The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman
I didn't know what I was actually picking up when I checked out Neil Gaiman's fairy tale, The Sleeper and the Spindle . Earlier this week, I mentioned his quote, "I like stories where women save themselves", and he was talking about fairy tales. The Sleeper and the Spindle , illustrated by Chris Riddell, has a couple unexpected twists, which I will not cover in this review. Three dwarfs, who had once lived with a queen, set out on a journey to buy silk for the young woman who was about to marry. But, the day before her wedding, the dwarfs returned to tell her that that world was falling asleep. It all seemed to stem from an old enchantment. Now, people throughout the neighboring kingdoms were falling under that enchantment, or plague, or whatever you wanted to call it. Only the spiders seem unaffected. They continued to spin webs, which now covered the people. The young queen, who was worried she would no longer have choices once she married, made a couple decisions. ...