A light, entertaining, retelling of a familiar tale, with an somewhat unexpected twist at the end.

I think I may have found another author to fall in love with! So far the only thing I've read by her is this book, "Spindle's End," but if the rest of her books are any thing like this one then I'm in love! I think you will be too.

"Spindle's End" is a fanciful retelling of the Sleeping Beauty story. The story is set in a land where magic permeates every day life, and there are fairies in most of the villages. When the princess is born the King and Queen decide to invite 21 fairies to be her godparents. Unfortunately, as they each give the princess her gifts, an evil fairy shows up. She curses the princess to die by pricking her finger on a spindle on her 21st birthday. But can the curse be evaded?

Katriona is a going to be a fairy when she gets older, and she was blessed enough to attend the Princesses name day ceremony. She finds herself accidentally kidnapping the Princess, but it's the best thing that could have happened! By taking away the Princess to her home village she hides her from the evil fairy, Pernicia, and because of this she has the blessing of the palace, not that any one knows where Katriona and the Princess are.

The Princess, who they call Rosie, grows up to be her own determined personality. She talks to animals, doctors horses, and works hand in hand with the village blacksmith. Eventually, though, she must learn her true parentage, and then face Pernicia's curse. Will she manage to triumph? You'll have to read the book to find out! ( )

an ok book if you like sleeping beauty although it is different in its own way ( )

Grown up fantasy. Hard to get through, flowery language, but I did enjoy it ( )

I picked up Spindle's End (a retelling of sleeping beauty) because I loved reading Beauty while I was growing up (a retelling of Beauty and the Beast also by Robin McKinley). I will admit I found the book to be slightly confusing in the beginning - taking awhile to understand and become interested in the characters and the magic. It concentrated too much on trying to create the magical world and not on letting the magic simply speak for itself as needed. McKinley's attempt at a magical fight at the end I also found lacking in magic. It seemed she tried too hard to show the mystical side of the book and forgot about the characters in the final showdown. She is definitely not an author to portray action that would keep you enthralled. In the end though I liked the story overall. I did come to care about the characters and the everyday magic. I do suggest reading Beauty first though, as that is a much better display of McKinley's talents at storytelling and magic-making. ( )