Immersive Voice

Check out Naomi Novik, she's the Queen of Voice

I don’t really remember anymore why I picked up Spinning Silver. I think it was suggested to me on Audible, and I read the summary, sampled the narrator and eventually decided to risk a credit on it.

Talk about a good life choice.

Spinning Silver is a Rumpelstiltskin retelling, set somewhere that resembles Imperial Russia, and wrapped in the thick air of Slavic fairy tale. It isn’t the story you think it is. Here’s the blurb from Goodreads:

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father's inability to collect his debts has left his family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem takes matters into her own hands. Hardening her heart, the young woman sets out to claim what is owed and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold.

When an ill-advised boast draws the attention of the king of the Staryk--grim fey creatures who seem more ice than flesh--Miryem's fate, and that of two kingdoms, will be forever altered. Set an impossible challenge by the nameless king, Miryem unwittingly spins a web that draws in a peasant girl, Wanda, and the unhappy daughter of a local lord who plots to wed his child to the dashing young tsar.

But Tsar Mirnatius is not what he seems. And the secret he hides threatens to consume the lands of humans and Staryk alike. Torn between deadly choices, Miryem and her two unlikely allies embark on a desperate quest that will take them to the limits of sacrifice, power, and love.

Channeling the vibrant heart of myth and fairy tale, Spinning Silver weaves a multilayered, magical tapestry that readers will want to return to again and again.

There are six narrators in this first person story (yes, really). Miryem, Wanda, and Irina are the main narrators, but we also hear from Wanda’s little brother, the Tsar, and Irina’s nurse. Each character’s voice is so distinct that even without chapter labels (daring!) you know immediately who is narrating. This is so incredibly impressive, and comes across in both the written and narrated experiences. And, I have to say, this is one of the best audio book performances I have ever experienced (hats off to you Lisa Flanagan!).

The story is immersive, sweeping, and poignant.

Best of all, happy endings all around.¹

I don’t love everything Novik has written (Uprooted is only ok), but I have tremendous respect and admiration for her abilities as a writer and even if she writes nothing else, she is incredible. I’ve never seen anyone write books in such vastly different flavors before. Each story has its own completely unique voice.

While Spinning Silver is a gripping folktale about sacrifice, power, and love, and Uprooted is a quirky YA fantasy, her Temeraire series is historical fantasy. I like to describe it as Horatio Hornblower meets How To Train Your Dragon—the tone is 100% Horatio Hornblower (judged off the Ioan Gruffudd miniseries). It’s the Napoleonic wars. But there are dragons. And it’s the most natural feeling thing in the world. The narrative style makes the book feel older, but it’s still paced well and gripping for a modern reader. It’s about honor, virtue, duty, and adventure. And, there are dragons. I would recommend it to anyone, including teens. ²

Here’s the Goodreads summary:

Aerial combat brings a thrilling new dimension to the Napoleonic Wars as valiant warriors ride mighty fighting dragons, bred for size or speed. When HMS Reliant captures a French frigate and seizes the precious cargo, an unhatched dragon egg, fate sweeps Captain Will Laurence from his seafaring life into an uncertain future – and an unexpected kinship with a most extraordinary creature. Thrust into the rarified world of the Aerial Corps as master of the dragon Temeraire, he will face a crash course in the daring tactics of airborne battle. For as France’s own dragon-borne forces rally to breach British soil in Bonaparte’s boldest gambit, Laurence and Temeraire must soar into their own baptism of fire.

The only real clue it’s the same author is that it’s well written—which I feel isn’t enough to go on under ordinary circumstances.

Novik’s most recent trilogy, the Scholomance, is probably not for everyone because the narrator has a hella foul mouth, but it is also a complete work of art and you should read it. Here is the Goodreads summary:

Lesson One of the Scholomance: Learning has never been this deadly.

A Deadly Education is set at Scholomance, a school for the magically gifted where failure means certain death (for real) — until one girl, El, begins to unlock its many secrets.

There are no teachers, no holidays, and no friendships, save strategic ones. Survival is more important than any letter grade, for the school won’t allow its students to leave until they graduate… or die! The rules are deceptively simple: Don’t walk the halls alone. And beware of the monsters who lurk everywhere.

El is uniquely prepared for the school’s dangers. She may be without allies, but she possesses a dark power strong enough to level mountains and wipe out millions. It would be easy enough for El to defeat the monsters that prowl the school. The problem? Her powerful dark magic might also kill all the other students.

I have to admit, if I wasn’t a Novik fan I probably wouldn’t have bought the book based on this summary. I’m not into books in which the main plot involves characters going to school to learn things. Despite the title and summary, this is not one of those books. It is set in the final month of El's junior year at the magical boarding school where the lucky wizard children are sent to learn how to do magic behind strong wards that will keep most monsters at bay.

Well, it improves their chances of survival, anyway.

There are no teachers, just the magic of the Scholomance.

El is a snarky and grumpy and hilarious narrator. The world is fascinating. Plenty of tension and excitement. The discussion of privilege is nuanced. In a world of grays, how do you determine right and wrong or good and evil? The questions of fate and balance.....AUGH I CAN’T TELL YOU.

This trilogy is brilliantly plotted. Brilliantly written. Explores many hard questions thoughtfully, and ends in hope. I love this trilogy and I can’t tell you why until you’ve read it.³ Please hit me up once you’ve read it and I will rave about how I want to be Novik when I grow up.

So, anyway, just a few rec’s from me, low key Naomi Novik-stan.

1. Spinning Silver is 0-1 on spice. There is a scary villain, but the overall vibe is folktale, not grimdark.

2. Book 1 is 0-1 on the spice, and honestly I don’t remember the battles having any gore to speak of. I haven’t read further in the series yet. Novik isn’t really into blood and guts writing.

3. The books progress in spiciness from some light references to very zoomed out open door moments in books 2 and 3, but if you don’t know for sure where things go I don’t think you’d figure it out. There are moments of intense peril, and there are scary monsters, and some people do die. However, there is a degree of separation for the reader because El is filtering everything for you.