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.
Publishers Weekly - Audio
10/26/2015
In this twist on a fairy tale, the audiobook uses a full cast to great effect. A tough, no-nonsense queen, who may or may not be Snow White, hears about a princess who was placed under a sleeping spell. The magic appears to be spreading, plunging citizens of nearby villages into sleep, so the queen sets out with three dwarf friends to awaken the princess and break the spell before it reaches her kingdom. Having many different voices greatly helps listeners suspend disbelief. Julian Rhind-Tutt has a wry tone with a smart English accent for the narrator. The royal characters sound upper-class British, workers in the pub sound vaguely Cockney, but the dwarves (played by Peter Forbes, John Sessions, and Michael Maloney) are all voiced in glorious Scottish accents. Music and intricate sound effects (such as the faint sounds of maggots chomping nearby) immerse listeners in the realm of the cursed kingdom. This twisted take on a classic fairy tale is brought to life with sound. Ages 13–up. A Harper hardcover. (Sept.)
Publishers Weekly
★ 06/08/2015
Always a superb spinner of tales, Gaiman presents a filigreed elaboration of Sleeping Beauty that, before long, reveals itself as something more. Three dwarves discover a realm in which everyone has fallen asleep, and they cross into the next country to warn its queen of the great plague that threatens her people. Alert readers won’t miss the hint to the queen’s identity: “Would I sleep, as they did?” she asks one of the dwarfs, who replies, “You slept for a year.... And then you woke again, none the worse for it.” Traveling to the cursed kingdom, the queen and dwarves encounter threatening zombie sleepers and more, but the storyline is still recognizable underneath the new details. It isn’t until the travelers penetrate the castle that things tilt sideways. Something new is going on, and readers will be carried to the end by the whirlwind force of Gaiman’s imagination. Riddell draws in pen and ink, eschewing color—save for select gold accents—and pouring his energy into myriad, spidery lines and delicate cross-hatching that recall Aubrey Beardsley’s eerie set pieces. It’s a genuine treat. Ages 13–up. (Sept.)
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.
School Library Journal - Audio
★ 11/01/2015
Gr 8 Up—On the eve of her wedding, a beautiful queen learns from three dwarf friends that peril has befallen a kingdom in the east. A young princess lies asleep in the castle's tower while a sleeping fog placed by an evil enchantress is rapidly seeping west. Having experienced this sleeping curse herself, the queen quickly exchanges her wedding gown for chain mail and a sword and follows the dwarfs into underground tunnels, past cobweb-covered villages, and through a thorny forest. As the sun sets, Good has conquered Evil and the queen has learned her own lesson: a girl always has choices. And with that knowledge, she takes the lead and continues her journey—heading east. This clever reinvention of a classic fairy tale and the double-take twist on the traditional princess-in-peril story line is sure to put a mischievous grin on listeners' faces. The exceptionally talented full-cast ensemble, which includes Julian Rhind-Tutt, Lara Pulver, and Niamh Walsh, paired with eerie music and sound effects like clopping hooves and crackling fire, breathes life into an already stellar tale. VERDICT A magical, mysterious must-have for young tweens and anyone who's young at heart. ["This highly recommended visually stunning twist on two classic fairytales will be well-received by fans of graphic novels and fantasy stories": SLJ 8/15 starred review of the Harper book.]—Cheryl Preisendorfer, Twinsburg City Schools, OH
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)
