Gold Spun by Brandie June is a fast paced Rumpelstiltskin retelling that gives agency to the miller’s daughter. The book keeps true to many aspects of the original tale while becoming a tale of it’s own as the story continues.
Elenora and her brothers are orphans after a war between kingdoms takes their parents, eldest sister, and the families mill from them. Determined to take care of what remains of her family Elenora, Nor, uses her whits and cunning to lie, cheat, and steal what she can to provide for them. She is a textbook morally grey protagonist. She feels guilt for her actions but without any other options that she can see she pushes through with her schemes because to her family always came before others. She is selfish, greedy, and harbors hate for those in the aristocracy that she blames for all that is wrong in her life. Over the course of the book she does show quite a bit of personal growth and development but never forgets where she came from. I love that she stays a strong voice of the people even if she can be a bit exhausting with some of her choices. She absolutely does not make all the right choices and does end up having to deal with the consequences of those poor choices.
When she comes across Pel in need of aid she is drawn to his wild and trickster ways. With him she could be herself, wicked ways and all. Prince Casper on the other hand speaks to who she wants to be but isn’t sure she is capable of being. Pulled between these two versions of herself she has to decide where and who she want to be. Personally I prefer Pel for most the book. Casper I feel doesn’t actually know or accept her for who she truly is. And while over the course of the book his character becomes more tolerable he slips back into the pompous jerk he starts as. Of course at the end of the book neither love interest is looking to good.
There is some serious foreshadowing that hasn’t been realized by the end of the book and will probably play a major role in the sequel. The twist alluded to is pretty obvious and will be a big game changer for sure. I’m excited to see what comes of it in the next book. How I will change allegiances and personal relationships between the characters.
Over all I enjoyed Gold Spun and it’s take of the Rumpelstiltskin tale. I love classic fairy tale retellings and Rumpelstiltskin isn’t one that gets a lot of love though there have been a few I have read recently that where quite good. Gold Spun is on the lower end of the YA age range and while it has some more mature content with self harm via blood letting in the magic system it includes no sexual adult content. I would feel comfortable letting my oldest daughter read it in a few years for sure.
