Product Description

An exceptional retelling of The Sleeping Beauty which takes the reader into a magical world filled with modern characters, encountering adventure, love and loss. Rosie is very, very ordinary. No-one, not even an extremely powerful and evil fairy who is out for the princess's blood, would give Rosie a second glance. But then, even Rosie doesn't know the secret of her own birth...and she cannot be hidden forever as her twenty-first birthday approaches. The curse placed on her at her christening will hunt her down through the years, gathering strength, and at some point a princess must become a queen, even if she would rather just stay ordinary...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3452529 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 400 pages

The Sunday Times, 31st March 2002
Written with rich inventiveness, good characters and real stylistic skill and flair - a fat treat in which to lose yourself.

The Financial Times, 23rd March 2002
Electrifying storytelling, a must read for fans of quality fantasy of any age

The Bookseller, 19th July 2002
What starts off as the story of Sleeping Beauty twists and turns, becoming ever more magical. Prepare to be enchanted.

Customer Reviews

Very real characters and a good storyline
Even though I may be a little older than the target audience, I have always enjoyed RM's storycraft. This book is an honourable addition to a fine collection of stories. The characters are drawn with considerable insight and observation into the way in which real people might react in the unreal situations portrayed, with a good deal of humour in the process. I also liked the descriptions of the cat, Flinx - surely RM is a cat owner?

The story is essentially that of Sleeping Beauty but with many a twist to make it both interesting and relevant to today. The princess, her young foster-mother, and her aunt-by-adoption are all girls and women for whom it is possible to feel real liking. The male characters are also sympathetically drawn and one can see why particular partners get together rather than feeling that they have been joined just for the sake of a particular development in the plot. The magical bits are perhaps a little similar in concept to The Hero and the Crown, but not to the extent that one feels it's just a repeat.

All in all, a very enjoyable and oddly comforting read.

Bring back Aerin!!
Having waited excitedly (and for too long) for the next book from Robin McKinley, I read Spindle's End the day it arrived. Having given myself a severe headache in doing so (due to the involved nature of the plot) I am torn between recommendation and reservation. As I expected, it is very difficult to put down, but it is also difficult to read. The characters do not draw you in the way Aerin, Harimad and Beauty (the first one!) do with their doubts, flaws and normality. Rosie is flawed, but a little two-dimensional. The curse hanging over her is never fully explained (although in fairness the original fairy tale was illogical also) and despite showing McKinley's usual flashes of brilliance, I did not feel this was sustained throughout the story. No real tension is created by the evil fairy - Maur was a much more awe-inspiring and well-drawn foe, and yet Rosie's surroundings are so beautifully evoked, and the people who love her so nicely characterised that I still recommend you read it. I cried my eyes out at the end when all the threads are finally spun together (in a quite unexpected fashion), which proves what a consummate storyteller Robin McKinley is - even when you have your doubts about her tale, she can still tug at your heart! If a litle more thought had been given to the detail, and and she had been less obsessed with brackets (an annoying but addictive habit!)to explain all the details that had been missed out I would have given this book five stars. But four by McKinley's standard is about 13 by anyone else's, so read it, enjoy it, and keep campaigning for another tale about Aerin!

An enchanting if slightly dragging book.
I picked this book up on my second day of work experience and still had it at the end, I thought it was a brilliant read and the heroin was unusual, not the beautiful demure girl of the Disney stories. I was a little disappointed with some plot lines (including her friend who was everything the girl didn't want to be) but happy they fitted into the story well. I liked the usage of animals in this book and found it funny most of the time.

I've already recommended this book to some friends and think it is an excellent book for anyone who enjoys this genre or who'd like to read a sleeping beauty story that isn't sickly sweet.

I was also greatly pleased that the love story I wanted happened, there's nothing worse than an unfulfilling love story.