#Tsar Mirnatius

[stromuprisahat]

Irina @Chernobog: My husband may be a trash, but he's ~my~ trash. Find yourself a loser of your own.

[ewa-jednak-chce-spac]

Congratulations to Anidala fans

Anakin and Padme won with Mirnatius and Irina in my one true ultimate shipping tournament and advanced to round three!

Mirnatius/Irina fans, don’t weep, because your ship remains awesome!

[thewiddershinsme]

On Chapter 18 of Spinning Silver

- two more pov characters added! Magreta and Mirnatius

- the tsar's utter bewilderment and confusion about Irina is infinitely amusing to me

- I have decided that the Staryk king is a composite character of both the king and Rumpelstiltskin from the fairy tale (with the whole not knowing his name thing). Flek's daughter is taking the place of the firstborn child in the original tale

- have I mentioned how much I love Miryem and Irina and Wanda?

- I love how the plan basically just amounts to get our two husbands in a room together and hope they kill each other. Irina at least has a back up plan if her husband is left alive to keep herself and her loved ones from becoming demon food, Miryem however doesn't if her mostly likely irate elven king survives and finds out she tried to kill him (or maybe he'd be impressed, who knows)

[just0nemorepage]

Spinning Silver || Naomi Novik || 466 pages Top 3 Genres: Fantasy / Retellings / Young Adult

Synopsis: 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.

Finished: April 2nd, 2023. 2023 Reading Progress: 1 book read. My Rating: ★★★★★. [5/5]

My Review: [Under the read more - NOT SPOILER FREE]

It’s actually been about a week since I finished this and I’ve been struggling to find the words to write for a good and proper review! I’d been reading it since like… November, and so much has happened in those five months that it is extremely difficult to remember thoughts while reading from that time, let alone specifics.

I know I absolutely loved the ending, though. I know I loved the story and the intricacy and the character development, and the characters themselves, and that unexpected romance between Miryem and the Staryk king made my heart WEAK oh my god. And I loved the worldbuilding and the many, many different ways female characters could be strong and clever and said “fuck you” to their planned destinies to create their own – wow wow wow I loved this book.

I’ll admit, part of why it took me so long to finish was just because I didn’t want to leave the world lol.

There’s got to be more that I can say than that. There’s got to be, this book was entirely too good for this to be it.

It might be, though. I think of this book and all I can think of are cartoon hearts floating around my head, instead of anything actually helpful or respectable. So I guess that’ll have to do? This book. Cartoon hearts. I loved it, oh my god. I might need to go hug my copy again.

[mediaevalmusereads]

Spinning Silver. By Naomi Novik. Del Rey, 2018.

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Genre: fantasy

Part of a Series? No

Summary: 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.

***Full review below.***

Content Warnings: child abuse (physical, verbal, emotional), alcoholism, violence, body horror

Overview: I was kind of lukewarm on Naomi Novik's Uprooted, but I usually give authors multiple chances before giving up on them, so I acquired a copy of Spinning Silver. Unfortunately, after this reading experience, it seems that my attitude towards Novik's books is still lukewarm, so perhaps I'm just not the target audience or type of reader that enjoys Novik's work. Novik clearly has a talent for taking inspiration from fairy tales (without fully replicating them) and creating believable worlds full of magic and beauty; however, I do think this book suffered from a sluggish pace and a weak plot. There were moments of interest, but personally, I felt weighted down by the overabundance of detail. For that reason, this book only gets 2.5 stars from me.

Writing: Novik's prose is generally well-crafted and creates a somber, chilling atmosphere, which enhances the mood. I liked the way Novik described the harshness of winter, especially at the beginning, and the iciness that seems to follow the fae characters around. I also think the prose is very clear with little ambiguity, so readers won't feel overwhelmed or lost when going through this novel.

However, I also think Novik has a tendency to overwrite and include a lot of things that slow the pace down. Large chunks of the book are dedicated to describing things in seemingly minute detail - pages devoted to running in the forest, chapters devoted to mundane life in the fae realm, and so on - and while some description is nice, too much of it makes the book feel bloated. Personally, I thought Novik spent too much time on things that didn't contribute to plot or character development, and as a result, this book didn't feel like it was building towards anything.

I also personally felt like there were too many POVs. Most of the book is divided into 3 primary POVs (discussed below), which is fine - those in themselves would be easy to follow. However, Novik also adds random POVs (Stepon, Magreta, Mirnatius) that don't seem to add anything to the narrative. It's another example of overwriting, and I would have liked to see Novik get more creative using restraint.

Plot: The plot of this book follows three main POVs: (1) Miryem, the daughter of a moneylender, whose aptitude for turning a profit catches the attention of the Staryk - a race of fae creatures who are obsessed with gold; (2) Wanda, a servant, who is sent to work in Miryem's home in order to pay off her abusive father's debts; and (3) Irina, the daughter of a Duke, who is married to an evil tsar.

Each POV had moments of excitement followed by long stretches of dull, plodding narrative. For example, I was very interested in Miryem's arc when she decided to save her family from poverty and worked to get her finances secured, but my interest tapered off when she ventured to the Staryk world and spent multiple chapters figuring out how to command servants to bring her meals, a bath, a sled, etc. Personally, I don't find books compelling when characters spend large chunks of time just kind of reacting to their world; I like plots that have a bigger picture, and this book, sadly, didn't quite seem to have one.

Moreover, I felt like the overall plot for the book was somewhat weak in that most of the big moments felt unsupported. There isn't much suspense in this book or the feeling that scenes were building on one another towards a climax; instead, I felt like characters were making a lot of decisions in the moment, and it was hard to look forward to the eventual cumulation of the narrative. Even when a climax did happen, it felt overshadowed by the pages and pages of unnecessary detail about mundane things, and some scenes forwent any sense of intrigue in favor of descriptions of things like day to day life. For example, there is a moment in the book when it is revealed that in order to capture the Staryk king, the characters will need a silver chain and a ring of fire. Rather than make these items mystical or difficult to obtain, Novik takes for granted that they are on hand. As a result, we don't really get a plan for capturing the Staryk king; characters just kind of wing it and we're left with passages about travel, about dressing for a special occasion, etc. I personally didn't find it compelling.

Characters: There are a lot of characters in this book, so I'll only cover a few of them, for brevity.

Miryem, the POV moneylender, is somewhat interesting at first when she makes the decision to be hard-hearted in order to Dave her family from starving. I really liked that she took matters into her own hands and that there was tension between her and her parents as a result. However, once she subtracts the notice of the Staryk king, she didn't seem to be especially clever or interesting, as she spends a lot of time in conflict with the Staryk and her motivation, in my opinion, for wanting to go home wasn't made particularly emotional or heartfelt.

Wanda, Miryem's servant, was perhaps even less interesting because she doesn't really do anything special and Novik doesn't make her ordinariness out to be something treasured. Granted, we are told that Wanda has a good heart and is loved by Miryem's family, but personally, I didn't feel like I was being invited to long for a family with Wanda.

Irina, the duke's daughter, is a little more interesting because she is clever and calculating, and I liked that she was willing to make har decisions for the good of the kingdom. Her dynamic with her husband is interesting to watch, and I liked that she was able to run circles around her enemies because she was so overlooked her whole life.

The Staryk king is something of a mixed bag. At times, I liked that he was so cold and distant, and I liked that the book never tried to romanticize his negative traits. I do think Miryem threw her lot in with him way too quickly, and it was unclear why they decided to get together towards the end, so more could have been done to make him both more inhuman and more complex.

Mirnatius, the tsar, is interesting in that he is possessed by a fire demon, and the bargain he has struck with it has made his life miserable. I think having him be dissatisfied with his life was more compelling than just making him evil or completely innocent, and I liked his dynamic with Irina. Sometimes he could seem a little childish, and I do think his psyche could have been explored more deeply, but he wasn't a main character, so I guess it's not the worst thing.

Magra, Irina's nursemaid, and Stepon, Wanda's youngest brother, both seemed sweet and caring but ultimately didn't add anything to the narrative. I didn't think their perspectives were needed, and they didn't develop much as characters.

TL;DR: Spinning Silver suffers from overwriting and a weak plot, the latter of which is characterized by poor pacing, a lack of suspense, and stakes that don't quite resonate emotionally with the reader. While some of the characters were compelling, most of Novik's talents are overshadowed by the bloatedness of the book as a whole, and personally, I think it would have been more effective if Novik reevaluated the shape of the plot and cut back on detail.

[quoteablebooks]

Genre: Fiction, Fantasy, Retelling

Rating: 5 out of 5

Trigger Warning: Child abuse, Antisemitism, Domestic abuse,Violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Rape, Animal death

Summary:

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.

*Opinions*

Spinning Silver had been on my TBR since I finished Uprooted last year, but I didn’t want to read them too close together because I didn’t want to draw unfair comparisons. I’m glad I took the time between the two novels because while they are very different stories, Novik does have a strong narrative voice that would have muddled the two books in my brain. Still, as much as I liked Uprooted, the small issues I had with that novel did not pop up in this one. While I know I have a lot of Novik’s backlist to still read, this is currently my favorite of her novels and I really liked Uprooted.

Now, a big part of this novel is that Miryem Mandelstam and her family are Jewish and the Antisemitism an constant fear for their people that they face. Per Wikipedia, Novik’s father's family was Lithuanian Jews and therefore I am not going to make any comments on the representation. What I am going to say is that it was uncomfortable, given the current climate in the world toward Jewish people, to watch these people sneer at the Mandelstams when they were poor and then hate them when they had money and that they tied it to the family being Jewish. It is not just the Mandelstams that face this hatred, there is a tale of a Jewish community that had been burned and even in the city, the Jewish quarter is behind a wall from the rest of the citizens. It’s  interesting that Novik decided to make her Jewish character a moneylender and have the ability to change silver into gold. There is a lot that can be said around that, but I am not the person to dig into that part of the story because I am not Jewish and do not have the knowledge to do it justice. Novik also made sure to show the Jewish community and Jewish joy, the wedding is a great example of this joy and community, and it is extended to those who are not Jewish. It would have been easy to just focus on the horrible things that happened or could happen to the Jewish community. Instead, Novik highlighted the whole experience that could be experience and the beauty of a religion that is so often demonized. 

Three main storylines weave and intersect in this novel and each had a distinct micro drama that fed into the story as a whole. We start with Miryem and her family, how her father’s kind and generous heart made him a pretty bad moneylender, leading the family to be destitute. This leads Miryem to become cold to others and exact what is owed to her and her family from the village, which causes them to become even more disliked. Then there is Wanda, whose father borrowed money from Miryem’s father and now owes a debt he cannot pay, so he sends his daughter to work at the house to pay off his debt. While there, Wanda sees a family that loves one another and starts to make money in the hope that she can escape her father, who beats her and her brother regularly. As Miryem’s fortune starts to grow, and Wanda’s with her, her parents become more and more worried about the coldness that she has toward others when she exacts what is owed. During an outburst, she tells her mother that she can change silver into gold, which catches the ear of the Staryk King. He tasks her to do what she claimed or be killed and Miryen sets about changing his silver into jewelry that can be sold for gold. This changes Irina’s fate, who was a forgotten Duke’s daughter that is transformed into something beautiful when she wears the Staryk silver. This leads to her becoming the tsarina, which she did not want, and finding that a demon is possessing the tsar. Soon, all three women are intertwined to save their lives and their kingdom from warring magical forces. 

Does that sound like a lot to be packed into one novel, well that isn’t even half of what happens. While I appreciate a stand alone novel in a world of duologies and trilogies, in both Uprooted and Spinning Silver, these stories are a lot to take in from start to finish. While I think that the stories are woven masterfully together, nothing felt out of place, there was just a lot going on. I’m not saying that this is a negative, but did make it so at times it felt like there was just a lot to follow between the various story threads. 

What I think Spinning silver does better than Uprooted was the handling of the relationships between the female characters and the male characters they are stuck with. This story is a true enemies to lovers situation, but that is never the point of the story. The women are stuck with these men and hold their ground from the threats of violence and outwit the men that underestimate them. While I disliked some of the romantic elements in Uprooted, everything made a progression in this story that just makes sense. The relationship between daughters and fathers was also masterfully handled in this novel. All of the fathers in this novel have faults that lead their children to be in danger, no matter their intentions. Novik highlights the complicated relationships between children and parents when they realize that they have faults, they have flows, and sometimes they cannot save you. 

Novik also conveys the winter cold so well that I would get cold sometimes while reading it. Novik transported me to this country attempting to eke out a living from the ever expanding winter, from the small comfortable house that the Mandelstams inhabit to the sweeping grandeur of the tsar palace to the staryk mountain of ice. Novik really made this world that was felt with all the senses and I think that is something that has made this novel so memorable. 

Overall, I have a lot of praise for this novel. There were some pacing issues, but I finished this novel a couple days ago and I can only think about everything I loved about it, so I have to write it five stars. Truly an immersive and fun read. 

[old-stoneface]

and the povs are all so different, the characters all have such different internal processes....my fave is probably wanda, a peasant farmer, but i love the young tsar mirnatius too

im listening to spinning silver by naomi novik and im really really delighted by the huge increase of pov characters in this book as the story goes on. every time a new section starts and its a pov that i havent heard before i get so excited

[fawnilu]

Tsar Mirnatius

[my-complicated-pairs]

Okay. So I've read Spinning Silver and I obviously like Mirnatius/Irina and Staryk/Miryem. However, I also saw a potential for an interesting dark villain x heroine ship there: does anyone think that Chernabog x Irina is a very intriguing concept to explore in fanfics? Obviously we may put Mirnatius between them as well, in the end Chernabog was possessing him ;P

[lilithsaur]

And then he gazed down at her, as though she were the most beautiful thing in the world :') 

[kazz-brekker]

i can’t be the only one who’s thought of this, right?

[realpokefairy]

Miryem, telling her children about Irina

[ewa-jednak-chce-spac]

(Sorry for the second gif, I just thought it'd be funny to use it)

[kajotkoreads]

So yeah I read Spinning Silver you should read it!

[winterskywrites]

Literally all I want in life is to see Mirnatius take care of Marzena when she’s a toddler and giving her all the love he never got while waiting for Irina to be done with her duties as a badass Tsarina. He would be the most amazing father, don’t you think?

Mirnatius would be the best father. And since I also want to see this…

According to tradition, it was the mother’s job to watch over the children while the father worked. Of course, according to tradition, the tsar was also supposed to be the one ruling, not the tsarina. Irina and I had never given a damn about tradition, and we weren’t about to start now, which was why Irina was off presiding over a meeting and I was painting with our daughter.

“Your nursemaid is going to have quite a job of getting you clean tonight,” I remarked as Marzena grabbed a fistful of paint and smeared it across the paper I’d set out for her. Paint wasn’t cheap, but Marzena loved painting, and both Irina and I wanted Marzena to have everything she loved. Paint wasn’t particularly clean either, but it wasn’t either of our jobs to clean Marzena up, so that wasn’t our problem.

“Red!” Marzena cried, shoving her hand in the red paint and splattering it all over the paper. Red was her favorite color today, although it had been blue yesterday and green the day before that. I’d noticed something of a correlation between the colors that Irina wore and Marzena’s favorite colors of the day, and although it wasn’t definite, I didn’t think it was a coincidence that Marzena decided she liked red best when her mother was wearing a stunning crimson gown. It seemed she admired Irina already.

I always knew she was smart.

“Are you two creating art?” a voice asked, and both Marzena and I turned to see Irina in the doorway, smirking slightly, her aforementioned crimson gown sweeping over her body. Marzena shrieked in delight and went to run to her mother, but I caught her around the waist before she could get too far.

“Ah, Marzena, you know the rules. No getting paint on nice clothes.”

“Mama paint with us?” Marzena asked, looking up at me with big eyes.

“I’m afraid I only have a few minutes before my next meeting,” Irina admitted. “Perhaps I can paint with you tomorrow. I have most of the afternoon free.”

“Do you need help with anything?” I asked as I settled Marzena on my hip. I didn’t particularly want to help with any of Irina’s meetings, nor did I think I’d be particularly good at it if I tried, but if Irina needed me, I would do my best.

“I have it under control,” Irina replied with a smile. “Your job is just to keep Marzena under control.”

“Marzena is a good girl,” I replied, bouncing her slightly as she giggled. “And a talented artist. What do you think of her work?”

Irina looked down at the painting. “There’s certainly a lot of red.”

“It seems to be today’s favorite color.”

“It’s very vibrant,” Irina said.

“Mama doesn’t know anything about art,” I told Marzena in a stage whisper.

“And Papa doesn’t know anything about ruling a country,” Irina replied with a playfully contemptuous sniff.

“We all have our talents,” I replied. ��Marzena’s is clearly art.”

“Clearly.” Irina smiled and blew Marzena a kiss. “I’ll see you later, darling. Have fun with Papa.”

“Bye!” Marzena called, immediately wiggling out of my arms and reaching for the paint again. Irina laughed as I set Marzena down and she shoved her fingers in the paint.

“I pity her nursemaids tonight.”

“Ah, she’s having fun.” I crossed to Irina and took her hand, giving it a careful kiss. “Good luck with your meeting.”

“Good luck with Marzena,” Irina replied. “I’ll see you for dinner?”

I squeezed her hand lightly before letting go of it. “Of course. I’ll count the hours until we meet again.”

“Foolish man,” Irina replied, but she was smiling as she said it.

“Ever your fool.”

Irina’s smile grew. “Yes,” she agreed, “ever mine.”

[multifru196]

Tsar Mirnatius from Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik