Books like Spinning Silver
What should you read after Naomi Novik’s novel? It depends on what you loved most about it.
- Naomi Novik
- 2018
- Fairy-tale fantasy
What did you love about it?
Choosing one reorders everything below.
Best books to read after Spinning Silver
Ranked overall. Pick what you loved above to re-rank them.
Best overall matchUprooted
Naomi Novik
Novik's other fairy-tale novel, and the warmer one: the same Eastern European forest logic, the same girl who turns out far more useful than anyone expected.
- Competence as heroism
- Cold-blooded fairy bargains
- Winter that never ends
- One narrator, not several
Best for the winterThe Bear and the Nightingale
Katherine Arden
Medieval Rus, house spirits fed at the hearth, and a frost demon with intentions. Arden's cold is the same cold, and her village politics are just as dangerous.
- Winter that never ends
- Cold-blooded fairy bargains
- Competence as heroism
- First of a trilogy
Great matchThe Cruel Prince
Holly Black
For the fae half: Black's court is as cold and rule-bound as the Staryk's, and her heroine survives it by being better at scheming than anybody expects.
- Cold-blooded fairy bargains
- Competence as heroism
- Marriages arranged, not wanted
- YA voice, modern-feeling
Worth a look — with a warningQueen of the Tearling
Erika Johansen
A young queen inherits a kingdom along with a terrible debt she is expected to keep paying. The bones match; the execution is a good deal rougher than Novik's.
- A debt that must be paid
- Competence as heroism
- Marriages arranged, not wanted
- Worldbuilding is inconsistent throughout
Best for the Jewish folkloreThe Golem and the Jinni
Helene Wecker
Jewish tradition treated as a living thing rather than decoration, and two creatures making their way in a city by working hard and keeping quiet about themselves.
- A Jewish family at the centre
- Competence as heroism
- Three women telling it
- Historical New York, no winter
Great matchThe Ten Thousand Doors of January
Alix E. Harrow
Harrow shares Novik's belief that stories are contracts — say the words correctly and the world is obliged to comply. Warmer, and rather more romantic about it.
- Competence as heroism
- A debt that must be paid
- Cold-blooded fairy bargains
- Portal fantasy, wide scope
Best for the fairy-tale bonesDaughter of the Forest
Juliet Marillier
The Six Swans, told straight and at length, with the same insistence that quietly enduring an impossible task is itself the heroic act.
- Competence as heroism
- Turning silver into gold
- Marriages arranged, not wanted
- Contains a brutal assault
Great matchThe Girl in the Tower
Katherine Arden
The middle Arden, where Vasya rides into court politics in disguise — the closest thing here to Irina's half of your book, and with much better horses.
- Marriages arranged, not wanted
- Winter that never ends
- Competence as heroism
- Read book one first
Worth a look — with a warningThe Hazel Wood
Melissa Albert
Fairy tales as a hostile jurisdiction with rules you break at your peril. Sharper and more modern than Novik, and far less interested in comforting you.
- Cold-blooded fairy bargains
- A debt that must be paid
- Winter that never ends
- Contemporary YA setting
Great matchWinterwood
Shea Ernshaw
A witch's daughter, a frozen wood that keeps its own counsel, and a missing boy. Slighter than Spinning Silver, but the atmosphere is exactly right.
- Winter that never ends
- Cold-blooded fairy bargains
- Competence as heroism
- YA romance at the centre
Great matchSpindle's End
Robin McKinley
McKinley does what Novik does: takes a tale everyone knows and fills the gaps with domestic detail until it feels like somewhere people actually live.
- Turning silver into gold
- Competence as heroism
- Marriages arranged, not wanted
- Meandering, digressive prose
Best for the bargain marriageThe Star-Touched Queen
Roshani Chokshi
A marriage made as a political calculation, to a husband whose kingdom nobody will explain. Chokshi's version is lusher and much less interested in arithmetic.
- Marriages arranged, not wanted
- Cold-blooded fairy bargains
- A debt that must be paid
- Plot logic goes hazy
Great matchThe Night Circus
Erin Morgenstern
For the winter-lit atmosphere rather than the plot: a binding contract struck between two people who never agreed to it, played out in black and white.
- A debt that must be paid
- Cold-blooded fairy bargains
- Winter that never ends
- Very little actually happens
What should you read after Spinning Silver?
Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik works on several levels at once, and which book you should read next depends on which of those levels got you. For most readers the closest match is Uprooted by Naomi Novik — novik's other fairy-tale novel, and the warmer one: the same Eastern European forest logic, the same girl who turns out far more useful than anyone expected.
If what stayed with you was winter that never ends, read The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden instead: medieval Rus, house spirits fed at the hearth, and a frost demon with intentions. Arden's cold is the same cold, and her village politics are just as dangerous. The Cruel Prince by Holly Black is the other strong option — for the fae half: Black's court is as cold and rule-bound as the Staryk's, and her heroine survives it by being better at scheming than anybody expects.
Common questions
- What should you read after Spinning Silver?
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik, The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black are the closest matches. Which fits best depends on what you loved about Spinning Silver: three women telling it, a debt that must be paid, turning silver into gold, cold-blooded fairy bargains.
- What is the best book like Spinning Silver?
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik is the strongest overall match. Novik's other fairy-tale novel, and the warmer one: the same Eastern European forest logic, the same girl who turns out far more useful than anyone expected.
- What are books similar to Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik?
- Uprooted by Naomi Novik, The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden, The Cruel Prince by Holly Black, Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen, The Golem and the Jinni by Helene Wecker, The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow, Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden, The Hazel Wood by Melissa Albert, Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw, Spindle's End by Robin McKinley, The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. Each one matches a different part of Spinning Silver rather than just its genre.
- Is Uprooted worth reading after Spinning Silver?
- Yes — readers who loved Spinning Silver tend to land well with it: same author, same register; slavic folklore taken seriously; a practical, stubborn heroine. One thing to know going in: one narrator, not several.
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