From the Bookshelf of Addicted to YA…

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

Find A Copy At

Libraries

Group Discussions About This Book

Showing 2 of 156 topics — 4,048 comments total

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
By Bailey · 4 posts · 48 views

last updated Jul 08, 2025 08:57AM

showing 8 of 8 topics view all »

What Members Thought

Aug 21, 2017 Colleen Scidmore rated it liked it

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

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

24 likes · Like · see review

Jun 11, 2021 Katerina rated it liked it

3.5/5

Uprooted is one of those books where you need dark academia vibe music going in the background, a roaring fireplace, and a nice hot cup of tea.

Uprooted was a book I had sitting on my back listed books for awhile now, and since I am trying to burn through my TBR I thought why not pick it up. I have definitely noticed that I am becoming more and more picky with my fantasy books lately and they need to hit a certain tone for me to truly love it.

Uprooted follows a young woman as she is chosen 3.5/5

Uprooted is one of those books where you need dark academia vibe music going in the background, a roaring fireplace, and a nice hot cup of tea.

Uprooted was a book I had sitting on my back listed books for awhile now, and since I am trying to burn through my TBR I thought why not pick it up. I have definitely noticed that I am becoming more and more picky with my fantasy books lately and they need to hit a certain tone for me to truly love it.

Uprooted follows a young woman as she is chosen as the next Dragons “victim” to live in a mysterious tower away from all she knows. As she grows to begin to understand who she is, she also struggles with the power that begins to flow through her vains, and saving her country from both the humans and The Wood - a mysterious evil that’s live in a dark forest.

While many paint this book as a “Beauty and The Beast” retelling, it also has many Russian folklore involved like Baba Yaga. I actually found this book to follow more of the Russian/Polish folklore and country aesthetic than a French aesthetic. Many of the names and style is closely to that of what we would see as Russian and I loved it! I loved that this young girl grew up with this story of Baba Yaga, a powerful witch that turned crooked and evil but had such a huge connection to the storyline. Especially how the trees would get up and move just like Baba Yaga’s house! Also throw in the Grimm Fairytale dark vibe and it was a decent read.

The character development was definitely there with Agnieszka. I find that in many fantasy novels, especially YA fantasy, where the girl is taken from her home to live in hidden castle/tower/realm, that the female main character doesn’t react correctly. I mean you’re taken from your home, why aren’t you freaked out. In Uprooted, Agnieszka is scared, angry, and determined to leave. I mean she vomits all over the guy when she arrives at the Dragons tower. Her character development is smooth and grows as the pages are turned and we see a young woman, still frightened, start to unravel who she is and what she is capable of. She is beautiful and wild in her own way and that’s what makes her unique as an individual. Also it’s nice because never once did I feel like she gave off the “chose one” or “special snowflake” vibes!

Because this is a plot I feel like I have read many times I don’t have much to say on it. I definitely the love the originality and including Russian folklore instead of following the old Beauty and the Beast retelling. However, it did take add much in anything different from things I have read before. And the romance also falls into this same category. Lately I have been feeling like many of these fantasy books with strong leading women just don’t need a man to weight them down.

I definitely liked it and it had many great qualities. If you love Russian folklore and love a good Grimm fairytales retelling I definitely recommend picking up Uprooted. ...more

4 likes · Like · see review

Jun 14, 2016 Regina rated it really liked it

I liked this a lot. I was a bit hesitant to start it because it seemed like it was a polarizing sort of book – there’s a lot of either love or hate for it. The bits that I’d read – particularly the excerpts about the abusive way the Dragon speaks to the heroine – made me very wary. I did not want to invest time in a story where the heroine is relentlessly abused and still somehow falls headlong in love with her abuser, and somehow the whole thing is contrived to be romantic.

That isn’t what happe ...more

Like · see review

Aug 16, 2015 Sandra rated it really liked it

Shelves: fantasy-with-romance

I really want to give this 5 stars, but the underdeveloped romance and out-of-left-field magic change in the last third kinda threw me.

The entire book is very engaging, and the writing it lovely without being too flowery. We really get to see and feel our heroine grow and mature for her situations, although she can be a bit naive (but that just goes along with her country-bumpkin life) she has a deep well of maturity and understanding when it comes to the Wood.

I wasn't sure if we'd actually find ...more

Like · see review

Jun 10, 2018 Books_the_Magical_Fruit rated it it was amazing

Shelves: read-and-reread, favorites, fantasy, worldbuilding-is-amazing, books-i-own, 5-stars, faves, five-stars, own-more-than-1-copy, own-in-paperback

Still one of my all-time favorites. I'm utterly baffled by the one star reviews. This is what a fantasy book should be. It ticks off all of the boxes for me. Tremendous world building and storytelling skill showcased here. ...more

Like · see review