Uprooted in What's the Name of That Book???

Nov 03, 2015 Nadine in NY Jones rated it really liked it

Shelves: audio, based-on-a-folk-tale, fantasy-romance, fantasy-and-sci-fi

The power in the wood isn't some blind, hating beast - it can think and plan, and work towards its own ends. It can see into the heart of men, all the better to poison them.

This was delightful! It was a lot better than I had anticipated! A very pleasant surprise for me. I had read His Majesty's Dragon before, and it was ok but kind of blah, so I wasn't so sure how I would feel about Uprooted. I finished this book with a big smile on my face.

After I read this, I glanced at a few other reviews ...more

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Jan 01, 2016 Trin rated it it was amazing

Shelves: american-lit, fantasy

Some stories are like coming home. When you read them, you don't necessarily know what's going to happen, but you can feel the beats of them in your bones. Such is the case with Uprooted, an Eastern European-style adult fairy tale in the tradition of the Baba Yaga stories. That its ancestry is clear only makes the unique and thrilling twists author Naomi Novik adds to the narrative more of a delight. With a deft hand and bright and lucid prose, Novik brings together so many of my favorite things ...more

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Dec 23, 2015 Melissa Rochelle rated it liked it

Shelves: library, read-2016, scifi-fantasy

After hearing a lot of good buzziness about this one, I finally checked it out. I liked it, I didn't love it. I would put it down one night and not pick it up again for a couple of days. While I was reading it, I was IN IT. I was IN Agnieszka's world, but there was no pull. Often while reading it, I thought I was missing something because things never felt explained -- (view spoiler)

Don't ge ...more

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Aug 08, 2015 Emma rated it it was ok

Agnieszka has always known her best friend Kasia would be taken by the Dragon on the next choosing day. Everyone in their valley knows that the Dragon will choose beautiful, smart, kind Kasia to serve him for the next ten years.

The Dragon won't eat Kasia--wizard's don't do that--and he won't hurt her. People whisper about what the Dragon must do to the girls--what any man would do with a girl locked away for ten years--despite every girl's denials. Either way, she'll be ruined. When her service Agnieszka has always known her best friend Kasia would be taken by the Dragon on the next choosing day. Everyone in their valley knows that the Dragon will choose beautiful, smart, kind Kasia to serve him for the next ten years.

The Dragon won't eat Kasia--wizard's don't do that--and he won't hurt her. People whisper about what the Dragon must do to the girls--what any man would do with a girl locked away for ten years--despite every girl's denials. Either way, she'll be ruined. When her service ends, she'll never call the valley home again.

Except that isn't what happens at the choosing. Instead, Agnieszka finds herself whisked away to the Dragon's tower. In exchange for her service the Dragon will continue to protect the valley from the enchanted Wood that plagues them with strange creatures and the threat of encroachment.

But the Wood is changing; the creatures are growing bolder. With secrets and strange revelations at every turn it will take everything Agnieszka and the Dragon have together to fight what's coming for them in Uprooted (2015) by Naomi Novik.

Uprooted is a standalone fantasy novel. This review includes a lot of critical analysis and it will have spoilers from here on out.

(view spoiler)[

Before even talking in length about the story or characters in this novel, it's important to note that the threat of rape is a constant. The fear of what the Dragon does to girls in his tower looms over the entire first third of the novel while Agnieszka fears first for her friend Kasia and then for herself. Does anything ever come of these fears? Not really. Does that make it any more enjoyable to read about as a key driving force of the narrative? Absolutely not. (Cecelia also talks at length about this--often more articulately than me--in her review at Adventures of Cecelia Bedelia.)

Why am I talking about rape culture in Uprooted? Because it's impossible not to when the subject of that fear is also the romantic lead. After spending a third of the book bickering, fighting, and downright hating the Dragon (while wondering when, exactly, he will try to take advantage of her), Agnieszka finds herself attracted to the Dragon. In fact, she sees him not just as quick infatuation but an actual potential partner. Which forces me to stress, again, that Agnieszka spent the first third of the novel convinced the Dragon would try to rape her. Convinced. To even consider a romantic relationship between characters when one has spent so much of the narrative literally afraid of the other is impossible. This issue is further compounded by the fact that every seemingly romantic interaction between Agnieszka and the Dragon is preceded by the two having some kind of argument before the Dragon handles Agnieszka harshly and kisses her. What?

Unfortunately, the problems only mount from there.

Have you ever read a story about someone who is supposedly the best at what they do but, in order to move the plot along, they keep making dumb mistakes and are actually more like the worst at what they do? Uprooted is that kind of story.

Agnieszka willfully and blissfully defies the Dragon at every turn--even after she realizes he is trying to help her by teaching her magic rather than punish her abstractly. She ignores his instruction, forgets what he teaches her and even tries to sabotage him. Despite that Agnieszka apparently has an innate magic ability the likes of which haven't been seen in their country in generations. Furthermore, despite her complete and total lack of study or practice, Agnieszka becomes a magic prodigy by the end of the novel as she creates new spells and singlehandedly sorts out how to effectively fight the Wood and its creatures.

Which leads to my next issue with Uprooted: The complete and total lack of communication throughout the novel. Absolutely every problem faced by Agnieszka and the Dragon could be sovled in half the time if only anyone in the novel talked to each other.

This lack of communication makes Uprooted a novel with poor pacing that drags interminably despite the breakneck action that Agnieszka faces at every turn throughout the story. Readers are told constantly that the situation is both dire(!) and urgent(!) but neither emotion manages to come across in the prose as the story jumps abruptly from one action sequence to the next--often serving only to move away from a plot thread that had finally become interesting.

(hide spoiler)]

Uprooted should appeal to readers of all ages who enjoy fantasy novels with rich settings and unlikely villains (and heroes). It should appeal to readers looking to support talented female authors. Yet, for me, Uprooted did not work on any level because I never felt invested enough to buy into anything the novel tried to sell me. Read at your own risk.

Possible Pairings: A Creature of Moonlight by Rebecca Hahn, Seraphina by Rachel Hartman, Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge, The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg, Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones, Dreamhunter by Elizabeth Knox, The Perilous Gard by Elizabeth Marie Pope ...more

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Apr 19, 2018 Christina rated it it was amazing

Shelves: fantasy, fairy-tales, favorites, popsugar-2018-reading-challenge

Popsugar 2018 Reading Challenge: A book from a celebrity book club (in this case, Felicia Day's Vaginal Fantasy).

Oh, this was GOOD. It reminded me of some of my favorite YA fantasy from when I was growing up: The Island and the Ring, any of Patricia C. Wrede's Lyra books, and especially The Hero and the Crown. It was just satisfying. It had a beautiful Fairy Tale mythology and kept me thoroughly absorbed and staying up way too late to read more of. I worried initially that this was going to be y ...more

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Jan 30, 2020 Sophia rated it liked it

Shelves: own, sff, 2020

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Jan 29, 2017 Jessie added it

Shelves: couldnotfinish

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Feb 25, 2016 Michelle rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, book_club, fairy-tales, witches_wizards

4.5 stars.

'Uprooted' feels like a Slavic-accented old fairy tale, one that you just haven't happened to hear before. Charming, magical, with engaging characters that actually grow and change over the course of the story, i had a major case of "one-more-chapter-itis" a couple of nights running. there's rarely higher praise for a novel than that it's compellingly readable. ...more

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