Gorgeous Inside and Out: A Review of The Sleeper and the Spindle

The Sleeper and the Spindle (2014)
Written By: Neil Gaiman
Illustrated By: Chris Riddell
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 67 pages (Hardcover)
Publisher: Bloomsbury

Why I Chose It: This had been sitting in my to-read pile for a very long time looking all gorgeous and forlorn until I finally gave in and read it.

The premise:

A thrillingly reimagined fairy tale from the truly magical combination of author Neil Gaiman and illustrator Chris Riddell — weaving together a sort-of Snow White and an almost Sleeping Beauty with a thread of dark magic, which will hold readers spellbound from start to finish.

On the eve of her wedding, a young queen sets out to rescue a princess from an enchantment. She casts aside her fine wedding clothes, takes her chain mail and her sword and follows her brave dwarf retainers into the tunnels under the mountain towards the sleeping kingdom. This queen will decide her own future — and the princess who needs rescuing is not quite what she seems. Twisting together the familiar and the new, this perfectly delicious, captivating and darkly funny tale shows its creators at the peak of their talents.

Spoiler Free!

Discussion: To start off, the format of this book is almost as interesting as the story itself. It’s not a novel (at least not in the normal way), and it’s not a graphic novel like Gaiman’s Sandman. Nor is it a children’s picture book. The closest I can come to describing it is a classic illustrated fairytale. One of the dark ones with poisoned combs and shoes full of blood.

Right away the artwork sets the tone for this lush retelling of Sleeping Beauty, with the role of the prince being played by Snow White, who is now a queen in her own right. I really love Riddell’s depictions of the Queen and the Sleeper. Neither are perfectly beautiful, contrary to their original iterations, but both manage to blend strength and etherealness into an ageless aesthetic that is much more pleasing. Riddell’s artwork is wonderful and melancholy and matches Gaiman’s words perfectly. One would not be complete without the other.

There are some books — rare books — that are just so enthralling to read that I couldn’t care less about the story they’re telling; I just want to read the words. The Sleeper and the Spindle comes pretty darn close to that. I love Gaiman’s style of writing here. It’s minimalistic and whimsical and reads very much like a classic fairytale by Hans Christian Anderson or the Grimm brothers. I’m not sure how you can be so sparing with your words and still manage this level of detail, but Gaiman is a master in this craft. In a lot of ways it reminded me of Sandman, the only other thing I’ve read by Gaiman. I didn’t expect that with such different stories, but in this case it’s the style of the telling that’s familiar rather than the content.

One of those differences is the fantastic feminist twist on a classic fairytale. With Snow White fulfilling the traditional place of a prince, you’d think the themes of girl power and same sex attraction would be pretty in your face. But I found the effect very subtle. The Queen is strong but not in a traditional way that’s linked to her beauty or goodness or innocence. Nor is her strength a carbon copy or substitute for male strength. No, she’s strong because of what she’s been through. She is the perfect prince for this story because she slept for a year in a glass case and came out unscathed, so she is the only one strong enough to resist the cursed sleep surrounding the Sleeper’s tower. I identify very deeply with themes of strength and resilience coming out of adversity. So, this one hit pretty close to home for me and rang true. Well done, Gaiman. It also helps that she’s a queen and acts like it. When there’s a threat to her land, she rides out to meet it, armor and all. Pretty sure decisiveness is a very underrated heroic quality.

In Conclusion: This book is as gorgeous on the inside as it is on the outside, in all the ways you can think of. I’ll have to think of a special way to display this on my shelf. It really deserves it.