Second review for the day. I wish this were more worth the wait I was waiting for.
Customary warning: This is a reminder that these are my personal opinions. My thoughts and feelings are not your thoughts and feelings. I may not always be the target audience for a book; sometimes I am. If I do not like a book, that doesn’t mean you’ll dislike it. If I love a book or simply like a book, you may hate it. Take everything I say with this knowledge. If it sounds interesting to you despite what I’ve said, then go ahead and read it. You’ll only know you like something if you read it yourself.
That being said… Spoilers ahead.
Spindle by E.K. Johnston
Synopsis From The Book
“The most powerful stories encompass a paradox. Spindle is both mythic and true, old beyond reckoning and dazzlingly, gloriously new. You’ve known this story all your life; you have never heard its like before. The Storyteller Queen lives, and her name is E. K. Johnston.” —Rachel Hartman, New York Times best-selling author of Seraphina The world is made safe by a woman… but it is a very big world. It has been generations since the Storyteller Queen drove the demon out of her husband and saved her country from fire and blood. Her family has prospered beyond the borders of their village, and two new kingdoms have sprouted on either side of the mountains where the demons are kept prisoner by bright iron, and by the creatures the Storyteller Queen made to keep them contained. But the prison is crumbling. Through years of careful manipulation, a demon has regained her power. She has made one kingdom strong and brought the other to its knees, waiting for the perfect moment to strike. When a princess is born, the demon is ready with the final blow: a curse that will cost the princess her very soul, or force her to destroy her own people to save her life. The threads of magic are tightly spun, binding princess and exiled spinners into a desperate plot to break the curse before the demon can become a queen of men. But the web of power is dangerously tangled–and they may not see the true pattern until it is unspooled.
Initial Thoughts Before Reading:
Alright, it is finally time to read the book that has alluded me for months now. I am so ready and after entering it’s beautiful world in A Thousand Nights, I’m ready for what ever intricate themes and metaphors are spun my way. Lets do this!
Initial Thoughts After Reading:
I liked the first book better and I’m having a difficult time deciding on what rating I want to give this book. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t my favorite. I feel as if I will settle for a four after most of my debate is done.
I think that part of my disappointment, probably comes from how much I was expecting to read this, and all of that. Although, I’m not sure if I would have liked it more if I read it in May.
Plot Overview:
Yashaa, has grown up a refugee from his country and rejected by the only safe place he could go. He has been raised for years, to fight but most of all to spin. To spin is the culture and basis of his people, even when a curse marks their lands. All those who spin thread will die from a plague only they can catch. It began with a demon’s curse on their kingdom’s princess, and spread out to all the people.
Yashaa and his friends are sent on a mission by his mother to go to the King of Qamin and to petition to be of service to the king. Instead they return to Kharuf, their home land, to discover all the truths of the curse. It is here that they save the princess who has been locked away for her curse and try to figure out how to break it.
They travel to the Storyteller Queen’s mountains, to try to find a way. Only they discover the demon who cursed her, and wants to control her, is hunting her so they flee. They try to escape to the desert and ultimately fail and are captured. Upon their escape, loved ones die, and the princess activates her curse but before the demon can take over she pricks her finger and falls into slumber.
In her slumber she fights the demon, until the day that she may wake and be free once more.
What I Liked:
Writing Style; Once again, it was beautiful.
Adaptation of Sleeping Beauty;I think this was the most interesting aspect of this whole book. The adaptation to the myth and how it connected to the world and spinning was so beautifully done. The mythos, the legend, the magic, it was all there and the way the curse was generated, as well as everything surrounding the magic of the curse were brilliant.
Connection to A Thousand Nights; After reading the first book, so many connections made sense in this one. It was, however, not necessary to know them.
Yashaa; I liked him the most and out of everyone he was the most developed.
What I Would Have Liked or Changed:
Characters; In many ways I liked the characters and in many ways I found them lacking. I wish that we could have gotten more about almost any single one of them. In total this is probably the number one reason for me ranking this book so low.
Plot and Pacing; Now nothing really happens in A Thousand Nights, but I feel like for everything that happens in this one, even less happens. We get answers towards the end, but waking the princess is an after note, details on some characters and some characters are sudden. I just wish the pacing were a bit more consistent. Or perhaps I wish there were just more to what we got for the last part.
Yashaa’s Father; Wish I knew who he was.
Time Taken To Read
2hrs 6min
Rating: 3.5/5
Notable Quotes:
‘There are corners of the world too dark to see, and there are edges that are sharper than they appear, ready to snag the unwary. There are those who do not fear the things they should, and there are those who would bargain with the devil herself for the sake of their greed.’ – narration pg 3
Marlena Marie 
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