History Literature / SpinningSilver

* KissingCousins: Ilias is in love with his cousin, Tsar Mirnatius. Mirnatius is well-aware of this, but isn't interested.

** Staryk silver coins are imbued with their magic, so jewellery forged from them gives the wearer a powerful {{Glamour}}.

* PoorCommunicationKills: If the Staryk King had bothered to tell Miryem about the threat posed by [[spoiler:Chernobog]], she probably would have helped him develop an alternative strategy to deal with it, rather than rightfully treat him as an enemy for trying to trap the world in winter.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Miryem compares her situation to that of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Judith Judith]] in Deuteronomy [[spoiler:after she hatches the plan with Irina to feed the Staryk King to the tsar's demon Chernobog. She feels it even more strongly when the King tells her that the reason he had her transmute all that silver to gold was to trap spring and summer within it, causing the unending winter that is freezing Lithvas to death]].

* BiggerBad: [[spoiler: Chernobog, the demon Mirnatius'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.]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: Literally in the Duke's case. He got his present position during the war that made Mirnatius' father tsar by defeating the previous Duke of Vysnia's forces in battle. He still personally drills his men daily and other nobles who want their sons to have good martial skills send them to be fostered b him.

While Miryem struggles to earn the gold she needs to avoid the Staryk's wrath, her neighbor, Wanda, fightsto find a way to deal with her violent, drunken father and his clear intent to marry her off for a bride price. Elsewhere, the noblewoman Irina is betrothed to the handsome king Mirnatius and learns that he may be harboring a dark secret.

While Miryem struggles to earn the gold she needs to avoid the Staryk's wrath, her neighbor, Wanda, fightsto find a way to deal with her violent, drunken father and his clear intent to marry her off for a dowry. Elsewhere, the noblewoman Irina is betrothed to the handsome king Mirnatius and learns that he may be harboring a dark secret.

While Miryem struggles to earn the gold she needs to avoid the Staryk's wrath, her neighbor, Wanda, struggles to find a way to deal with her violent, drunken father and his clear intent to marry her off for a dowry. Elsewhere, the noblewoman Irina is betrothed to the handsome king Mirnatius and learns that he may be harboring a dark secret.

A SpiritualSuccessor to the author's previous novel, ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}''. While the two books don't share a setting, their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being ''very'' loosely based on the stories of Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}, Literature/{{Bluebeard}, and Literature/HanselAndGretel.

A SpiritualSuccessor to the author's previous novel, ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}''. While the two books don't share a setting, their tones and themes overlap significantly, with this book being ''very'' loosely based on the story of Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}.

--> "Though you feast upon me to the end of days, I will never unlock my kingdom's gates, and you will have nothing of me that you do not steal."

* MercyKill: [[spoiler: the Staryk King tells Miryem to do this when Chernabog is coming and it seems she will not be able to free him in time.]]

** The Duke of Visyna, Irina's father, loved his first wife--although Irina believes that he's annoyed by this fact, because it went counter to his usual practice of doing nothing without gaining something in return.

* 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.
** Even the Mendelstans, who are GoodParents overall, are portrayed as flawed in allowing their family to fall into crippling poverty (which nearly killed Miryem's mother), rather than demand their neighbors repay them

* HiredHelpAsFamily: Irina's OldRetainer Magreta is also her ParentalSubstitute who raised her from infancy, since her father the Duke has little interest in her. They care deeply for each other and each risks her life to protect the other at some point.

* ManInWhite: The Staryk King wears pure white clothes to match his [[MysticalWhiteHair hair]] and his [[AnIcePerson power over winter]]. It's later revealed to be a sign of rank -- the lower-class the Staryk, the darker grey they wear.

* BridalCarry: Miryem receives this treatment from the Staryk King after she saves him from being devoured by Chernabog.

* AccidentalHeroism: Gorek burying his dead wife and sons who didn't survive infancy under a tree behind their farm was a natural action, done without any deeper intent, but their life force ended up embedding a certain amount of magic into that tree, helping grant requests that his children pray to it for.

* BridalCarry: Miryem receives this treatment from the Staryk king after she saves him from being devoured by Chernabog.

One night Miryem 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.]]

* ApologyGift: Possibly Combined BuyThemOff, Mirnatius mentions [[spoiler: sending payments to loved ones sometimes after Chernobog kills someone through him]].

* BigBrotherInstinct: Initially averted, with Wanda being distant towards her brothers, although when it comes to it she saves Sergegy from being killed by Staryk magic by praying to their mothers tree, and afterwards all three become more protective of each other. Stepon also showed a decent amount of ''little'' brother instinct in that scene, running to get help when Seregy got sick, and wordlessly persuading Wanda to help him.

* FirstPersonSmartass: when he finally see inside Mirnatius’s head we see [[TheCynic an incredibly cynical]] figure frustrated with most of those around him and thinking all the things he knows better than to say out loud.

* OhCrap: [[spoiler: Oleg's]]. reaction to realizing the gold he was about to steal was earmarked for the Staryk is not exactly a stoic one. This is fully justified, as their magic takes his life shortly afterwards.

* 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.]]

* CainAndAbel: Zigzagged, many suspect Mirnatius of having killed his older brother for the throne [[spoiler: but it turns out that he only stood back while Chernoborg did it, something he ha no control over, and while Mirnatius is a somewhat unpleasant character, he claims that his brother was just as bad, as was the one who taught him CrueltyToAnimals]].

* HeroicBystander: The chambermaid in the Duke's manor who [[spoiler:dumps an ash-bucket onto Chernobog to finally extinguish him]].
** Earlier, despite the moment coming completely out of nowhere for him and involving forces many wouldn’t mess with, one of the Dukes guards rallies several people to help[[spoiler: Bind the Staryk King]].

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Oleg's son and successor Algis abandons Miryems parents, and Wanda and her brothers due to [[spoiler: Wanda and Sergey being wanted for murder]]. and the threat of the nearby snowstorm and Staryk, although he doesn’t quite cross into UngratefulBastard territory due to the later reveal that [[spoiler: He didn’t tell the rest of the village that Meriyams parents had been assisting the fugitive siblings or alert their pursuers to look for them there]].