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Uprooted

Naomi Novik

Start date: March 1, 2016

Finish date: March 31, 2016

Discussion: Stand Alone

Why we're reading this: Won the poll for the stand alone BOTM
[close] Won the poll for the stand alone BOTM

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Stand Alone

* Stand Alone- Maybe Meant to Be
By Bailey · 3 posts · 29 views

last updated Aug 18, 2025 12:04PM

* Stand Alone- The Summer of Broken Rules
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What Members Thought

Jul 24, 2015 Renuka rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: young-adult, fantasy, romance, magic, e-book, fairytales, owned, reviewed, horror, atmospheric-romance

Original rating: 3 stars

This was surprisingly dark and gothic. I really expected it to be whimsical and silly, but it was strange and magical. It had some small mixes of Russian/Polish mythology, and took place in versions of those countries with some fascinating differences from the real ones.

The main thing that made this book stand out was The Wood. It's the stuff of nightmares. I tried reading this late at night, and it's not a good idea. It's creepy. It's alive. And, oh yeah, it's coming to Original rating: 3 stars

This was surprisingly dark and gothic. I really expected it to be whimsical and silly, but it was strange and magical. It had some small mixes of Russian/Polish mythology, and took place in versions of those countries with some fascinating differences from the real ones.

The main thing that made this book stand out was The Wood. It's the stuff of nightmares. I tried reading this late at night, and it's not a good idea. It's creepy. It's alive. And, oh yeah, it's coming to get you. The Wood was not the typical, warm fantasy forest, it's dark and scary. It's where people go missing, and come out either insane or very, very dead. I loved it. What a fantastic villain. Imagine trying to fight a huge, evil forest.

However, next to the lyrical writing and fantastic setting, I felt that the characters were a little lacking. Agniezska has no special qualities except for her penchant for getting dirty, being a bumpkin, and doing random magic on accident. She was flawed, but annoyingly so. She was one reason the book dragged so much. Why didn't she ever actually try to learn magic? *sigh* The Dragon was about as fascinating as any ancient wizard is, but he felt very distant. He was mysterious, but almost too much. He felt like an empty character to me (given no characteristics other than old, powerful, and handsome. Obviously, I had my fingers crossed for the romance, but it felt a little out of the blue. I felt like there should have been a lot more substance.

Ignoring all that, the secondary characters were fabulous and I wanted so much more!! KASIA, KASIA, KASIA. Imagine the trauma she went through. Why was that never addressed? The children! They lived through the fiercest battle of a century, and yet we barely learn anything about them! Marek! Solya! THE OTHER MAGICIANS. So much potential, sigh. We kept getting introduced to characters, and seeing them die or disappear. Another reason it dragged.

The plot was fantastic and very, very complex. Confusing at times, but overall gripping. The battles! The creatures! The MAGIC! Awesome stuff. Dark and gory at times, and bright at others. The book managed to walk a really interesting line between too dark and whimsical. I guess, overall, what really saves this book is the magic, (complex) plot, and the writing. The plot can get a little confusing at times, but it's worth it. It's a beautiful read, although it falls short of everything it could have been. ...more

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Mar 08, 2016 Autumn Doughton rated it it was amazing

Magical, beautiful, fun. All the stars for this book!

3 likes · Like · see review

Jan 25, 2016 Rachel rated it liked it

I feel about this in the same way I felt about Caraval. What a wonderfully, delicious, strange, and magical world and what a shame we had to travel it with Agnieszka.

I was not a fan of the writing style. It was rushed and very telling in this happened and then this happened so I did this...I was surprised this was an adult novel because it sounded young apart from one, unnecessary sex scene.

In this mythical world, the Dragon, the local wizard, chooses one girl every ten years to stay with him i I feel about this in the same way I felt about Caraval. What a wonderfully, delicious, strange, and magical world and what a shame we had to travel it with Agnieszka.

I was not a fan of the writing style. It was rushed and very telling in this happened and then this happened so I did this...I was surprised this was an adult novel because it sounded young apart from one, unnecessary sex scene.

In this mythical world, the Dragon, the local wizard, chooses one girl every ten years to stay with him in his tower. He always chooses the most beautiful and talented girl from the village, and the villagers assume he is keeping her there to use her despite the returned girls claiming he doesn't. But the returned girls never stay home very long so it is all very mysterious.

For this year, they all assume it will be the beautiful Kasiahe takes. But he chooses her dirty, clumsy friend, Agnieszka, instead to everyone's shock including her own.

Agnieszka is selectively stupid. I say this because sometimes she is very ingenious and brave, and other times you're like, "What the hell are you thinking, Girl?" Like when she first comes to the tower and assumes the Dragon is going to rape her, but decides to wander around aimlessly looking for food. And the Dragon is horribly cranky. He calls her stupid and useless. He's been holding young women captive for years with what eventually turns out to be a very flimsy excuse for doing so, and yet despite all that, Agnieszka has feelings for him because they have like magic hots for each other. I don't know.

But sometimes Agnieszka can be wonderfully smart, like when she makes a bed chain to escape the tower and turns a man to stone to keep corruption from spreading. Or she makes oxen out of mud. But then she's back to tripping all over herself going, "I don't know what to do," five seconds later. For that reason, I couldn't entirely be on her team.

But the Wood, the glorious wood, is the reason I kept reading this. It was this dark, horrible place where trees would swallow you whole and monstrous beasts would escape and carry you off in the night, turn your cattle into monster zombie cattle and spread into you like an infectious disease, making you one of its dark minions. Creepy as hell. I had to know the history of this Wood and its fate so badly, that I suffered with Agnieszka to do it, and I was not disappointed in the end. ...more

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Feb 13, 2017 Aerika rated it it was ok

Ugh!!! This was so highly recommended and I just didn't like it. I really should have DNF'd this one instead of forcing myself to finish. I think a skipped forty or so pages towards the end. Unfortunately, I found no interested in the characters or the story. ...more

1 like · Like · see review