Tag Archives: the sleeper and the spindle

I’M FOUR YEARS OLD! Blogoversary and giveaway

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That’s the blog’s age, by the way, not mine… If I was four years old and blogging that would be an achievement….

Anyway! Four years ago this week, I was eleven and started my blog with the help of my dad. Back in 2011, this blog started as a kind-of sister blog to my dad’s – his was Books and Writers and mine was first named Books and Writers JNR. I had no idea how to navigate the blogging world and my firsts posts are pretty laughable – but looking back over what I’ve been able to do over these four years has been awesome.

Through blogging I’ve been able to do so much. I’ve never been a very snazzy blogger with a self-built website or anything, but have redesigned this blog so many times – even with a name change, to the current The Bibliomaniac. I’m so happy with the way this blog is right now and hope people who read it are, too.

I’ve learned a lot over four years, from web skills to graphic-design dabbling and building audiences over social media. I’ve also been lucky enough to meet people from the publishing world and the blogging world IRL – which is probably the best thing. All the people I talk to over emails and Twitter and Facebook are the coolest people to talk to. Thank you so much to all of the people who have sent me books for review – and also of course to everyone who reads and comments and shares!:D

I’m not one for organising cool events and things because a) time and b) procrastination so I’m going to celebrate this blogoversary with a little giveaway. Le winning prize pack:

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HOW TO ENTER: LEAVE A COMMENT ON THIS BLOG POST!

I won’t ask for a reason to win or something like that; your comment can be about literally anything like go ahead talk about unicorns whatever you want as long as it’s nice obvs 😛

 

Terms and Conditions and stuff:

  • ONE winner will receive the prize– which consists of two books (pictures above) plus maybe book swag.
  • I will pick a winner on the last day of May and will announce them on the same day or the first of June.
  • I’ll announce the winner on my Twitter and Facebook pages so check those when the giveaway’s over!
  • The prize may have to be sent in two packages due to the size of one book. We’ll see how easily I can get hold of a big enough jiffy bag.
  • Sorry to everyone else internationally, but due to postage costs I can only afford to send this to somewhere in the UK.
  •  I will be picking a winner at random so it’s fair – by putting names into random.org.

Aaaaand… Yep that’s it! I am bad at writing this kind of post. I can never express my thanks enough. 😛 So again – thank you so, so much to everybody who I’ve met and who has helped me through blogging – whether publicist, blogger or reader. I can’t believe I’ve been blogging for four years. Time has gone so quickly but I’ve never gotten bored of doing this thing. 😀

Good luck if you’re entering the giveaway!

 

 

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Book Review: The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman, Illustrated by Chris Riddell

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Published October 23rd 2014 by Bloomsbury.

IMG_2394Goodreads Synopsis: 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.

My Review: Chris Riddell and Neil Gaiman are a brilliant storytelling pair – as I knew from reading Fortunately, the Milk, their children’s book. Neil Gaiman’s writing is always gorgeous and Chris Riddell’s illustrations always bring to life his characters in an unforgettable way. Consequently, when I found out about The Sleeper and the Spindle, I was really excited about reading it!

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The book is one of the most beautiful editions I’ve ever come across. The cover made me want to start reading straight away (Which I did!) and the minimalistic colour palette of black, white and gold makes the beautiful illustrations stand out. I fell in love with the look and feel of the book before I’d even started the story! I know it’s a book I’ll treasure.

I’ve been a fan of Chris Riddell’s work for years but I think his illustrations in The Sleeper and the Spindle are my new favourites – especially the two-page spreads and the endpapers! The character depictions are all so beautiful.

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I was aware the story would be a retelling of Sleeping Beauty – but didn’t realise that the clever twists would draw in Snow White too. The only reason I was a little nervous about reading it was that I wasn’t sure how I’d find it because it was a rewritten classic – would it stand out enough? There’s quite a big market in fairy tale re-tellings. I’m not sure why I thought that; Neil Gaiman’s spin on the well-known stories was fantastic, and I didn’t want to pull myself out of the story.

What I loved the most was how the classic story is there, but the stereotypical stock character’s aren’t. There’s no prince charming. Instead, the protagonist is Snow White, who leaves her land, delaying her marriage, to awake the ‘sleeper’ in her castle, while the sleeping plague sweeps over the land. It’s so fresh and different! I really liked the ending too, which left the story at a point that left me wondering about the character’s unwritten futures.

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Overall, The Sleeper and the Spindle definitely lived up to my excitement, though at just under seventy pages I do wish it was a little longer – I fell in love with the story so much. It’s a wonderfully fresh take on Sleeping Beauty – and a clever continuation of Snow White as well! The illustrations that accompanied the writing were gorgeous, and I think they fitted the story perfectly. Definitely recommended – The Sleeper and the Spindle will appeal to readers regardless of age.

My Rating: 

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I received a copy of The Sleeper and the Spindle form the publisher, in exchange for a review. In no way at all did this affect my thoughts.