The New York Times Book Review - Soman Chainani
The iconography is familiar—sidekick dwarves, thorn-covered castle, a bitter old witch—but Gaiman's mash-up is unabashedly feminist. The prince sulks over the delayed wedding, while Snow White dons chain mail and rides out to save the day. The gnarled, ugly witch is certainly more than she seems. And the princely kiss that wakes a sleeping beauty doesn't involve a prince at all. Plenty of authors have tried such tactics, only to succumb to another hazard of retelling—the niggling feeling that when all is said and done, what we're reading is souped-up fan fiction. But Gaiman knows fairy tales in his bones, and his work is so sonically tuned that it breathes on its own from the first line…What's most remarkable about The Sleeper and the Spindle, besides its string of expert twists, is how it feels told rather than written…Adding to the wonder are Chris Riddell's dazzling illustrations, black-and-white with flashes of gold, so detailed in their dark imagination that, at times, Gaiman's story seems less a fairy tale and more a bad, beautiful dream.
From the Publisher
Gaiman and Riddell’s greatest [collaboration] to date.” — Tor.com
“Told in a way only Gaiman can” and featuring “stunning metallic artwork.” — GeekInsider
“A refreshing, much-needed twist on a classic story.” — The Guardian
“Spellbindingly illustrated.” — Gaby Wood, Saturday Telegraph
“Magical, sumptuous, transporting.” — The Big Issue
“Unforgettable, unpredictable and utterly enchanting for anyone between the ages of seven and seventy.” — Amanda Craig, The New Statesman
“A genuine treat.” — Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A spectacular art object...certainly a treasure.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“Riddell’s spectacularly intricate ink drawings, gilded with gold, bring Gaiman’s inventive story to life...This highly recommended visually stunning twist on two classic fairy tales will be well received by fans of graphic novels and fantasy stories.” — School Library Journal (starred review)
“A wholly original reimagining...Riddell’s artwork is the reason a library should own this title in their collection. His details are exquisite.” — Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
“A striking volume...thrums with malevolence and confounds our expectations...[the pictures] seem to writhe creepily on the page.” — Wall Street Journal
“Unabashedly feminist...So sonically tuned that it breathes on its own from the very first line. Adding to the wonder are Chris Riddell’s dazzling illustrations.” — New York Times Book Review
Gaby Wood
Spellbindingly illustrated.
The Guardian
A refreshing, much-needed twist on a classic story.
Tor.com
Gaiman and Riddell’s greatest [collaboration] to date.
GeekInsider
Told in a way only Gaiman can” and featuring “stunning metallic artwork.
Amanda Craig
Unforgettable, unpredictable and utterly enchanting for anyone between the ages of seven and seventy.
The Big Issue
Magical, sumptuous, transporting.
Voice of Youth Advocates (VOYA)
A wholly original reimagining...Riddell’s artwork is the reason a library should own this title in their collection. His details are exquisite.
Wall Street Journal
A striking volume...thrums with malevolence and confounds our expectations...[the pictures] seem to writhe creepily on the page.
New York Times Book Review
Unabashedly feminist...So sonically tuned that it breathes on its own from the very first line. Adding to the wonder are Chris Riddell’s dazzling illustrations.
Wall Street Journal
A striking volume...thrums with malevolence and confounds our expectations...[the pictures] seem to writhe creepily on the page.
SEPTEMBER 2015 - AudioFile
In the first minutes of this audiobook, the full cast and sound effects might seem a bit much, but stick with it—as the production hits its stride, the soundscape helps establish the mood of Gaiman’s magical world. A queen and her dwarvish friends set out to save a kingdom that has been cursed to sleep. The cast of accomplished British voices, including Julian Rhind-Tutt as the narrator and Lara Pulver as the queen, is a joy. The dwarves get boisterous accents (one sounds Scottish, another Australian). Twisted fairy tales aren’t necessarily all that unique these days, but Gaiman succeeds in putting his own spin on the story, to characteristically lovely and creepy effect. J.M.D. 2016 Audies Finalist © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2015-06-29
Is it fair to expect a masterpiece when Gaiman and Riddell work together? Probably. The two men have collaborated on a number of books published in the U.K., to great success. The illustrations in Fortunately, the Milk are a marvel of draftsmanship, and Coraline and The Graveyard Book are considered classics. Other artists illustrated the books in the U.S., quite beautifully, but the British editions are objects of envy for many fans. This new collaboration is a spectacular art object. Almost every page is decorated with gold leaf. Even the page numbers have gold filigree. The story combines two fairy tales, and it contains two startling ideas. Snow White, after years in a sleeping spell, might not be affected by the enchantment placed on Sleeping Beauty. And, more important, after her adventures in the woods, Snow White might find sitting on a throne as dull as lying in a glass coffin. The villainess, unfortunately, distracts from those ideas. She's just another sorceress in a fantasy book, one in a long line of evildoers who want youth and power—but this is a fairy tale, after all. The gorgeous, art nouveau-inspired black-and-white drawings, many of which seem to consciously echo such divergent talents as Arthur Rackham and Robert Lawson, however, are magnificent, and a few sentences describing sleepwalkers who speak in unison may haunt readers for years. If this book isn't quite a masterpiece, it's certainly a treasure, and that's more than enough. (Fairy tale. 11-18)
