Spindle's End (Folktales) by Robin McKinley
Published: June 5th 2001 by Ace Books
Review:
Myth: 1/5
I’m not a huge fan of Sleeping Beauty, but I gave this retelling a try. A few of the things that didn’t work for me, it really threw me how much time was spent with a character for the first third of the book, (the Sleeping Beauty character was barely in the periphery). It also was highly narrated. I like more dialogue in the third person narrations. Sometimes it seemed like the dialogue was so few and far between. Lastly, it just overall seemed quite slow. I think that could have had to do with the first point, that a lot of time was spent with a character that really didn’t remain critical, so it just seemed like wasted time on some level.
Magic: 1/5
The magic all seemed very stumbled upon, accidental or casual. The world definitely included magic, so it was well blended into the world building, but it also didn’t have much style or show to what could be accomplished.
Overall: 1/5
Not a retelling for me. I keep trying Sleeping Beauty retellings hoping that I’ll find one that speaks to me, but I think I’m throwing in the towel after this one.
