moon retellings I was most captured by Miryem's time in the Staryk kingdom. Novik prose captures endless winter kingdom beautifully and the bizarre almost nonsense logic of the long lived magical people. But even though I adored our time spent in the faerie realm I was also hooked by the wider political plot of Irina's point of view and the small town social tensions more anchored in Wanda's. Despite our POVs often following very different people in wildly different circumstances Novik managed to tell a cohesive gripping story that kept me frantically turning pages until the end.

What I loved most about this book is how thoroughly Novik engages in feminist themes. Most feminist fantasy I encounter is often shallow and unnuanced but here Novik richly explores the ways the lives of women in this pseudo-medieval Eastern European-inspired setting are controlled by the circumstances of patriarchy. Novik starkly presents the ways men and misogyny dictate the fates of the women in the story and also demonstrates Miryem, Wanda, and Irina's cleverness and ingenuity in navigating a world that wasn't built for their emancipation. Plus Novik never feels the need to anachronistically transplant modern sentiments into the perspective of our leads and even admirably complicates the 'women-good, men-bad' framework as the story progresses.

Spinning Silver is also the first fantasy book I've read with an explicitly jewish protagonist that unpacks antisemitism and its impact on-page. And wonderfully Novik never shies away from the joy of community Miryem has and the strength her faith provides her in her hardest moments. 

Overall, Spinning Silver is just a stunning book. Novik's prose is elegant and transportive and she crafts a wonderfully rich endlessly enthralling tale.