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Leslie Vedder’s The Bone Spindle is her debut novel, and the first in a trilogy. At its core, it is an adaptation of the “Sleeping Beauty” fairy tale. In Vedder’s take on the tale, Briar Rose is a prince who has been cursed and magically sleeping in a tower in his now-ruined kingdom for one hundred years. He has been awaiting the woman destined to save him with a kiss, and hoping that this magically fated kiss will coincide with true love, too.
Filore, or Fi, meanwhile, is a treasure-hunter and historian who has herself fallen under a curse. In seeking for a solution to her curse, she comes across the bone spindle which is tied to the sleeping prince, and the two become tied together.
Joining Fi on her new quest to save Briar is her treasure-hunting partner, Shane. Shane has a rather fairy-tale story of her own, as the heir to the throne back in her home now in a self-imposed exile.
Vedder uses third-person perspective throughout The Bone Spindle, with each chapter following the perspective of one of these three main characters (Briar, Fi, and Shane). She helpfully titles each chapter after the character whose perspective is featured within it.
If you’re looking for a fresh take on “Sleeping Beauty” that solidly situates the story in a fleshed-out world, exploring the consequences of an entire kingdom beset by a curse with the ruling monarchy isolated and sleeping for an entire century, then The Bone Spindle will not disappoint. If you’re hoping for a “Sleeping Beauty” telling that somehow manages to preserve both the full hundred-year sleep of the cursed Briar Rose while also allowing for Briar and his fated savior to build a relationship before their curse-breaking kiss, Vedder also delivers on that by making use of a magical connection triggered between Briar and Fi when Fi first touches the bone spindle upon which Briar pricked his finger so many years prior.
As an added bonus, Vedder provides a lesbian romance, with Shane falling for the mysterious Red as they continue to run into each other while Shane and Fi make their way to the heart of the ruined kingdom to save its prince.
While I do wish that the ending of The Bone Spindle had more resolution to it, rather than leaving quite so many things as obvious loose ends for the two books that will follow it to tie up, Vedder does take readers through to a conclusion of the traditional “Sleeping Beauty” tale within this first book in her planned trilogy. It will be interesting to see whether the following books follow their own fairy tales, or will be more vaguely fairy tale-inspired (as the characters of Shane and Red in this first book have been). My guess is that Vedder is here following the increasing trend of taking a traditional fairy tale as the core idea from which to launch a series which expands upon the characters introduced in their adaptation of that tale. Examples of that trend include Elizabeth Lim’s duology of Six Crimson Cranes and The Dragon’s Promise, and Intisar Khanani’s Dauntless Path series (which begins with Thorn).
All of the primary characters in The Bone Spindle are teenagers, as tends to be typical of fairy-tale stories; it is a solidly YA book. Content warnings for The Bone Spindle include: Fantasy violence, weapons, past abusive/manipulative relationship, spiders.
Filore, or Fi, meanwhile, is a treasure-hunter and historian who has herself fallen under a curse. In seeking for a solution to her curse, she comes across the bone spindle which is tied to the sleeping prince, and the two become tied together.
Joining Fi on her new quest to save Briar is her treasure-hunting partner, Shane. Shane has a rather fairy-tale story of her own, as the heir to the throne back in her home now in a self-imposed exile.
Vedder uses third-person perspective throughout The Bone Spindle, with each chapter following the perspective of one of these three main characters (Briar, Fi, and Shane). She helpfully titles each chapter after the character whose perspective is featured within it.
If you’re looking for a fresh take on “Sleeping Beauty” that solidly situates the story in a fleshed-out world, exploring the consequences of an entire kingdom beset by a curse with the ruling monarchy isolated and sleeping for an entire century, then The Bone Spindle will not disappoint. If you’re hoping for a “Sleeping Beauty” telling that somehow manages to preserve both the full hundred-year sleep of the cursed Briar Rose while also allowing for Briar and his fated savior to build a relationship before their curse-breaking kiss, Vedder also delivers on that by making use of a magical connection triggered between Briar and Fi when Fi first touches the bone spindle upon which Briar pricked his finger so many years prior.
As an added bonus, Vedder provides a lesbian romance, with Shane falling for the mysterious Red as they continue to run into each other while Shane and Fi make their way to the heart of the ruined kingdom to save its prince.
While I do wish that the ending of The Bone Spindle had more resolution to it, rather than leaving quite so many things as obvious loose ends for the two books that will follow it to tie up, Vedder does take readers through to a conclusion of the traditional “Sleeping Beauty” tale within this first book in her planned trilogy. It will be interesting to see whether the following books follow their own fairy tales, or will be more vaguely fairy tale-inspired (as the characters of Shane and Red in this first book have been). My guess is that Vedder is here following the increasing trend of taking a traditional fairy tale as the core idea from which to launch a series which expands upon the characters introduced in their adaptation of that tale. Examples of that trend include Elizabeth Lim’s duology of Six Crimson Cranes and The Dragon’s Promise, and Intisar Khanani’s Dauntless Path series (which begins with Thorn).
All of the primary characters in The Bone Spindle are teenagers, as tends to be typical of fairy-tale stories; it is a solidly YA book. Content warnings for The Bone Spindle include: Fantasy violence, weapons, past abusive/manipulative relationship, spiders.