B. Zelkovich reviewed Sleeper & The Spindle by Neil Gaiman
Review of 'Sleeper & The Spindle' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
Short and sweet, Gaiman puts his skills to great use weaving this fairy tale. Artwork is wonderful as well!
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Published Sept. 22, 2015 by Harperaudio.
Short and sweet, Gaiman puts his skills to great use weaving this fairy tale. Artwork is wonderful as well!
A fantastic retelling, with Gaiman's usual bit of humour and darkness tossed in. The illustrations by Chris Riddell are also superb, and add significantly to the narrative.
Glooooorious.
Gaiman + Riddell FTW.
Raiding Dipali's library always results in gold.
Echoing a lot of reviewers here, this is a 2.75-3 for the writing and a 5 for the illustrations. Was hoping for more here, but the edition is so lovely to hold and read that it ends up around a 4.
My first exposure to this book was a flurry of news articles, waxing philosophical left and right about the meaning of 'two princesses kissing each other.' How 'ground-breaking!' How 'Profound!' How 'Daring!'
What nonsense.
This book is a delightful masterpiece, a patchwork of two well-known fairytales with twists and turns worthy of the originals. The kiss is nothing more than the fulfillment of the parameters of those stories. Nothing more. Nothing less. --Somebody-- has to kiss the princess. Tradition demands it!
But at the same point this entire narrative is about subverting the narratives, about looking underneath the stories to see what lies unread and unsaid. And to take those unspoken consequences that arise from those hidden mysteries and make them very, very relevant.
This is a wonderful book and one I would recommend to any young adult on up to the oldest reader.