
The nature of an audiobook lends itself to an uncertainty of how much story is left. At around the 5 hour mark, I thought the story was very nicely finished. And again, later with still several hours left, I thought we'd reached a strong conclusion. I've wondered how a story could end satisfactorily when there are only a few hours left and I've had books just end abruptly. This is the first time I've had one with multiple good stopping points where the story is complete... And then keeps going. That alone is a compelling reason to read Spinning Silver.
The way each POV character has a distinct internal narrator was really very well done. Without saying a name, I could tell right away which character's eyes I was looking out through. When a new one was introduced, I knew right away because it *felt* different.
If my children would ever take a book recommendation from me, this would be one of them.
Having all the names sound almost the same left me confused about who was the sister, the lady, the mother. When a "Perry" showed up I felt relieved because I could tell who he was by name.
I liked this more than the first, which I had completely forgotten, and the ending was satisfying. I wish the epilogue was just a bit longer.
In the end, the story ends. It's weird because the conclusion is competent and makes sense. It even seems to be appropriate for the audience. But I wanted more and that might be because the last three books felt rushed and not sufficiently distinct and the conclusion came (and went) too quickly. It's a good story with a good ending and I'm really not satisfied.
I generally enjoy stories that reference religious trappings (the afterlife, demons, creators, etc) when they aren't themselves religious stories. Nix has created a deep and unique supernatural world that resembles a popular variant of religious stories yet falls off into new imagining at the barest reading. The main character is also a mix of the tropes (from a middle-school novel POV) and interesting differences.
I wish my kids would read literally anything I recommend (they won't) because I think they would like this one... Though it's always how well a landing sticks that ultimately determines how I feel about a story. With that end another six books away, I don't yet know if this will end up being a two or four star story for me.
I really enjoyed the story. It went places I wasn't expecting. Characters acted out of character and then we would learn why. Good story.
Then there's the politics, which are surprisingly relevant to (2025) current events. The story doesn't shy away from the consequences of the theories and policies in a way that I think is admirable and worthy of consideration. Good story.
It's my own fault. I knew what I was reading going in. But damn, I'm just so bored with every third chapter ending with a 20 minute sex scene. I really like epic fantasy/doorstopper with a primarily female POV and that's slim pickings if I veto romantasies. So, I really liked this but this is also my last straw for this genre. Sadly.
This is very much a middle book - how effective (or useless) it is won't be known until I read the next book. The most interesting stuff mostly happens outside the society, with many many hints about interesting things to come.
The audiobook is (again) a pain to get into because each character has their own voice actor and, despite how good each narrator is (and they are), it's difficult for me to adapt to each voice in order to understand what they're saying. I'm positive I missed parts of the story due to shifting narrators.