The Sleeper and the Spindle

I first read this story in the latest collection of Gaiman's shorter works, but nothing quite compares to Chris Riddell's illustrated version. Gaiman's storytelling always has a sense of whimsy and fantasy, but without the minute skulls artfully scattered throughout each image the story remains far too light for its dreadful villain. The story itself begins on a fun note, with a queen choosing a last adventure before a royal wedding dooms her to a life of children and tedium (a theme dear to my heart and #lifegoals), but as the adventure progresses the menace of the sleeping curse grows in kind. Unexpected throughout and with an astounding finale, this short (but artfully constructed) little volume is sure to remain one of my favourite show more re-imagined faerietales! show less

I ADORED this book! Gaiman weaves together the stories of Snow White after she defeats her stepmother and Sleeping Beauty, who is still under the sleeping curse.

First, I love fairy tale retellings and I love that we get a 2-for-1 with this one. It’s great that Gaiman continues Snow White’s story by having her enter into Sleeping Beauty’s. Second, the illustrations are absolutely gorgeous. Riddell has outdone himself with this one — it’s beautifully illustrated.

It’s hard to tell what I liked so much about it without giving spoilers, but it’s brilliant. There are nice elements of feminism and coming-of-age, with Snow White questioning what she actually wants from her life and what she’d like to do in the future. Is her show more happily ever after really getting married? These doubts are what motivate her to go out to break the sleeping curse that has been rapidly spreading from Sleeping Beauty’s kingdom and might encroach upon her own.

If you’re a fairy tale fan, read this. If you like good stories, read this. It’s short, beautiful, and just a wonderful story. I love it so much and can’t wait to buy my own copy.

Also posted on Purple People Readers. show less

This is as near perfect as I can imagine a short story to be. I listened to it as a cast recording, with Julian Rhind-Tutt as the main narator and it was a superbly entertaining experience. I only picked it up as I was looking for something to occupy me for 1 commute, so that I can finish a book on my last work commute before Christmas. At just over an hour, this fitted the bill.
It is a retelling of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale, with a side order of Snow White thrown in for good measure. Although one of the quirks of this wirk is that no-one is named. it is the short drawrf, the first dwarf, the queen and so on. It leaves space for the imagination and allows the listener to make the connections. It is set in a fairytale land, with a show more tall but narrow chain of mountains acting as a border between two kingdoms. We start the story with the queen of one country on the verge of marriage (and not entirely convinced about what this holds in store for her). The dwarves travel through the mountains to trade for a wedding gift for the queen and discover something that needs to be reported - the neighbouring kingdom is falling asleep. And so the Queen and 3 dwarves set out to find out what is going on and do something about it.
I love the way Gaiman uses the fairy tale we know but twists it, the roles of the sleeping beauty and the old crone who is the only person left awake is a genuine surprise that I simply did not see coming.
It's not very long, but it manages to pack in so much that is familiar and yet manages to do something genuinely original with it. Just brilliant. show less

Neil Gaiman often crafts nothing less than a page turner. That's what I found in this version of Sleeping Beauty.

Spoiler Alert: There's no Prince Charming at the end! He's not needed to save the day. We instead have a queen, who halts her wedding and hesitates to don the elaborate fluffy white dress in favor of throwing on some armor to save the day.

I like that moment of uncertainty where you attempt to figure out who's side you're on. The old cranky spinster or the sleeping beauty. Neither of which is our heroine. This is one of those tales where we realize how deceiving beauty can be.

I also love Chris Riddell's illustrations! I've read his books as well and have always loved the talent.

Who doesn't love a new, delicious Neil Gaiman fairy tale retelling? Add to that story new and equally delicious Chris Riddell illustrations and you have the recipe for an almost instant classic, and neither disappoint in this fairy tale remix. Leave it to Gaiman to take one fairy tale that we're familiar with (in this case, a Snow White a few steps away from any version we've seen before) and mix it with another (a Sleeping Beauty we only think we know), to come up with something that we couldn't have seen coming.

On the eve of her wedding, a trio of dwarfs tell their young queen tales they've heard in their travels of an enchanted princess who has slept for seventy or more years in a neighboring kingdom. What alarms the dwarfs is that show more the sleeping enchantment seems to be growing, reaching farther and farther out from the enchanted kingdom each day. Taking it upon herself to rescue not only her kingdom from the potential sleeping enchantment but to also free the young princess herself, the queen postpones her wedding, dons her armor and sword, and sets forth with her dwarfs in search of the sleeping princess.

While we the reader think we know where the story is going, Gaiman takes our hand and leads us down an entirely different road, creating such a magical twist in the story that he creates his own unique and powerful fairy tale. Riddell's illustrations are fantastic, accenting the story perfectly, while being perfectly accented in golden metallic ink. In fact, this is probably one of the more beautifully presented volumes that I've picked up in some time, from the velum, transparent cover right down to the font choice. Clearly, there was significant effort put into giving Gaiman's story and Riddell's art the appropriate packaging.

While not available yet in the US, I'd recommend picking up this volume if you're a fan of Gaiman, Riddell, fairy tales, or any combination of the above. Quite frankly, I don't know that any US edition will match the beauty of this UK edition. I know that generally Riddell's illustrations only accompany Gaiman's UK editions, and while I'm sure the US illustrator would do just as admirable a job (I would imagine Skottie Young, as has been the case lately), I'd hate for anyone to miss out on this particular edition, just in case. Do yourself a favor; it's completely worth the money to track down a copy for yourself. show less

Oh dear, my heart. There's a certain point in every book Neil Gaiman wrote, where it takes you into it's talons and clutches you, drawing blood, making your heart speed and your breath catch.

I enjoyed reading this immensely. It is a conversation between the text and the illustrations. I think I'm still bleeding a little.

I got this book for Christmas. I had it on my wish list because I love Neil Gaiman’s writing style and Riddell’s illustration style. This is a beautifully done book with a wonderfully ironic fairy tale mash up of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White.

On the eve of her wedding a young queen puts on her armor and takes up her sword to ventures into a castle surrounded by brambles in an effort to stop a sleeping sickness that is creeping across the land. The young queen quests all the way to the top of the tower only to find that the sleeping princess is not at all what she expected.

I really thought this was a well done and ironic mash up of Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. There are no princes in sight in this retelling; just a powerful queen show more (Snow White) determined to stop a sleeping sickness that is heading towards her kingdom. I loved how the identity of Sleeping Beauty was twisted and really enjoyed the cleverness of the story.

The book itself is a very pretty package. It is hard cover with a semi-translucent dust cover and looks very beautiful. I was a bit disappointed that the dust cover is a bit brittle; a couple places had been chipped off during shipping and torn a little bit because it is so delicate.

The illustration throughout is amazing, very detailed and high quality. Again the presentation itself is very well done. The pages are thick and high quality and the illustrations are illuminated with metallic ink throughout. This is a very fun story in a beautiful package.

Overall a beautiful book with an ironic fairy tale retelling inside. This would make a great coffee table book and is one of those books you will want to hang onto just because it is so pretty. I would recommend to those who enjoy fairy tale retellings. show less