“Spindle’s End (Folktales #3)” by Robin McKinley
Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retelling
Source: Gift
Other books in the Folktales series
Summary from Goodreads:
All the creatures of the forest and field and riverbank knew the infant was special. She was the princess, spirited away from the evil fairy Pernicia on her name-day. But the curse was cast: Rosie was fated to prick her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and fall into a poisoned sleep-a slumber from which no one would be able to rouse her.
I’m not too familiar with the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale. I saw the Disney movie once as a kid and I’m familiar with the general idea of the story. Since I don’t know the fairy tale as well as other fairy tales I can’t say how good of a retelling this book is.
I liked the writing. Everything had lovely descriptions. If you can sit and read for long periods of time, the story is wonderful. If you’re the type of person who likes action and a quick moving story, you might get a bit bored. The world building is nice. In this world magic is everywhere. Fairies are very common. Many families have one. Magic is literally is everywhere. Magic would settle on furniture like dust. While I liked the story the book definitely moved slowly at times. I like details as much as the next person but as a certain point I just want the story to move on.
I liked Rosie’s spunkiness. She was a different type of princess and girl. She rejected many of the conventions as the time. She cut her hair short and went in to a more masculine line of work. She didn’t feel fully developed though. All the characters were a bit lacking. I liked them but I didn’t love them.
The bottom line? It was enjoyable.
The Cheap Reader 
I love the story of Sleeping Beauty. The Disney movie holds pretty true to the original fairy tale, except in the original there were 12 fairies instead of just 3. Or something like that! And she slept for like 100 years. Either way, it’s a great one!
It was interesting. I may need to seek out some more Sleeping Beauty retellings in the future!
I really liked Beauty by McKinley. It was one of her first books, and is also one of her most popular.
I’ve wanted to read that for some time! If I could only find the time…
Hrm. I guess I’ll have to read this for myself to find out if I like it! From what I read of your review, it sounds like a bit of a mixed bag.
It’s probably more enjoyable if you’re in the right mood. Hope you like it!
Beauty and Rose Daughter are my all time favorites! If you are looking for one that isn’t a fairy tale retelling I would go for the Blue Sword!
Oooh thanks for the advice!
Great review! 🙂 I just requested this book from the library along with The Outlaws of Sherwood and Pegasus (also by her).
Hope you enjoy it!
I read this when I was fairly young, and I was very confused by it. I picked it up a few years later, and I think I understood it better. But I can never remember anything about it. McKinley is a very hit-or-miss author for me, and I think Spindle’s End is just somewhere in the middle.