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* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Miryem's telling of the Rumpelstiltzkin story at the start of the book. She doesn't name him, but says that the real story is of a miller's daughter who borrowed money so she could buy jewelry and woo a lord, who got her pregnant and then went off to his ArrangedMarriage. So she accused the moneylender of being in league with the Devil in order to keep her jewels and dower herself to a blacksmith as a father for her child. (By the events of the rest of the story, and the townspeople making a point to tell it to her and laugh, the implication is that the real "Rumpelstiltzkin" was Jewish like her family.) Miryem says that however it's told, ultimately it's a story about getting out of paying what you owe.
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* AlternateAesopInterpretation: {{Invoked}} Miryem's telling of the Rumpelstiltzkin story at the start of the book. She doesn't name him, but says that the real story is of a miller's daughter who borrowed money so she could buy jewelry and woo a lord, who got her pregnant and then went off to his ArrangedMarriage. So she accused the moneylender of being in league with the Devil in order to keep her jewels and dower herself to a blacksmith as a father for her child. (By the events of the rest of the story, and the townspeople making a point to tell it to her and laugh, the implication is that the real "Rumpelstiltzkin" was Jewish like her family.) Miryem says that however it's told, ultimately it's a story about getting out of paying what you owe.
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* AlternateAesopInterpretation: Miryem's telling of the Rumpelstiltzkin story at the start of the book. She doesn't name him, but says that the real story is of a miller's daughter who borrowed money so she could buy jewelry and woo a lord, who got her pregnant and then went off to his ArrangedMarriage. So she accused the moneylender of being in league with the Devil in order to keep her jewels and dower herself to a blacksmith as a father for her child. (By the events of the rest of the story, and the townspeople making a point to tell it to her and laugh, the implication is that the real "Rumpelstiltzkin" was Jewish like her family.) Miryem says that however it's told, ultimately it's a story about getting out of paying what you owe.
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* FeyFolk: The Staryk. Cold and unknowable, they steal children and ruthlessly kill anyone who steals from them while raiding with impunity, and they can induce forgetfulness to such a degree [[spoiler:that Miryem's parents barely remember her after she's taken away by the King]]. They also ascribe to a rigid BlueAndOrangeMorality that mortals have a difficult time comprehending, and they themselves are baffled by everyday mortal concepts like ''thanks''.
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* FeyFolk: TheFairFolk: The Staryk. Cold and unknowable, they steal children and ruthlessly kill anyone who steals from them while raiding with impunity, and they can induce forgetfulness to such a degree [[spoiler:that Miryem's parents barely remember her after she's taken away by the King]]. They also ascribe to a rigid BlueAndOrangeMorality that mortals have a difficult time comprehending, and they themselves are baffled by everyday mortal concepts like ''thanks''.
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* AbusiveParents: Gorek routinely beats his daughter Wanda and his two sons, though he doesn't beat Sergey ''as'' much because Sergey is almost as big as him. He's so terrible that his son Stepon is acutely puzzled when Mr. Mandelstam enters a room and things don't immediately turn violent, because in Stepon's mind "father" is inextricably linked with "beating." [[spoiler:Gorek even tries to sell Wanda for a bride-price of one gallon of booze a week.]]
* AdultFear: Miryem's mother fears her daughter becoming cold and ruthless, and her father does too, but they can't talk her out of her debt-collecting. [[spoiler:Then they become afraid for her life as a result of the Staryk king's dealings with her.]]
* AdultFear: Miryem's mother fears her daughter becoming cold and ruthless, and her father does too, but they can't talk her out of her debt-collecting. [[spoiler:Then they become afraid for her life as a result of the Staryk king's dealings with her.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: Miryem's father [[AsTheGoodBookSays references the story of Sodom and Gomorrah]] when he asks "Are there even ten righteous among them?" to stop her from [[spoiler:trying to save the Staryk from Chernaborg. Unfortunately for his peace of mind, this hardens her resolve, because she knows there are at least three]].
* BitchInSheepsClothing: The townsfolk in general, but [[spoiler:Oleg in particular for trying to ''murder'' Miryem just because she's wearing more expensive clothes than his]].
* ChildrenAreInnocent:
** Meeting Flek's daughter is what makes Miryem realize that the Staryk aren't just fearsome, unknowable raiders, and [[spoiler:it's why she defies Irina to save them from Chernobog]].
** Stepon's narrative segments show him as this; he's a small boy who is perceptive to the feelings of people around him, and he just wants the people he cares about to be safe, but he doesn't understand ''why'' things are happening.
** Meeting Flek's daughter is what makes Miryem realize that the Staryk aren't just fearsome, unknowable raiders, and [[spoiler:it's why she defies Irina to save them from Chernobog]].
** Stepon's narrative segments show him as this; he's a small boy who is perceptive to the feelings of people around him, and he just wants the people he cares about to be safe, but he doesn't understand ''why'' things are happening.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism goes from fairly passive to outright aggressive once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed. It's implied that her father's passiveness when it comes to moneylending is because he doesn't want the villagers to see him as a GreedyJew...but [[MortonsFork they regard him as such anyway]] even though he's actually generous to a fault.
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* DeliberateValuesDissonance: DeathBySex: [[spoiler:Chernabog consumes anyone who tries to sleep with Mirnatius, so Mirnatius goes to a lot of effort to keep his bed empty.]]
* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
** Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism goes from fairly passive to outright aggressive once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed. It's implied that her father's passiveness when it comes to moneylending is because he doesn't want the villagers to see him as a GreedyJew...but [[MortonsFork they regard him as such anyway]] even though he's actually generous to a fault. Miryem's mother is also terrified of the Staryk tracks not just because of the Staryk themselves, but because of a nearby town where they raided all the houses but left the Jewish houses alone--and now there are no more Jews in that town.
** Wanda also believes that the Mandelstams are followers of the Devil (a common belief about Jews) when she starts working for them, and asks Mr. Mandelstam if the prayer he recites before eating is a magic spell.
** Wanda and Sergey [[spoiler:have to flee for their lives after they accidentally trip Gorek into the fire and he dies, even though he probably would have beaten her to death, because even self-defense is not considered justification for killing your father]].
* DeliberateValuesDissonance:
** Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism goes from fairly passive to outright aggressive once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed. It's implied that her father's passiveness when it comes to moneylending is because he doesn't want the villagers to see him as a GreedyJew...but [[MortonsFork they regard him as such anyway]] even though he's actually generous to a fault. Miryem's mother is also terrified of the Staryk tracks not just because of the Staryk themselves, but because of a nearby town where they raided all the houses but left the Jewish houses alone--and now there are no more Jews in that town.
** Wanda also believes that the Mandelstams are followers of the Devil (a common belief about Jews) when she starts working for them, and asks Mr. Mandelstam if the prayer he recites before eating is a magic spell.
** Wanda and Sergey [[spoiler:have to flee for their lives after they accidentally trip Gorek into the fire and he dies, even though he probably would have beaten her to death, because even self-defense is not considered justification for killing your father]].
** Irina asks nothing from Chernaborg, only that he leave "me and mine alone." [[spoiler:Because she is the tsarina, this means that he can't touch ''anyone in the country of Lithvas''. That also includes her husband once he leaves his body, because her rights to him as his wife legally override his mother's contract.]]
* FeyFolk: The Staryk. Cold and unknowable, they steal children and ruthlessly kill anyone who steals from them while raiding with impunity, and they can induce forgetfulness to such a degree [[spoiler:that Miryem's parents barely remember her after she's taken away by the King]]. They also ascribe to a rigid BlueAndOrangeMorality that mortals have a difficult time comprehending, and they themselves are baffled by everyday mortal concepts like ''thanks''.
* FeyFolk: The Staryk. Cold and unknowable, they steal children and ruthlessly kill anyone who steals from them while raiding with impunity, and they can induce forgetfulness to such a degree [[spoiler:that Miryem's parents barely remember her after she's taken away by the King]]. They also ascribe to a rigid BlueAndOrangeMorality that mortals have a difficult time comprehending, and they themselves are baffled by everyday mortal concepts like ''thanks''.
* GoodParents: The Mandelstams. Both of them love their daughter very much and are deeply unhappy that Miryem feels driven to go out and collect the debts they're owed. They also treat Wanda, Sergey, and Stepon as though they were their own. [[spoiler:In the end, they wind up living with the Mandelstams in the cottage.]]
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* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Irina takes no joy in the fact that [[spoiler: her plan for saving the kingdom from an eternal winter means that all Staryk, including innocent children, will be devoured by Chernobog. Knowing that Minartius had no say in being bound to it, she is also not joyful at all when planning to out him as a witch and burning him at the stake.]]
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* IDidWhatIHadToDo: GuileHero: All three of the protagonists. Miryem takes over her father's accountbooks and in the span of a winter brings her family out of poverty, then uses her wits to save herself from certain death at the hands of the Staryk. Irina realizes that she's been married to a literal demon, but manages to keep herself safe long enough to talk pragmatism and sense into him and makes a much better tsarina than he is tsar. Wanda, the uneducated peasant girl, squirrels away the money she and her brother are paid so that they can one day escape their abusive father, and learns how to do accounting so she can collect when Miryem is away.
* IDidWhatIHadToDo:
** Miryem takes over collecting the townspeople's debts to try and save her mother from dying of illness brought on by malnutrition and a hard winter. It works, and she keeps at it, despite both of them trying to talk her out of it.
** Irina takes no joy in the fact that [[spoiler: her plan for saving the kingdom from an eternal winter means that all Staryk, including innocent children, will be devoured by Chernobog. Knowing that Minartius had no say in being bound to it, she is also not joyful at all when planning to out him as a witch and burning him at the stake.]]
* IDidWhatIHadToDo:
** Miryem takes over collecting the townspeople's debts to try and save her mother from dying of illness brought on by malnutrition and a hard winter. It works, and she keeps at it, despite both of them trying to talk her out of it.
** Irina takes no joy in the fact that [[spoiler: her plan for saving the kingdom from an eternal winter means that all Staryk, including innocent children, will be devoured by Chernobog. Knowing that Minartius had no say in being bound to it, she is also not joyful at all when planning to out him as a witch and burning him at the stake.]]
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** Much of the townsfolk are like this, coming up with any excuse to avoid paying Miryem's father the money they owe him even though he only comes to collect when his family desperately needs the money, and he only collects from those who visibly have the money to spare. They don't care about them when the family is close to starving, and when Miryem starts to collect money, suddenly in their eyes the Mandelstam family is the picture of their "greedy Jew" stereotype.
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** Much of the townsfolk are like this, coming up with any excuse to avoid paying Miryem's father the money they owe him even though he only comes to collect when his family desperately needs the money, and he only collects from those who visibly have the money to spare. They don't care about them when the family is close to starving, and when Miryem starts to collect money, suddenly in their eyes the Mandelstam family is the picture of their "greedy Jew" stereotype. They also don't lift a finger to help Gorek's children even though they know how he treats them.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: The way [[spoiler:that Gorek]] dies is really unpleasant--he accidentally trips and falls backward into the hearth, and tips a pot of boiling hot oats onto his face on the way down. But [[spoiler:after everything he's done to Wanda and her brothers, it's hard to feel sorry for him]].
* KissingCousins: Ilias is in love with his cousin the tsar.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: The way [[spoiler:that Gorek]] dies is really unpleasant--he accidentally trips and falls backward into the hearth, and tips a pot of boiling hot oats onto his face on the way down. But [[spoiler:after everything he's done to Wanda and her brothers, it's hard to feel sorry for him]].
* KissingCousins: Ilias is in love with his cousin the tsar.
* ParentalSubstitute: Magreta gives Irina all the affection of a mother.
* ParentsAsPeople: Irina's father, the Duke, is a fair ruler who focuses on the big picture and refuses to be courted into rebellion, but he views his daughter largely as a waste of resources because he can't give her a dowry and she's not beautiful enough to tempt any high-ranking lords into marrying without one. She muses that he can give his daughter to an unpleasant and troublesome marriage because he put himself through unpleasant and troublesome battles to attain his own position.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: For all his faults as a parent, the Duke of Vysnia is an intelligent and practical man who refuses to start a civil war from ambition and treats the Jewish population of Vysnia with respect rather than discrimination--in fact he respects Miryem's grandfather more for refusing to convert just to get a more comfortable position in society.
* ParentsAsPeople: Irina's father, the Duke, is a fair ruler who focuses on the big picture and refuses to be courted into rebellion, but he views his daughter largely as a waste of resources because he can't give her a dowry and she's not beautiful enough to tempt any high-ranking lords into marrying without one. She muses that he can give his daughter to an unpleasant and troublesome marriage because he put himself through unpleasant and troublesome battles to attain his own position.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: For all his faults as a parent, the Duke of Vysnia is an intelligent and practical man who refuses to start a civil war from ambition and treats the Jewish population of Vysnia with respect rather than discrimination--in fact he respects Miryem's grandfather more for refusing to convert just to get a more comfortable position in society.
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* RagsToRiches: In less than four chapters, Miryem's family has gone from dirt poor to living comfortably thanks to her way with numbers and desire to care for her sickly mother.
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* RagsToRiches: RagsToRiches:
** In less than four chapters, Miryem's family has gone from dirt poor to living comfortably thanks to her way with numbers and desire to care for her sickly mother.
** In less than four chapters, Miryem's family has gone from dirt poor to living comfortably thanks to her way with numbers and desire to care for her sickly mother.
* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: The duke won his position through battle and still trains his men daily to be prepared against threats from abroad and from the Staryk.
* SpySpeak: This is how the Duke speaks to other nobles who are testing his support for a rebellion--he'll reply by mentioning how merchants from Svetia complain about the tariffs (indicating that Svetia's ruler would be happy to raid the northern ports) or that the Khan's son sacked a city to the east, reminding the people courting him that there are a great many external threats that would happily fall on a kingdom in civil war.
* SpySpeak: This is how the Duke speaks to other nobles who are testing his support for a rebellion--he'll reply by mentioning how merchants from Svetia complain about the tariffs (indicating that Svetia's ruler would be happy to raid the northern ports) or that the Khan's son sacked a city to the east, reminding the people courting him that there are a great many external threats that would happily fall on a kingdom in civil war.
* WellDoneSonGuy: Irina doesn't realize that she ever wanted her father to be proud of her because she knew from an early age that he never would be. [[spoiler:It's not until he becomes proud of her for her clever plan to deal with Chernaborg and the Staryk, and she's deeply moved.]]
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* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Irina looks like this to all without magic when she wears the jewelry forged from the Staryk silver.
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* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Irina looks like this to all without magic when she wears the jewelry forged from the Staryk silver.silver.
* WorthyOpponent: The Staryk King [[spoiler:is not displeased at all when he realizes Miryem had her servants practically empty the third vault. Instead, this trick is what finally makes him respect her and he agrees to escort her to her cousin's wedding with aplomb]].
* WorthyOpponent: The Staryk King [[spoiler:is not displeased at all when he realizes Miryem had her servants practically empty the third vault. Instead, this trick is what finally makes him respect her and he agrees to escort her to her cousin's wedding with aplomb]].
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* GoodIsNotNice: A mild variant with Miryem. She isn't a loan shark, only charging a fair amount of interest and giving people fair prices for whatever they offer to her as penance, but it's known that her grandfather is wealthy and powerful, and she has the ledgers to prove what she is owed. She's not above threatening to get the law involved if it means getting what she is owed, and has Gorek's daughter, Wanda, pay off his debts by working for her, first as a maid and then also as a debt collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a blessing for Wanda.]]
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* GoodIsNotNice: A mild variant with Miryem. She isn't a loan shark, only charging a fair amount of interest and giving people fair prices for whatever they offer to her as penance, payment, but it's known that her grandfather is wealthy and powerful, and she has the ledgers to prove what she is owed. She's not above threatening to get the law involved if it means getting what she is owed, and has Gorek's daughter, Wanda, pay off his debts by working for her, first as a maid and then also as a debt collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a blessing for Wanda.]]
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That's not the Fantastic Racism trope; that's regular old racism
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* FantasticRacism: The amount of prejudice and hate Miryem and her family receive for being Jewish will likely make your vision go red.
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That probably fits more than Fantastic Racism.
* AlwaysChaoticEvil: PlayedWith for the Staryk. They've earned themselves the reputation, with all their raids and kidnappings, and [[spoiler:Miryem's family finds it hard to believe any of them are worth saving]]. But [[spoiler:Miryem points out she met at least three good individuals among them, and that ChildrenAreInnocent; even if the unseen masses supported the actions of the knights, it was out of an attempt at self-preservation from [[BiggerBad Chernobog]]. If he was defeated and a proper contract drawn up, she's certain the Staryk would be no more evil than anyone else. And she's right.]]
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* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The Czar, Mirnatius, is in one of these, although eventually we find out that he was not the one who made the deal: his mother was, selling her unborn child for the demon's power. He is forced to share his body with a fire demon who uses magic to manipulate those around him and who got him the throne by killing his father and beloved half brother.]]
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* ConvertingForLove: [[spoiler:Miryem tells the Staryk Lord she won't marry anyone who doesn't respect her religion and customs. He's more than willing to convert.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: TheCzar, Tzar, Mirnatius, is in one of these, although eventually we find out that he was not the one who made the deal: his mother was, selling her unborn child for the demon's power. He is forced to share his body with a fire demon who uses magic to manipulate those around him and who got him the throne by killing his father and beloved half brother.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The
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* EndlessWinter: The Staryk's world is like this. [[spoiler: Their King's goal is to do this to the human world as well, as the colder earth is the stronger the Staryk King's palace is.]]
* ExactWords: At one point, the Staryk challenges Miryem to turn the contents of three of his treasure chambers from silver to gold. [[spoiler: After spending a massive amount of time changing just one, she gets her servants to empty out all the silver from the largest vault while she changes the second. As the Staryk said, she had to change 'everything in the chambers'.]]
* ExactWords: At one point, the Staryk challenges Miryem to turn the contents of three of his treasure chambers from silver to gold. [[spoiler: After spending a massive amount of time changing just one, she gets her servants to empty out all the silver from the largest vault while she changes the second. As the Staryk said, she had to change 'everything in the chambers'.]]
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* EndlessWinter: The Staryk's world is like this. [[spoiler: Their King's goal is to do this to the human world as well, as the colder earth is Earth is, the stronger the Staryk King's palace is.]]
*ExactWords: ExactWords:
** At one point, the Staryk challenges Miryem to turn the contents of three of his treasure chambers from silver to gold. [[spoiler: After spending a massive amount of time changing just one, she gets her servants to empty out all the silver from the largest vault while she changes the second. As the Staryk said, she had to change 'everything in the chambers'.]]
*
** At one point, the Staryk challenges Miryem to turn the contents of three of his treasure chambers from silver to gold. [[spoiler: After spending a massive amount of time changing just one, she gets her servants to empty out all the silver from the largest vault while she changes the second. As the Staryk said, she had to change 'everything in the chambers'.]]
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* FantasticRacism: A somewhat ironic example when [[spoiler: Miryem's family wonders if any of the Staryk deserve to be spared.]] This is a much milder case as [[spoiler: they're not going on racist folk tales but instead their actual experiences of seeing countless innocent people killed in raids for gold and their daughter being kidnapped.]]
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* FantasticRacism: A somewhat ironic example when [[spoiler: Miryem's FantasticRacism: The amount of prejudice and hate Miryem and her family wonders if any of the Staryk deserve to be spared.]] This is a much milder case as [[spoiler: they're not going on racist folk tales but instead their actual experiences of seeing countless innocent people killed in raids receive for gold and their daughter being kidnapped.]]Jewish will likely make your vision go red.
* GoodIsNotSoft: Irina is extremely empathetic, caring even about dead squirrels, and would lay down her life for her people. [[spoiler:Or, if she must, condemn the people of a different one to genocide.]]
* GreyAndGrayMorality: [[spoiler:Both sides are willing to commit genocide to save themselves from Chernobog; the Staryk and their king don't care if their EndlessWinter kills humans because, as far as the king knows, they willingly made Chernobog their tsar. Irina opens a portal for Chernobog to the Staryk kingdom, because the Staryk have been starving ''her'' kingdom to death and this handles both problems--the Staryk will die, ending said winter, and she'll have enough time to trap and destroy Chernobog. She's more regretful than the Staryk king, mostly over the deaths of the children, but less willing to negotiate.]]
* GreyAndGrayMorality: [[spoiler:Both sides are willing to commit genocide to save themselves from Chernobog; the Staryk and their king don't care if their EndlessWinter kills humans because, as far as the king knows, they willingly made Chernobog their tsar. Irina opens a portal for Chernobog to the Staryk kingdom, because the Staryk have been starving ''her'' kingdom to death and this handles both problems--the Staryk will die, ending said winter, and she'll have enough time to trap and destroy Chernobog. She's more regretful than the Staryk king, mostly over the deaths of the children, but less willing to negotiate.]]
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* IJustWantToBeNormal: [[spoiler: Minartius never wanted the throne and loved his brother]], he would have been happy living a life devoid of politics in which he could be an artist. [[spoiler: Chernobog had other plans.]]
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* IGaveMyWord: The Staryk people honor contracts and deals above all else; once their word is given or a bargain struck, it ''must'' be upheld, even if ''neither party wants to''.
* IJustWantToBeNormal: [[spoiler: Minartius never wanted the throne and loved hisbrother]], brother]]; he would have been happy living a life devoid of politics in which he could be an artist. [[spoiler: Chernobog had other plans.]]
* IJustWantToBeNormal: [[spoiler: Minartius never wanted the throne and loved his
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* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Gorek, Wanda's father, can in many ways be described as the polar opposite of Miryem's father. Miryem's father would go hungry so his wife and daughter could eat and was happy to help his wife with women's work to make things easier for her; his only fault was that he was too kind to collect on the debts people owed him unless they desperately needed the money. Gorek is a domestic abuser who gambles away money he could use to feed his starving family, and [[spoiler: would have pimped his daughter out to the village men had Miryem not unknowingly saved her by arranging for Wanda to work as a housemaid for her family to pay off his debts.]]
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* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: JerkWithAHeartOfJerk:
** Gorek, Wanda's father, can in many ways be described as the polar opposite of Miryem's father. Miryem's father would go hungry so his wife and daughter could eat and was happy to help his wife with women's work to make things easier for her; his only fault was that he was too kind to collect on the debts people owed him unless they desperately needed the money. Gorek is a domestic abuser who gambles away money he could use to feed his starving family, and [[spoiler: would have pimped his daughter out to the village men had Miryem not unknowingly saved her by arranging for Wanda to work as a housemaid for her family to pay off his debts.]]
** Gorek, Wanda's father, can in many ways be described as the polar opposite of Miryem's father. Miryem's father would go hungry so his wife and daughter could eat and was happy to help his wife with women's work to make things easier for her; his only fault was that he was too kind to collect on the debts people owed him unless they desperately needed the money. Gorek is a domestic abuser who gambles away money he could use to feed his starving family, and [[spoiler: would have pimped his daughter out to the village men had Miryem not unknowingly saved her by arranging for Wanda to work as a housemaid for her family to pay off his debts.]]
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* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Three different cases of this leads to multiple days being saved! Firstly, the Staryk King [[spoiler: tasking Miryem with turning his silver into gold results in her having it turned into jewelry and sold.]] This jewelry winds up in the hands of Irina, and [[spoiler: its magic allows her to use mirrors as portals to the Staryk's world. She's able to hide there from a demon her husband harbors which intends on devouring her life force.]] Then, Gorek's drunken rage [[spoiler: At Wanda's refusal to accept the marriage he arranged for her provokes her older brother into action to save her. Gorek dies in the struggle. The two of them escape to the woods and hide in a cabin that turns out to be connected to the Staryk's realm as well, and some of the things they make and food they cook wind up in the other world's reflection of the cabin. This winds up saving Irina and her nanny when they're close to dying in the cold. They also are in the perfect place to find their younger brother and Miryem's parents when they're stranded in the woods.]] And on top of all of this [[spoiler: Irina winds up returning the favor to Miryem, as they meet up in the Staryk's realm and hatch a plan to save the world and get the demon to leave Irina alone by feeding it the Staryk Lord.]]
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* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Three different cases of this leads to multiple days being saved! saved!
** Firstly, the Staryk King [[spoiler: tasking Miryem with turning his silver into gold results in her having it turned into jewelry and sold.]] This jewelry winds up in the hands of Irina, and [[spoiler: its magic allows her to use mirrors as portals to the Staryk's world. She's able to hide there from a demon her husband harbors which intends on devouring her life force.]] ]]
** Then, Gorek's drunken rage [[spoiler:At at Wanda's refusal to accept the marriage he arranged for her provokes her older brother into action to save her. Gorek dies in the struggle. The two of them escape to the woods and hide in a cabin that turns out to be connected to the Staryk's realm as well, and some of the things they make and food they cook wind up in the other world's reflection of the cabin. This winds up saving Irina and her nanny when they're close to dying in the cold. They also are in the perfect place to find their younger brother and Miryem's parents when they're stranded in the woods.]] ]]
** And on top of all of this [[spoiler: Irina winds up returning the favor to Miryem, as they meet up in the Staryk's realm and hatch a plan to save the world and get the demon to leave Irina alone by feeding it the StarykLord.]] Lord. Things don't work out as planned, but ultimately Chernobog is defeated and the Staryk Lord stops his raids on the human world.]]
* OutDamnedSpot: After [[spoiler:a guilt-ridden Irina returns from unleashing Chernobog on the Staryk, her nursemaid tries to help her wash her "filthy, bloody" hands, clearly invoking this trope.]]
** Firstly, the Staryk King [[spoiler: tasking Miryem with turning his silver into gold results in her having it turned into jewelry and sold.]] This jewelry winds up in the hands of Irina, and [[spoiler: its magic allows her to use mirrors as portals to the Staryk's world. She's able to hide there from a demon her husband harbors which intends on devouring her life force.
** Then, Gorek's drunken rage [[spoiler:
** And on top of all of this [[spoiler: Irina winds up returning the favor to Miryem, as they meet up in the Staryk's realm and hatch a plan to save the world and get the demon to leave Irina alone by feeding it the Staryk
* OutDamnedSpot: After [[spoiler:a guilt-ridden Irina returns from unleashing Chernobog on the Staryk, her nursemaid tries to help her wash her "filthy, bloody" hands, clearly invoking this trope.]]
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* WhatTheHellHero: Played with. [[spoiler: The Staryk King is more of an AntiVillain, sacrificing humanity to save his people from Chernobog,]] but Miryem calls him out on how even that justification is flimsy at best as [[spoiler: nobody knew that Mirnatius was harboring a demon when they crowned him king, and would have burnt him at the stake if they'd known. Unbeknownst to either of them, Mirnatius has no say in harboring a demon or becoming king, but Chernobog went ahead and killed his family against his wishes. She also reminds him how the Staryk were pillaging human villages well before Chernobog came to power.]]
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* WhatTheHellHero: Played with. [[spoiler: The Staryk King is more of an AntiVillain, sacrificing humanity to save his people from Chernobog,]] but Miryem calls him out on how even that justification is flimsy at best as [[spoiler: nobody knew that Mirnatius was harboring a demon when they crowned him king, and would have burnt him at the stake if they'd known. Unbeknownst to either of them, Mirnatius has no say in harboring a demon or becoming king, but Chernobog went ahead and killed his family against his wishes. She also reminds him how the Staryk were pillaging human villages well before Chernobog came to power. He ultimately ''admits'' she was right and enters a contract to stop their pillaging if Chernobog is defeated.]]
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* ImpossibleTask: The heart of how High Magic works in the Staryk world. Taking on a seemingly-impossible challenge and making it possible creates magic; by claiming the power to turn silver into gold and successfully proving it [[PowerOfThree three times]] when challenged makes it a real magical gift. But to fail in such a task is death...
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* ImpossibleTask: The heart of how High Magic works in the Staryk world. Taking on a seemingly-impossible challenge and making it possible creates magic; by claiming the power to turn silver into gold and successfully proving it [[PowerOfThree [[RuleOfThree three times]] when challenged makes it a real magical gift. But to fail in such a task is death...
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* ImpossibleTask: The heart of how High Magic works in the Staryk world. Taking on a seemingly-impossible challenge and making it possible creates magic; by claiming the power to turn silver into gold and successfully proving it [[PowerOfThree three times]] when challenged makes it a real magical gift. But to fail in such a task is death...
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That's a different trope, so I've sorted it accordingly.
* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism goes from fairly passive to outright aggressive once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed. It's implied that her father's passiveness when it comes to moneylending is because he doesn't want the villagers to see him as a GreedyJew...but [[MortonsFork they regard him as such anyway]] even though he's actually generous to a fault.
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* FantasticRacism: More like an actual form of racism that still persists to this day happening in our past but there's magic. Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism goes from fairly passive to outright aggressive once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed.
** A somewhat ironic example when [[spoiler: Miryem's family wonders if any of the Staryk deserve to be spared.]] This is a much milder case as [[spoiler: they're not going on racist folk tales but instead their actual experiences of seeing countless innocent people killed in raids for gold and their daughter being kidnapped.]]
** A somewhat ironic example when [[spoiler: Miryem's family wonders if any of the Staryk deserve to be spared.]] This is a much milder case as [[spoiler: they're not going on racist folk tales but instead their actual experiences of seeing countless innocent people killed in raids for gold and their daughter being kidnapped.]]
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* FantasticRacism: More like an actual form of racism that still persists to this day happening in our past but there's magic. Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism goes from fairly passive to outright aggressive once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed.
**A somewhat ironic example when [[spoiler: Miryem's family wonders if any of the Staryk deserve to be spared.]] This is a much milder case as [[spoiler: they're not going on racist folk tales but instead their actual experiences of seeing countless innocent people killed in raids for gold and their daughter being kidnapped.]]
**
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* WhatTheHellHero: Played with. [[spoiler: The Staryk King is more of an AntiVillain, sacrificing humanity to save his people from Chernobog,]] but Miryem calls him out on how even that justification is flimsy at best as [[spoiler: nobody knew that Mirnatius was harboring a demon when they crowned him king, and would have burnt him at the stake if they'd known. Unbeknownst to either of them, Mirnatius has no say in harboring a demon or becoming king, but Chernobog went ahead and killed his family against his wishes. She also reminds him how the Staryk were pillaging human villages well before Chrnobog came to power.]]
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* WhatTheHellHero: Played with. [[spoiler: The Staryk King is more of an AntiVillain, sacrificing humanity to save his people from Chernobog,]] but Miryem calls him out on how even that justification is flimsy at best as [[spoiler: nobody knew that Mirnatius was harboring a demon when they crowned him king, and would have burnt him at the stake if they'd known. Unbeknownst to either of them, Mirnatius has no say in harboring a demon or becoming king, but Chernobog went ahead and killed his family against his wishes. She also reminds him how the Staryk were pillaging human villages well before Chrnobog Chernobog came to power.]]
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* ReluctantRuler: It becomes clear over the course of the book that Mirnatius is far more interested in beauty than anything resembling statecraft. [[spoiler: He did not want the job, nor did he want his half-brother to die, but Chernobog had different ideas.]]
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* BigBad: The Staryk King.
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* GenreSavvy: When Irina learns that magic exists [[spoiler: and that her husband gets away with whatever he wants with the help of a demon]], she reminds him that unless he can snap his fingers and make money and goods this will do him little if there's a famine or he runs out of money. She also suggests that if his powers have a limited range he'll be just as vulnerable as anyone else to stray arrows on the battlefield.
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* GenreSavvy: When Irina learns that magic exists [[spoiler: and that her husband gets away with whatever he wants with the help of a demon]], she reminds him that unless he can snap his fingers and make money and goods this will do him little if there's a famine or he runs out of money. She also suggests that if his powers have a limited range he'll be just as vulnerable as anyone else to stray arrows on the battlefield. [[spoiler: Her refusal to take anything from Chernobog save for his word that he wouldn't harm her or anyone she cared for results in his banishment from her kingdom.]]
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* IKnowYourTrueName: This is the cornerstone of binding magic. Staryk only give their names to those they trust the most. [[spoiler: The book ends with Miryem learning of the Staryk Lord's name when he signs a wedding contract with her.]]
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* RescueRomance: It's implied that [[spoiler: Minartius falls in love with Irina after she tricks Chernobog into leaving him.]]
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** Then Miryem [[spoiler: completes the Staryk Lord's tasks and goes from wealthy commoner to queen. The book ends this way as she's fallen in love with him for real.]]
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* WouldNotHurtAChild: [[spoiler: The knowledge that there are Staryk children]] is what drives Miryem to defeat Chernobog.
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* AntiVillain: [[spoiler: The Staryk King's motivation for causing an eternal winter is to starve Chernobog and free his people from the threat of being devoured by fire--by burying the human world in an eternal winter.]]
* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: Chernobog, the demon Minartius's mother bound him to when he was in her womb. It's powerful enough to threaten all of both the Staryk and humanity. Causing an eternal winter was the Staryk King's attempt at starving it to death.]]
* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: Chernobog, the demon Minartius's mother bound him to when he was in her womb. It's powerful enough to threaten all of both the Staryk and humanity. Causing an eternal winter was the Staryk King's attempt at starving it to death.]]
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* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Irina takes no joy in the fact that [[spoiler: her plan for saving the kingdom from an eternal winter means that all Staryk, including innocent children, will be devoured by Chernobog. Knowing that Minartius had no say in being bound to it, she is also not joyful at all when planning to out him as a witch and burning him at the stake.]]
* IJustWantToBeNormal: [[spoiler: Minartius never wanted the throne and loved his brother]], he would have been happy living a life devoid of politics in which he could be an artist. [[spoiler: Chernobog had other plans.]]
* IJustWantToBeNormal: [[spoiler: Minartius never wanted the throne and loved his brother]], he would have been happy living a life devoid of politics in which he could be an artist. [[spoiler: Chernobog had other plans.]]
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* WhatTheHellHero: Played with. [[spoiler: The Staryk King is more of an AntiVillain, sacrificing humanity to save his people from Chernobog,]] but Miryem calls him out on how even that justification is flimsy at best as [[spoiler: nobody knew that Mirnatius was harboring a demon when they crowned him king, and would have burnt him at the stake if they'd known. Unbeknownst to either of them, Mirnatius has no say in harboring a demon or becoming king, but Chernobog went ahead and killed his family against his wishes. She also reminds him how the Staryk were pillaging human villages well before Chrnobog came to power.]]
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** A somewhat ironic example when [[spoiler: Miryem's family wonders if any of the Staryk deserve to be spared.]] This is a much milder case as [[spoiler: they're not going on racist folk tales but instead their actual experiences of seeing countless innocent people killed in raids for gold and their daughter being kidnapped.]]
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* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Miryem briefly has this reaction when [[spoiler: she finds out that the gold is the key to stealing the spring from the world.]] She again has this reaction when she realizes [[spoiler: that defeating the Staryk King could also mean that the innocent Staryk commoners could also become food for Chernobog. She has no guilt about the King or the other nobles who have been killing and raiding for gold, but she can't stand the idea of the children being punished.]]
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There are a lot of indications that the townsfolk are anti-semitic from the very beginning — sneering at Miryem when she goes past, overcharging her on everything and treating her family like they deserve their poverty just for being Jewish. It just goes into overdrive when Miryem starts collecting on their debts.
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One night Miryem boats of this near the woods, and this draws the attention from none other than the King of the Staryk, a race of ice demons who kill any who hunt their pure white animals, plunder gold from the people, and freeze any and all who wander too close to the woods. He gives Miryem a challenge: three times over, turn his silver into gold. If she fails, her life is forfeit. If she succeeds, she shall become his queen. [[spoiler: The first third of the book concludes with Miryem's success, and then follows her efforts to prevent her husband from plunging the world into endless winter.]]
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One night Miryem boats boasts of this near the woods, and this draws the attention from none other than the King of the Staryk, a race of ice demons who kill any who hunt their pure white animals, plunder gold from the people, and freeze any and all who wander too close to the woods. He gives Miryem a challenge: three times over, turn his silver into gold. If she fails, her life is forfeit. If she succeeds, she shall become his queen. [[spoiler: The first third of the book concludes with Miryem's success, and then follows her efforts to prevent her husband from plunging the world into endless winter.]]
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* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Miryem has much difficulty negotiating with the Staryk Lord and getting information out of him because he refuses to treat her like someone born and raised in a society not so radically focussed on holding up your end of an agreement and giving people what they're owed. Hence, even though ''neither of them want to go through with it'', [[spoiler: he insists on marrying her when she succeeds at turning his silver into gold.]] This is only further complicated by how people in Staryk Land don't just give up on things of value if they don't want them, and even if the giver doesn't want to give those things. [[spoiler: Such as a wife's right to have sex with her husband. Miryem has to announce that she'll gladly trade info for not having sex to avoid being defloured by an ice demon.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The Czar, Minatius, is in one of these, although it's implied that he may have been forced into it. Either way, he shares his body with a fire demon who uses magic to manipulate those around him and who got him the throne by killing his father and half brother. The price is that Minatius must aid the demon in sucking the life force out of anyone who tries to sleep with him.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The Czar, Minatius, is in one of these, although it's implied that he may have been forced into it. Either way, he shares his body with a fire demon who uses magic to manipulate those around him and who got him the throne by killing his father and half brother. The price is that Minatius must aid the demon in sucking the life force out of anyone who tries to sleep with him.]]
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* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Miryem has much difficulty negotiating with the Staryk Lord and getting information out of him because he refuses to treat her like someone born and raised in a society not so radically focussed focused on holding up your end of an agreement and giving people what they're owed. Hence, even though ''neither of them want to go through with it'', [[spoiler: he insists on marrying her when she succeeds at turning his silver into gold.]] This is only further complicated by how people in the Staryk Land don't just give up on things of value if they don't want them, and even if the giver doesn't want to give those things. [[spoiler: Such as a wife's right to have sex with her husband. Miryem has to announce that she'll gladly trade info for not having sex to avoid being defloured deflowered by an ice demon.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The Czar,Minatius, Mirnatius, is in one of these, although it's implied eventually we find out that he may have been was not the one who made the deal: his mother was, selling her unborn child for the demon's power. He is forced into it. Either way, he shares to share his body with a fire demon who uses magic to manipulate those around him and who got him the throne by killing his father and beloved half brother. The price is that Minatius must aid the demon in sucking the life force out of anyone who tries to sleep with him.brother.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The Czar,
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* ExactWords: At one point, the Staryk challenges Maryem to turn the contents of three of his treasure chambers from silver to gold. After spending a massive amount of time changing one, she gets her servants to empty out large amounts of the silver coins from the remaining vaults. As the Staryk said, she had to change 'everything in the chambers'.
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* ExactWords: At one point, the Staryk challenges Maryem Miryem to turn the contents of three of his treasure chambers from silver to gold. [[spoiler: After spending a massive amount of time changing just one, she gets her servants to empty out large amounts of all the silver coins from the remaining vaults.largest vault while she changes the second. As the Staryk said, she had to change 'everything in the chambers'. ]]
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* FantasticRacism: More like an actual form of racism that still persists to this day happening in our past but there's magic. Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism comes out of the woodworks once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed.
to:
* FantasticRacism: More like an actual form of racism that still persists to this day happening in our past but there's magic. Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism comes out of the woodworks goes from fairly passive to outright aggressive once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed.
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* GoodIsNotNice: A mild variant with Miryem. She isn't a loan shark, only charging a fair amount of interest and giving people fair prices for whatever they offer to her as penance, but it's known that her grandfather is wealthy and powerful, and she has the ledgers to prove what she is owed. She's not above threatening to get the law involved if it means getting what she is owed, and has Gorek's daughter, Wanda, pay off his debts by working for her, first as a maid and then as a debt collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a blessing for Wanda.]]
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* GoodIsNotNice: A mild variant with Miryem. She isn't a loan shark, only charging a fair amount of interest and giving people fair prices for whatever they offer to her as penance, but it's known that her grandfather is wealthy and powerful, and she has the ledgers to prove what she is owed. She's not above threatening to get the law involved if it means getting what she is owed, and has Gorek's daughter, Wanda, pay off his debts by working for her, first as a maid and then also as a debt collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a blessing for Wanda.]]
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** Much of the townsfolk are like this, coming up with any excuse to avoid paying Miryem's father the money they owe him even though he only comes to collect when his family desperately needs the money, and he only collects from those who visibly have the money to spare. They don't care about them when the family is close to starving, and when Miryem starts to collect money, suddenly in their eyes the Mandelstein family is the picture of their "greedy Jew" stereotype.
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** Much of the townsfolk are like this, coming up with any excuse to avoid paying Miryem's father the money they owe him even though he only comes to collect when his family desperately needs the money, and he only collects from those who visibly have the money to spare. They don't care about them when the family is close to starving, and when Miryem starts to collect money, suddenly in their eyes the Mandelstein Mandelstam family is the picture of their "greedy Jew" stereotype.
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* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Miryem is an inversion of this for Wanda, as her request that Wanda work off her father's debt [[spoiler: prevents him from marrying her off for a dowry, and they provide her with dinner free of charge, unaware that she usually goes hungry at home. However, when Miryem finds out that Wanda's father was beating her and that Wanda had hidden her raise from him in order to try and save up enough to escape, Miryem is aghast at how easily it all could have fallen apart if Gorek had complained to her and Miryem had fired back.]]
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* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Miryem is an inversion of this for Wanda, as her request demand that Wanda work off her father's debt [[spoiler: prevents him from marrying her off for a dowry, and they provide her with dinner free of charge, unaware that she usually goes hungry at home. However, when Miryem finds out that Wanda's father was beating her and that Wanda had hidden her raise from him in order to try and save up enough to escape, Miryem is aghast at how easily it all could have fallen apart if Gorek had complained to her and Miryem had fired back.]]
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** Much of the townsfolk are like this, coming up with any excuse to avoid paying Miryem's father the money they owe him even though he only comes to collect when his family desperately needs the money, and he only collects from those who visibly have the money to spare. They don't care about them when the family is close to starving, and when Miryem starts to collect money, suddenly in their eyes the Mandelstein is the picture of their "greedy Jew" stereotype.
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** Much of the townsfolk are like this, coming up with any excuse to avoid paying Miryem's father the money they owe him even though he only comes to collect when his family desperately needs the money, and he only collects from those who visibly have the money to spare. They don't care about them when the family is close to starving, and when Miryem starts to collect money, suddenly in their eyes the Mandelstein family is the picture of their "greedy Jew" stereotype.
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* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Miryem is an inversion of this for Wanda, as her request that Wanda work off her father's debt [[spoiler: prevents him from marrying her off for a dowry, and they provide her with dinner free of charge, unaware that she usually goes hungry at home. However, when Miryem finds out that Wanda's father was beating her and that Wanda had hidden her raise from him in order to try and save up enough to escape, Miryem is aghast at how easily it all could have fallen apart if Gorek had complained to her and Miryem had fired back.]]
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Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father is not a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has left his family on the edge of poverty - until Miryem intercedes. Hardening her heart, she sets out to retrieve what is owed, and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. But when an ill-advised boast brings her to the attention of the cold creatures who haunt the wood, nothing will be the same again.
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Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father is not a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has left his family on the edge of poverty - until Miryem intercedes. Hardening her heart, she sets out to retrieve what is owed, and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. But when an ill-advised boast brings her to
One night Miryem boats of this near the woods, and this draws the attention from none other than the King of thecold creatures Staryk, a race of ice demons who haunt kill any who hunt their pure white animals, plunder gold from the wood, nothing will be people, and freeze any and all who wander too close to the same again.
woods. He gives Miryem a challenge: three times over, turn his silver into gold. If she fails, her life is forfeit. If she succeeds, she shall become his queen. [[spoiler: The first third of the book concludes with Miryem's success, and then follows her efforts to prevent her husband from plunging the world into endless winter.]]
One night Miryem boats of this near the woods, and this draws the attention from none other than the King of the
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* EndlessWinter: The Staryk's world is like this.
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* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Miryem has much difficulty negotiating with the Staryk Lord and getting information out of him because he refuses to treat her like someone born and raised in a society not so radically focussed on holding up your end of an agreement and giving people what they're owed. Hence, even though ''neither of them want to go through with it'', [[spoiler: he insists on marrying her when she succeeds at turning his silver into gold.]] This is only further complicated by how people in Staryk Land don't just give up on things of value if they don't want them, and even if the giver doesn't want to give those things. [[spoiler: Such as a wife's right to have sex with her husband. Miryem has to announce that she'll gladly trade info for not having sex to avoid being defloured by an ice demon.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The Czar, Minatius, is in one of these, although it's implied that he may have been forced into it. Either way, he shares his body with a fire demon who uses magic to manipulate those around him and who got him the throne by killing his father and half brother. The price is that Minatius must aid the demon in sucking the life force out of anyone who tries to sleep with him.]]
* EndlessWinter: The Staryk's world is like this. [[spoiler: Their King's goal is to do this to the human world as well, as the colder earth is the stronger the Staryk King's palace is.]]
* DealWithTheDevil: [[spoiler: The Czar, Minatius, is in one of these, although it's implied that he may have been forced into it. Either way, he shares his body with a fire demon who uses magic to manipulate those around him and who got him the throne by killing his father and half brother. The price is that Minatius must aid the demon in sucking the life force out of anyone who tries to sleep with him.]]
* EndlessWinter: The Staryk's world is like this. [[spoiler: Their King's goal is to do this to the human world as well, as the colder earth is the stronger the Staryk King's palace is.]]
** This is how much of the magic in this setting works. For example, it doesn't matter how Miryem comes by it, but she manages to take three large amounts of silver and come back with equal amounts of gold. [[spoiler: This gives her the power to transform silver into gold.]]
* FantasticRacism: More like an actual form of racism that still persists to this day happening in our past but there's magic. Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism comes out of the woodworks once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed.
* GenreSavvy: When Irina learns that magic exists [[spoiler: and that her husband gets away with whatever he wants with the help of a demon]], she reminds him that unless he can snap his fingers and make money and goods this will do him little if there's a famine or he runs out of money. She also suggests that if his powers have a limited range he'll be just as vulnerable as anyone else to stray arrows on the battlefield.
* FantasticRacism: More like an actual form of racism that still persists to this day happening in our past but there's magic. Miryem and her family are Jewish, and the townsfolk's antisemitism comes out of the woodworks once Miryem starts collecting the money they're legally owed.
* GenreSavvy: When Irina learns that magic exists [[spoiler: and that her husband gets away with whatever he wants with the help of a demon]], she reminds him that unless he can snap his fingers and make money and goods this will do him little if there's a famine or he runs out of money. She also suggests that if his powers have a limited range he'll be just as vulnerable as anyone else to stray arrows on the battlefield.
** Much of the townsfolk are like this, coming up with any excuse to avoid paying Miryem's father the money they owe him even though he only comes to collect when his family desperately needs the money, and he only collects from those who visibly have the money to spare. They don't care about them when the family is close to starving, and when Miryem starts to collect money, suddenly in their eyes the Mandelstein is the picture of their "greedy Jew" stereotype.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: Three different cases of this leads to multiple days being saved! Firstly, the Staryk King [[spoiler: tasking Miryem with turning his silver into gold results in her having it turned into jewelry and sold.]] This jewelry winds up in the hands of Irina, and [[spoiler: its magic allows her to use mirrors as portals to the Staryk's world. She's able to hide there from a demon her husband harbors which intends on devouring her life force.]] Then, Gorek's drunken rage [[spoiler: At Wanda's refusal to accept the marriage he arranged for her provokes her older brother into action to save her. Gorek dies in the struggle. The two of them escape to the woods and hide in a cabin that turns out to be connected to the Staryk's realm as well, and some of the things they make and food they cook wind up in the other world's reflection of the cabin. This winds up saving Irina and her nanny when they're close to dying in the cold. They also are in the perfect place to find their younger brother and Miryem's parents when they're stranded in the woods.]] And on top of all of this [[spoiler: Irina winds up returning the favor to Miryem, as they meet up in the Staryk's realm and hatch a plan to save the world and get the demon to leave Irina alone by feeding it the Staryk Lord.]]
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* WorkingOffTheDebt: Wanda enters the story when Miryem, unable to get any sort of material payment plan from her father Gorek, sees the strapping farmgirl and demands she work for her family with her wage applied to the six kopek debt.
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* WorkingOffTheDebt: Wanda enters the story when Miryem, unable to get any sort of material payment plan from her father Gorek, sees the strapping farmgirl and demands she work for her family with her wage applied to the six kopek debt.debt.
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Irina looks like this to all without magic when she wears the jewelry forged from the Staryk silver.
* WorldsMostBeautifulWoman: Irina looks like this to all without magic when she wears the jewelry forged from the Staryk silver.
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* ExactWords: At one point, the Staryk challenges Maryem to turn the contents of three of his treasure chambers from silver to gold. After spending a massive amount of time changing one, she gets her servants to empty out large amounts of the silver coins from the remaining vaults. As the Staryk said, she had to change 'everything in the chambers'.
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* Missing Mom: Farm girl Wanda and noblewoman Irina both lost their mothers to [[DeathByChildbirth childbed]]. Irina's father the Duke remarried, and with two healthy young sons he [[ParentalNeglect pays little attention to a fairly plain daughter not likely to snare a useful marriage]]. Wanda's father... [[ParentalAbuse is worse]].
to:
* Missing Mom: MissingMom: Farm girl Wanda and noblewoman Irina both lost their mothers to [[DeathByChildbirth childbed]]. Irina's father the Duke remarried, and with two healthy young sons he [[ParentalNeglect pays little attention to a fairly plain daughter not likely to snare a useful marriage]]. Wanda's father... [[ParentalAbuse is worse]].
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* Missing Mom: Farm girl Wanda and noblewoman Irina both lost their mothers to [[DeathByChildbirth childbed]]. Irina's father the Duke remarried, and with two healthy young sons he [[ParentalNeglect pays little attention to a fairly plain daughter not likely to snare a useful marriage]]. Wanda's father... [[ParentalAbuse is worse]].
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* NiceGuy: Miryem's father is this to a fault. He lent out his wife's sizable dowry and his kindness kept him from collecting on it when they needed it, and he'd only collect--without interest--when they were going to starve. They stay with him despite Miryem's grandfather being wealthy and willing to take them in because he treats them with nothing but love and respect.
to:
* NiceGuy: Miryem's father is this to a fault. He lent out his wife's sizable dowry and his kindness kept him from collecting on it when they needed it, and he'd only collect--without interest--when they were going to starve. They His wife and daughter stay with him despite Miryem's grandfather being wealthy and willing to take them in because he treats them with nothing but love and respect.
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Although it is very easy to guess which places Novik is referring to (Vishna is Vilnius, Lithvas is Lithuania, Minansk is Minsk), none of those places ever actually were called that. (Nor was there ever a Tsar named Mirnatius.) So like the Polnya (Poland) of Uprooted, the setting of Spinning Silver is also a fantasy.
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A SpiritualSuccessor to the author's previous novel, Literature/{{Uprooted}}. While the two books don't share a setting--the previous book took place in a fantasy world, whilst ''Spinning Silver'' takes place in our past with some fantastical elements--their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being ''very'' loosely based on the story of Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}.
to:
A SpiritualSuccessor to the author's previous novel, Literature/{{Uprooted}}. While the two books don't share a setting--the previous book took place in a fantasy world, whilst ''Spinning Silver'' takes place in our past with some fantastical elements--their setting, their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being ''very'' loosely based on the story of Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}.
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Sergei is her brother's name
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* GoodIsNotNice: A mild variant with Miryem. She isn't a loan shark, only charging a fair amount of interest and giving people fair prices for whatever they offer to her as penance, but it's known that her grandfather is wealthy and powerful, and she has the ledgers to prove what she is owed. She's not above threatening to get the law involved if it means getting what she is owed, and has Sergei's daughter, Wanda, pay off his debts by working for her, first as a maid and then as a debt collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a blessing for Wanda.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Sergei, Wanda's father, can in many ways be described as the polar opposite of Miryem's father. Miryem's father would go hungry so his wife and daughter could eat and was happy to help his wife with women's work to make things easier for her; his only fault was that he was too kind to collect on the debts people owed him unless they desperately needed the money. Sergei is a domestic abuser who gambles away money he could use to feed his starving family, and [[spoiler: would have pimped his daughter out to the village men had Miryem not unknowingly saved her by arranging for Wanda to work as a housemaid for her family to pay off his debts.]]
* MundaneLuxury: Wanda finds sharing her new employers' supper enough reason to be overjoyed when she overhears it would take four years before her father's debt is paid off.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Sergei, Wanda's father, can in many ways be described as the polar opposite of Miryem's father. Miryem's father would go hungry so his wife and daughter could eat and was happy to help his wife with women's work to make things easier for her; his only fault was that he was too kind to collect on the debts people owed him unless they desperately needed the money. Sergei is a domestic abuser who gambles away money he could use to feed his starving family, and [[spoiler: would have pimped his daughter out to the village men had Miryem not unknowingly saved her by arranging for Wanda to work as a housemaid for her family to pay off his debts.]]
* MundaneLuxury: Wanda finds sharing her new employers' supper enough reason to be overjoyed when she overhears it would take four years before her father's debt is paid off.
to:
* GoodIsNotNice: A mild variant with Miryem. She isn't a loan shark, only charging a fair amount of interest and giving people fair prices for whatever they offer to her as penance, but it's known that her grandfather is wealthy and powerful, and she has the ledgers to prove what she is owed. She's not above threatening to get the law involved if it means getting what she is owed, and has Sergei's Gorek's daughter, Wanda, pay off his debts by working for her, first as a maid and then as a debt collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a blessing for Wanda.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk:Sergei, Gorek, Wanda's father, can in many ways be described as the polar opposite of Miryem's father. Miryem's father would go hungry so his wife and daughter could eat and was happy to help his wife with women's work to make things easier for her; his only fault was that he was too kind to collect on the debts people owed him unless they desperately needed the money. Sergei Gorek is a domestic abuser who gambles away money he could use to feed his starving family, and [[spoiler: would have pimped his daughter out to the village men had Miryem not unknowingly saved her by arranging for Wanda to work as a housemaid for her family to pay off his debts.]]
* MundaneLuxury: Wanda finds sharing her new employers' supper enough reason to be silently overjoyed when she overhears it would take four years before her father's debt is paid off.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk:
* MundaneLuxury: Wanda finds sharing her new employers' supper enough reason to be silently overjoyed when she overhears it would take four years before her father's debt is paid off.
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* WorkingOffTheDebt: Wanda enters the story when Miryem, unable to get any sort of material payment plan from her father, sees the strapping farmgirl and demands she work for her family with her wage applied to the six kopek debt.
to:
* WorkingOffTheDebt: Wanda enters the story when Miryem, unable to get any sort of material payment plan from her father, father Gorek, sees the strapping farmgirl and demands she work for her family with her wage applied to the six kopek debt.
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None
* MundaneLuxury: Wanda finds sharing her new employers' supper enough reason to be overjoyed when she overhears it would take four years before her father's debt is paid off.
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* RagsToRiches: In less than four chapters, Miryem's family has gone from dirt poor to living comfortably thanks to her way with numbers and desire to care for her sickly mother.
to:
* RagsToRiches: In less than four chapters, Miryem's family has gone from dirt poor to living comfortably thanks to her way with numbers and desire to care for her sickly mother.mother.
* WorkingOffTheDebt: Wanda enters the story when Miryem, unable to get any sort of material payment plan from her father, sees the strapping farmgirl and demands she work for her family with her wage applied to the six kopek debt.
* WorkingOffTheDebt: Wanda enters the story when Miryem, unable to get any sort of material payment plan from her father, sees the strapping farmgirl and demands she work for her family with her wage applied to the six kopek debt.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 4,5 (click to see context) from:
A SpiritualSuccessor to the author's previous novel, Literature/{{Uprooted}}. While the two books don't share a setting--the previous book took place in a fantasy world, whilst ''Spinning Silver'' takes place in our past with some fantastical elements--their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being *very* loosely based on the story of Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}.
to:
A SpiritualSuccessor to the author's previous novel, Literature/{{Uprooted}}. While the two books don't share a setting--the previous book took place in a fantasy world, whilst ''Spinning Silver'' takes place in our past with some fantastical elements--their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being *very* ''very'' loosely based on the story of Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}.
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None
Changed line(s) 14 (click to see context) from:
* RichesToRags: Miryem's mother came from a very wealthy family of Jewish moneylenders. This gets subverted a few chapters in when Miryem takes over collecting her father's debts and they quickly increase their wealth.
to:
* RichesToRags: Miryem's mother came from a very wealthy family of Jewish moneylenders. This gets subverted a few chapters in when Miryem takes over collecting her father's the debts her father is owed and they quickly increase their wealth.
Is there an issue? Send a MessageReason:
None
Changed line(s) 4,5 (click to see context) from:
A sequel/spiritual successor to the author's previous novel, Literature/{{Uprooted}}. While the two books don't share a setting--the previous book took place in a fantasy world, whilst ''Spinning Silver'' takes place in our past with some fantastical elements--their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being *very* loosely based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin.
to:
A sequel/spiritual successor SpiritualSuccessor to the author's previous novel, Literature/{{Uprooted}}. While the two books don't share a setting--the previous book took place in a fantasy world, whilst ''Spinning Silver'' takes place in our past with some fantastical elements--their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being *very* loosely based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin.Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}.
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None
Added DiffLines:
[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/51wih3kmerl_8.jpg]]
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Added DiffLines:
A sequel/spiritual successor to the author's previous novel, Literature/{{Uprooted}}. While the two books don't share a setting--the previous book took place in a fantasy world, whilst ''Spinning Silver'' takes place in our past with some fantastical elements--their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being *very* loosely based on the story of Rumpelstiltskin.
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father is not a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has left his family on the edge of poverty - until Miryem intercedes. Hardening her heart, she sets out to retrieve what is owed, and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. But when an ill-advised boast brings her to the attention of the cold creatures who haunt the wood, nothing will be the same again.
!!This work contains examples of:
* EndlessWinter: The Staryk's world is like this.
* GoodIsNotNice: A mild variant with Miryem. She isn't a loan shark, only charging a fair amount of interest and giving people fair prices for whatever they offer to her as penance, but it's known that her grandfather is wealthy and powerful, and she has the ledgers to prove what she is owed. She's not above threatening to get the law involved if it means getting what she is owed, and has Sergei's daughter, Wanda, pay off his debts by working for her, first as a maid and then as a debt collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a blessing for Wanda.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Sergei, Wanda's father, can in many ways be described as the polar opposite of Miryem's father. Miryem's father would go hungry so his wife and daughter could eat and was happy to help his wife with women's work to make things easier for her; his only fault was that he was too kind to collect on the debts people owed him unless they desperately needed the money. Sergei is a domestic abuser who gambles away money he could use to feed his starving family, and [[spoiler: would have pimped his daughter out to the village men had Miryem not unknowingly saved her by arranging for Wanda to work as a housemaid for her family to pay off his debts.]]
* NiceGuy: Miryem's father is this to a fault. He lent out his wife's sizable dowry and his kindness kept him from collecting on it when they needed it, and he'd only collect--without interest--when they were going to starve. They stay with him despite Miryem's grandfather being wealthy and willing to take them in because he treats them with nothing but love and respect.
* RichesToRags: Miryem's mother came from a very wealthy family of Jewish moneylenders. This gets subverted a few chapters in when Miryem takes over collecting her father's debts and they quickly increase their wealth.
* RagsToRiches: In less than four chapters, Miryem's family has gone from dirt poor to living comfortably thanks to her way with numbers and desire to care for her sickly mother.
Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders, but her father is not a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has left his family on the edge of poverty - until Miryem intercedes. Hardening her heart, she sets out to retrieve what is owed, and soon gains a reputation for being able to turn silver into gold. But when an ill-advised boast brings her to the attention of the cold creatures who haunt the wood, nothing will be the same again.
!!This work contains examples of:
* EndlessWinter: The Staryk's world is like this.
* GoodIsNotNice: A mild variant with Miryem. She isn't a loan shark, only charging a fair amount of interest and giving people fair prices for whatever they offer to her as penance, but it's known that her grandfather is wealthy and powerful, and she has the ledgers to prove what she is owed. She's not above threatening to get the law involved if it means getting what she is owed, and has Sergei's daughter, Wanda, pay off his debts by working for her, first as a maid and then as a debt collector. [[spoiler: This turns out to be a blessing for Wanda.]]
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: Sergei, Wanda's father, can in many ways be described as the polar opposite of Miryem's father. Miryem's father would go hungry so his wife and daughter could eat and was happy to help his wife with women's work to make things easier for her; his only fault was that he was too kind to collect on the debts people owed him unless they desperately needed the money. Sergei is a domestic abuser who gambles away money he could use to feed his starving family, and [[spoiler: would have pimped his daughter out to the village men had Miryem not unknowingly saved her by arranging for Wanda to work as a housemaid for her family to pay off his debts.]]
* NiceGuy: Miryem's father is this to a fault. He lent out his wife's sizable dowry and his kindness kept him from collecting on it when they needed it, and he'd only collect--without interest--when they were going to starve. They stay with him despite Miryem's grandfather being wealthy and willing to take them in because he treats them with nothing but love and respect.
* RichesToRags: Miryem's mother came from a very wealthy family of Jewish moneylenders. This gets subverted a few chapters in when Miryem takes over collecting her father's debts and they quickly increase their wealth.
* RagsToRiches: In less than four chapters, Miryem's family has gone from dirt poor to living comfortably thanks to her way with numbers and desire to care for her sickly mother.
