Customer Reviews

Spindle's End

5 star:		(49)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(22)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has a very well developed world. That is one of its strengths and one of its weaknesses. I really enjoyed reading the little details like the differences in how butterflies and robins speak. But all the information in the parenthesis added up into a very long read. At times I felt as if I was bogged down in details. Especially when every other sentence has a parenthesis containing a particular detail in the world. This gives you a greater understanding of the world that the book is set in, but at the same time it destroys the flow. Sometimes you'd get so lost in reading a parenthesis and have to go back and re-read the sentence before the parenthesis to refresh yourself about what she was writing about.

But overall, if you have the patience, it's definitely worth the read. Especially how the main character solves her problem in the end.

McKinley is a writer of world-class status. You can see this from other reviews that other people have written. So many of us look up to and applaud her! And it is true, as others have said, that no one else writes quite like McKinley does. Her characters are real, they have thoughts (often many at a time), emotions, decisions to make, motivation, struggles, hardship, victories, sorrow and joy.

You feel that these characters could just walk right out of the book and into real life and not be out of place. McKinley has a great sense of human nature. She also has a great grasp on language. She has both interesting wording and a feel for telling a story that captivates your attention and keeps you wanting for more. McKinley's characters and stories will stay with you long after you have finished reading. Personally, I wish that she had written more about Damar and Rosie's country. It really is no wonder that Robin McKinley won a Newberry Medal for "The Hero and the Crown". Which leads me to the next point.

McKinley's books are listed in a children and young adult catagory. This confounds me utterly. I am in my 20's and a college student and I still glean knowledge, hope and encouragement from these books! I believe that any of Robin McKinley's books, particularly "The Blue Sword" "The Hero and the Crown" and "Spindle's End" should be mandatory reading for people ages 10-110.

Now for the story, it seems a little boring at first. Almost as though it were a fairy tale for children. But stick with the story! Once Katrina gets to the Naming of the Princess, things start to pick up. I can't tell you any more because then that would reveal too much of the plot of what happens at the Naming. But what you need to know is that this is NOT the traditional Sleeping Beauty story. Only a few elements are taken from it (spinning wheel, evil fairy, etc.) But the rest of the plot, characters, animals and actions are straight from McKinley's imagination.

She is an author for all time, a true storyteller with the gift of imagination and originality. Once the plot gets going, it never dulls. There is not always a ton of action and hopeless quest and the story is all the better for it! There are humerous scenes, touching, brave, adventurous and joyful. The characters are heartening, close-knit and full of believability.

So, buy this book! You'll get much more than your money's worth and will be inspired to get even MORE McKinley books!

This is Robin McKinley's take on one our favorite tales, "Sleeping Beauty". Rosie, McKinley's Princess, is as far from the original character as we have come to expect. While Rosie possesses beautiful golden curls, it is considered so ill-fitting that she cuts them all off into a bob! But I digress...

This book is charming, and even more so the characters in it. The characters have volume, and in spite of its enchanted setting, readers could identify with Rosie's frustrations; the fairies' fears; the blacksmith's unimposing nature; even the innocence of the animals. While one could say that digressions in the storytelling often occur (and in great lengths too), they are forgivable and maybe even endearing. I dare say that much of the length of this book has to do with digressions, but I suppose I consider that to be part of the charm. Fortunately, all these side-tales are important to the overall outcome of the book. It just takes some time to realize that, is all. The entire tale is fresh and different and exquisite that this will be my favorite retelling of "Sleeping Beauty" for quite some time.

However, I do think that the last part--when the battle between the witch and our protagonists happens--is a little dragging (to put it mildly. Boring, to tell you the brutal truth). Robin McKinley's weakest point has always been battle scenes, which is why her short, precise and almost evasive treatment of it in her adventure books ("The Blue Sword" and "The Hero and the Crown") worked so much better.

I always found Robin McKinley's books extremely well-written. I didn't feel particularly impressed by her version of "Robin Hood" or even her take on "Beauty and the Beast" but there's something that just draws me to her work.

I would recommend "Spindle's End" if you don't mind being bombarded by seemingly unrelated side-tales. I would recommend "Spindle's End" if you want to be surprised by its "Fairy Tale, yet not quite" ending. I would recommend "Spindle's End" if you're tired of the usual fairy tale princesses.

I just had to get Spindle's End...I love retellings of fairy-tales and I love Robin McKinley. I loved her descriptions of the magic, baby magic and so on. My favorite parts are Katriona's travel to the princess's naming ceremony and when Rosie meets Peony...I also love the end! As in most of McKinley's books, there is always a confusing part - at least to me. The part where Rosie and her animal friends go up to defeat the evil fairy was really odd...and I had to reread parts of it before I (sort of) understood it. I loved how she had the animals talk and have personalities...and I really liked McKinley's take on the fairy tale.

I was looking forward to reading this novel (it being my first Robin Mckinley book), because I love Sleeping Beauty, and this book recieved so much praise, and was an NY Times bestseller. I started reading, and I was sick of it right away. I was determined to stick to it though, thinking it would get better, but by the time I reached page 93, I decided to just skim the pages and see what happens. It seems that Ms. Mckinley just filled half the book with strings of annoying sentences, trying to be clever and witty, but it didn't strike me that way. She would start on 1 point but then would drive away from it for a few pages discussing magic and what not and then get back to the original point, but by that time I had already forgotten what it was I had read in the first place!
It was like talking to someone who never reaches the point of their story, dragging out useless, time filling details that don't affect their story at all. Don't get me wrong, I love it when stories are well detailed and when the authour or narrator it talkative, but this was too much, and wasn't enjoyable.
I skimmed this books pages and still found out what happened to all the characters, but I wasn't able to even enjoy this book at all! Maybe you might read it and love it, and I hope you do, but for me, I'm back to digging through the digital book shelves of amazon trying to find a good rewrite of the classic fairytale. If you agree with me, or even if you don't, I think you should try reading 'Beauty Sleep' by Cameron Dokey. It may be for a YA audience but it's thoroughly enjoyable, unlike this lengthy, needlessly spectacular novel.

Once again, I'm proud of Mckinley for compleating another success story of Sleeping Beauty known as (Spindle's End).

On the princess's birthday, Katriona, kidnaps the newborn baby girl in order to save her life from Pernicia the evil fairy. Briar-Rose grows up with her Aunt and Katriona, her cousin...yet she has a new name which is similar to the true one. I've already read this book last summer.

I loved this book. Before I start saying why, I'll reel off the (few) bad points. Firstly, the whole description thing is taken way too far in this book, and if you don't skim through some of it, it will take you forever to get into the actual storyline. Secondly is the fact that some of the characters - *cough* Peony - had an unreal perfectness about them, that made it hard to take some parts of the story without a pinch of salt. These are basically the only flaws of the book, at least the only major ones I could pick out, and now that I finished describing them, I will talk about the good points of the book.
Where to start! OK, firstly, the heroine in this story, Rosie, is not one of thos typical princesses that get themselves into mortal peril and wait for a handsome prince to rescue them, Rosie is a total tomboy, who hates her blonde ringlets and long eyelashes so much that she cuts them off!! Another reason is that the story is so wholly different from the original version, that the (brilliant) ending comes as a total surprise, and quite a bit of relief. Also, the characters were all -save Peony- are totally believable and indentifiable- Katriona,Aunt, Barder, Narl- I loved them all. Finally, the extraordinaryness of this book is the fact that the writer manages to describe magic- pure and simple- and make it sound believable. A good example of this is Rosie's own ability to talk to animals- a feature of the story that I found particularly appealing.
OK, I'm going to finish this review now. Just one more thing. Buy this book. And read it.

spindle's end is a retelling of sleeping beauty so i wont bore you with the story line.

i think this story is beautifully written, though i do think it's slightly too flowery for my taste. i love the magic in the book and the idea it's so commen it "settled over the land like chalk dust" i think an amazing country has been invented here.

i do feel a little separated from the characters though. i dont feel like i know rosie (the princess) at all until part 3. but once you do meet her she is a wonderful character and i love the fact that all the fairy god mothers' gifts couldnt make her be pretty, or sing in tune, or wear her golden hair long. and that her pearly white teeth glowed slightly in the dark. but i dont like her best friend peony who irritates me like all perfect people do.

it's a wonderful touch that rosie can speak to animals and i do imagin that cats talk in riddles, foxes size you up, and mice chatter even when there's nothing to chatter about.

im reading the book for the second time at the moment and i'm enjoying it more this time. i havent read anymore of Robin McKinley's books but this one has really made me want to.

oh and what a surprise the ending was!

I think that the story was good, but a bit boring. The ending is an ending that you will never expect.

This is a wonderful story, and, even though it has some of the same points as the fairy tale Sleeping Beauty, it is completely its own and has a extremely detailed quality.

This is about a princess named Briar-Rose who is cursed by an evil fairy on her name-day and has to go into hiding until her twenty-first birthday. Rosie (as she's called by her new guardians, Aunt and Katriona) grows up kind-of tomboyish and can talk to animals. (By the way: the characterization of the animals is really great- a personality is created for each one.)

This book is so detailed that I can't even start to begin to tell everything about it- you'll just have to read it for yourself. The only thing that I didn't like was that towards the end it seemed a little unfair for Rosie when she decided to give up her crown, but still everything ended up turning out for good.

Final opinion: This is a wonderful book, and I recommend it to everyone.