The Sleeper and the Spindle

Starred review from June 8, 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.

Starred review from July 15, 2015
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)

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Starred review from August 1, 2015

Gr 7 Up-Snow White meets Sleeping Beauty in this fairytale mash-up where things are not what they seem. When three dwarfs learn of a sleeping plague spreading throughout the land, they alert their queen. The queen, already feeling that marriage means the end of her ability to make choices in her life, gladly postpones her wedding, grabs her sword, and sets off with the dwarfs to get to the bottom of the magical curse. On their way, they encounter throngs of cobweb-covered sleepers. To their surprise, the slumbering masses talk in their sleep and eventually begin to lumber after them. The team forges ahead to the castle, where they find the sleeping princess and an old woman. The queen's kiss, shown in a sumptuous spread, wakes the princess. The quest turns out to be just what the queen needs to be reminded of the choices she has. Riddell's spectacularly intricate ink drawings, gilded with gold, bring Gaiman's inventive story to life. Each page is packed with marvelous details-vines claustrophobically twist everywhere and expressions convey far more emotion than the words let on. Gaiman's narrative about strength, sacrifice, choice, and identity is no simple retelling; he sends readers down one path then deliciously sends the story veering off in an unexpected direction. The only downside-the tale ends far too soon. VERDICT This highly recommended visually stunning twist on two classic fairy tales will be well received by fans of graphic novels and fantasy stories.-Amanda MacGregor, Great River Regional Library, St. Cloud, MN

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2015
Grades 7-10 You think you know the story of Sleeping Beauty? Not once Gaiman gets his hands on it. At this almost-graphic-novel's outset, a raven-haired queen is resignedly preparing for her weddingmarriage, she has decided, would be the end of her life . . . if life was a time of choices when three dwarves arrive to report that a plaguelike enchanted sleep is creeping toward the kingdom. Learning that the key to lifting the spell lies in waking a spindle-pricked maiden, the queen dons her armor and strikes out in rescue. Gaiman's storytelling immediately casts a spell over readers and contains more twists than merely substituting a daring queen for a charming princecobweb-covered sleepwalkers shambling about like zombies, for example. Kate Greenaway winner Riddell's black pen-and-ink illustrations are accented in gold, lending a rich, gothic beauty to the tale. There are moments where this revised Sleeping Beauty misses the mark, but it's nonetheless refreshing to see its cast of women actively making choices and carving out their own destinies. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Commander of an avid fan base, Gaiman always draws a crowd. Riddell's recent appointment as the UK's children's laureate will only boost demand.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)