Uprooted in Around the Year in 52 Books

Aug 21, 2017 Colleen Scidmore rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: magic, young-adult, currently-on-google-drive, books-read-in-2017, currently-on-my-computer, romance, fantasy, overcoming-obstacles, adventure, drama

Actual stars 3.5-3.75

I'm not much for fairytales but Uprooted was pretty enjoyable for the most part.

Sarkan is a wizard who lives a solitary life except for the company of one girl. He would choose a girl at the age of 17 from one of the villages surrounding the evil and corrupted Woods every 10 years and keep them in his tower. After the 10 years are up the girls could leave and return to their village. But the girls now women would never remain in their villages for very long or decide to ma Actual stars 3.5-3.75

I'm not much for fairytales but Uprooted was pretty enjoyable for the most part.

Sarkan is a wizard who lives a solitary life except for the company of one girl. He would choose a girl at the age of 17 from one of the villages surrounding the evil and corrupted Woods every 10 years and keep them in his tower. After the 10 years are up the girls could leave and return to their village. But the girls now women would never remain in their villages for very long or decide to marry, their lives now seem destined for a different course.
It is that time again when Dragon (aka Sarkan) is about to choose a new girl for his tower. Everyone one in the village thinks that Sarkan is going to choose Kasia because she is the more beautiful of all the eligible girls and therefore taught by her mother to cook and other domestic duties that she will need. But to everyone's surprise Sarkan picks Agnieszka, definitely not the most put together girl with rips and stains regularly on her clothes and her hair in a tangled mess most of the time. And no domestic abilities to speak of.
Sarkan and Agnieszka have a tumultuous relationship from the start. He barely speaks to her and when he does he insults her and is very impatient with her clumsiness in cooking and household chores and especially her appearance. Agnieszka is not sure what reason Sarkan would have for choosing her until he shows her what she has to offer and it will alter her life as well as the future of the villages surrounding The Wood.

Sarkan and Agnieszka have a complex relationship. First of all, Sarkan pretty much abducted her, or I guess she was technically "given" to him by her village so poor Agnieszka is scared to death of this cranky reclusive old but not old man. And everything she does is not right. She can't cook, can't clean without making a mess. If the kitchen were a person and she fought the kitchen, the kitchen looked like it won with food and dirt on her clothes and her hair unkempt all the time only earned Agnieszka sharp looks and biting comments from Sarkan. She could do no right and his impatience was constant.
Somewhere along the way things started to change. You felt a companionship of sorts grow between the two. Not exactly comfortable but civil. Through their both trying to stop The Wood from corrupting of all of the land Sarkan and Agnieszka became even closer. But their was still the awkwardness of her being held against her will.

This was a fairytale type of story I could get into for the most part. It had a bit of a romantic feel at times as Sarkan and Agnieszka got to know each other a bit. But there was still an irritation he had with her and she had to deal with being kept in the tower. Plus once they got into a routine than they had to deal with The Wood. So sentiments went to the wayside.
Even though Sarkan was a bit crotchety most of the time but it was endearing because he was never cruel and nice not to see an insta love develop. That gets old sometimes. Sometimes you need some good old tension.
The only thing I think really annoyed me was how much time went into the battles with The Wood. It felt too long and I got bored some of the time.
I guess I just wanted more development between Sarkan and Agnieszka and less Woods fighting.

This book gives me hope that they are other enjoyable type of fairytale reads out there. I'm looking forward to trying a couple more. ...more

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Nov 28, 2015 Marta rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: library, fantasy, female-author, romance, chick-lit

A real page turner. Pure high fantasy, overflowing with magic, epic battles, complete with damsel-in-distress, an evil queen, dynastic intrigue, a corrupted court, idyllic peasants, and of course, romance. The story is non-stop, the battle scenes and magic are dramatic, well-crafted, richly detailed.

Unfortunately, the characters and the dialogue are flat, and the improbability of some reactions and especially the romance, jerked me out of full enjoyment. Sarkan is an irritable jerk, full of con ...more

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Jan 16, 2019 Lena84 rated it it was ok · review of another edition

If you asked me what the story of this book was about, I honestly could not tell you. Why? Because there is no story. Nothing ever happens.
Whenever I started a new chapter, I could not remember what I'd read the day before, and the only thing that kept me pushing through the book was the hope that it would start to make sense soon. I gave up after about 70% and skipped to the ending, and I still don't feel like I missed anything.

Two stars because the writing is alright. ...more

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Jan 17, 2016 Marie (UK) rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2016-reading-challenge

I enjoy Noami Novik's books and this is no exception ...more

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Jan 03, 2020 Kayla rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Very unique premise and stands out from all the other YA fantasies out there. Female lead character was very flawed, which I loved, and everything about her felt very authentic. Definitely want to read more from this author!

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