Spindle's End

New York Times Book Review

Brilliant...[a] sumptuous world.

Chicago Tribune

Satisfying reading, pleasing in the depth of the weaving andelaboration.

Rocky Mountain News

Rich prose and colorful description...keep readers spellbound.

Publishers Weekly

Newbery Medalist McKinley embroiders and expands upon the tale of Sleeping Beauty, and creates a cast of action-oriented heroines. In a boxed review, PW said, "Dense with magical detail and all-too-human feeling, this luscious, lengthy novel is almost impossible to rush through." Ages 12-up. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.

KLIATT

To quote from the review of the hardcover in KLIATT, Sept. 2000: McKinley again has created a whimsical, thoughtful reworking of a familiar fairy tale: this time, "Sleeping Beauty." There are many changes to the old story, and important new characters. Rosie (Briar Rose), the princess, is whisked away at her christening by good fairies who hide her, hoping to avoid the dreaded curse. So instead of Rosie growing up in a palace, she shares a humble life in a small village with her fairy "relatives," and becomes a helper to the blacksmith and adept at treating sick animals. Instead of being the perfect little beautiful princess, she is tall and rather gawky, strong and capable, and loving. She has no idea of her true identity. For a great part of McKinley's book, the main character seems to be a young woman named Katriona, a fairy who attended the christening and was given the responsibility of sneaking the baby prin-cess away from the palace and to a safe hiding place. It took several months for Katriona and the baby to walk back to Katriona's home; the baby was kept alive by being nursed by a variety of animal mothers along the way. Perhaps this is why Rosie grows up able to understand animals so well. Like all of McKinley's other works, this is a fantasy that can be enjoyed by all ages, on many levels. She has created a richly detailed alternative world, filled with fairies busy keeping the world a safe place with their good spells. Of course, in this story there are some BIG secrets that don't get revealed until the final pages. This is a lot of fun to read. KLIATT Codes: JSA*—Exceptional book, recommended for junior and senior high school students, advanced students,and adults. 2000, Berkley, Ace, 354p. 18cm., $6.50. Ages 13 to adult. Reviewer: Claire Rosser; KLIATT , July 2001 (Vol. 35, No. 4)

Children's Literature

In a country full of magic lives a girl named Rosie who wears trousers and talks to animals. Growing up in the village of Foggy Bottom and living with Aunt and Katriona, two fairies, Rosie has no idea that she is a princess or the future queen. She has been separated from her royal family who hopes to protect her from the evil curse Pernicia cast on her on her name day. Living as an ordinary person, Rosie develops into an adult with a mind of her own. She and her best friend Peony bond even more once the truth begins to unfold, and Peony gets involved in the plans to protect Rosie from the curse. Rosie does not know what to think of her new role as princess. Robin McKinley, known for her renditions of popular fairy tales, has won a Newbery Medal for The Hero and the Crown and a Newbery Honor for The Blue Sword. She spins a story of true love and confusion in this novel. Starting with Sleeping Beauty, McKinley adds depth to the fairy tale to weave Rosie's life. McKinley uses a great vocabulary and creative details that will charge and stretch any reader's imagination. Spindle's End is a novel with structured sentences and extensive characterization for a high-level audience. The fantastical novel has many facets to analyze, but McKinley does a splendid job of tying everything together. 2000, Penguin/Putnam, Ages 12 to 16.
—Kate Purvis

From The Critics

Renowned fantasy writer Robin McKinley retells the fairy tale about the dreamy Sleeping Beauty. This time, she is called Infant Princess Rosie who is cursed by wicked Pernicia to die when she pricks her finger on a spindle on her 21st birthday. That very same day, though, a good peasant fairy steals her away and raises her concealing her royal identity from others, including baby Rosie herself. As she grows toward adulthood, our Infant Princess Rosie develops strength and insight through her many experiences in the forest and her communication with her animal friends. Hence, when our heroine Rosie approaches the ill-fated 21ST birthday, she is, by now, powerful enough to thwart the destiny Pernicia intends. She avoids the spindle prick and receives, like Sleeping Beauty, a "spell-binding kiss," from a most surprising source. McKinley's rich storytelling - the fictitious countryside, the classic personification of good and evil, the magical elements, the humanized animals, the spunky peasant girl with a secret identity — work smoothly. The end result is a clever, suspenseful and highly moral fairy tale bound to please McKinley fans or any middle or high school reader who is in love with good fantasy. Genre: Fantasy/ Fairy Tale. 2000, Putnam, 422 pp., $19.95. Ages 12 up. Reviewer: Marjorie M. Kaiser; Louisville, Kentucky

Children's Literature - Children's Literature

Do we need a 400-page retelling of Sleeping Beauty? You bet. McKinley's latest novel fleshes out the familiar fairy tale with compassion, insight, and huge measures of imagination. She even adds twists that make it suspenseful to the end--an amazing feat considering that readers already know the end. Nor is Rosie a typical princess. She's apprenticed to a blacksmith, has the gift of beast-speech (communicating with animals), loathes all those fairy godmother gifts of golden curls and embroidery skills, and, in the end, personally fights Pernicia and her evil forces. Readers will love the unexpected romantic developments, and chuckle at spells gone awry (one has everything tasting like sheep's brains). They'll discover the very-different-from-human world of animal etiquette, where loyalty is paramount, though squirrels don't negotiate and cats never submit to interrogation. They'll also appreciate McKinley's practical wisdom--"lips as red as cherries," and "teeth like pearls," don't necessarily make a princess pretty--and Rosie isn't. Though energized with wit, wizardry, action, and fine writing (older Harry Potter fans should definitely sample Robin McKinley's works), this intricately reworked tale is ultimately about caring. 2000, Penguin/Putnam's Sons, Ages 12 up, $19.99. Reviewer: Betty Hicks—Children's Literature

School Library Journal

Gr 7 Up-McKinley once again lends a fresh perspective to a classic fairy tale, developing the story of "Sleeping Beauty" into a richly imagined, vividly depicted novel. At Princess Briar-Rose's name-day, the fairy Pernicia, feeling snubbed, presents the baby with a gift: a curse that will cause the princess to prick her finger on a spinning-wheel spindle on her 21st birthday, and fall into a sleep from which she will never awaken. To save the princess, the fairy Katriona spirits the infant away to her backwater home in the village of Foggy Bottom, where the child is raised as a village maiden. Her years of growing up are described in detail, with suspense building as the critical birthday approaches. To confuse Pernicia's curse, Rosie and her friend Peony trade identities at a gala birthday celebration. It is Rosie's kiss that wakes the sleeping Peony, who continues the pretense and marries the prince. This leaves Rosie happy as a village lass, tending animals and in love with the fairy blacksmith. The language evokes ancient bards and stories of long ago, with arcane and invented words that create an otherworldly atmosphere that blends the real and the magical. The landscape is rendered in minute detail; the characters are developed through interior monologues, parenthetical observations, and long asides. Magic permeates this world, with animals that talk and castles that protect. The compelling climax reinforces the triumph of good over evil, and the transformative power of love. McKinley's telling of the tale is as boggy as Foggy Bottom, and the verbiage as intricate and complex as the thorny roses that encase the castle. However, those who stick with it will unearth a good story.-Connie Tyrrell Burns, Mahoney Middle School, South Portland, ME Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Charles De Lint

There is only one word to describe this book, and that's luminescent. What begins as a somewhat lighthearted take on the classic fairy tale Sleeping Beauty soon evolves into a book that shines like spun gold, but also carries the weight of that precious metal in the depth of its mythic resonance and the sweet, simple kindheartedness that rings out like birdsong on a prefect spring morning.
— Fantasy & Science Fiction