Uprooted

A shining example of folklore fantasy. Sarkan is cranky, impatient, rude and a perfect tsundere princess

Gloriously written to keep moving through the magic that is coming to get you and the role our roots play in helping us fight evil and selfishness through community.

I picked up this book Saturday morning and then let the chores pile up the rest of the weekend. If you love a good story, you won’t be disappointed. PS this is a FAIRYTALE. Set in centuries past. Of course there may be some old world associations. Don’t be silly.

Great storytelling!

A great story and loved that the heroine had to struggle for her victory

An exceptional novel, forever a fan🫶🏼❣️

I went into this book with high expectations, and sadly to say I was let down a bit. I’ll start with the positives first; I absolutely loved the world building and the writing. The descriptions of the Wood and how the characters interacted with it always left me uneasy; I felt as if I was there and struggling to understand it’s mysteries with the characters. I was completely immersed whenever I picked up reading this book, and could understand the scene the main character was describing. I enjoyed reading about the politics as well as the magic mechanics in this world, as they were completely different and unique to what I’ve read in the past. There was loads of ideas and thought put into creating this world and the magic system. To the negatives I have about this book, some of the characters were forgettable and the relationships were not well-developed. Agnieszka and Kasia as characters and their strong bond was lovely to read, while others were left to be desired. The Dragon/Sarkan, for example, never had any sort of character development and remained the same throughout the entire novel. He felt very bland and forgettable, while also being extremely rude to Agnieszka for no reason. Their romantic relationship had no development or build-up, I felt I had just been smacked across the face when the first the “romantic”scene occurred, because it came out of left field completely and made absolutely no sense. There was no chemistry or “playful” banter whatsoever, it was just Sarkan being overly cruel even after being saved multiple times by Agnieszka (never even said thank you??). I don’t understand what Agnieszka could ever see in him after how he treated her. I felt I would’ve been more satisfied if there had been no romance at all and more time was spent on developing characters. Overall, I did enjoy the book and I am glad to have finally read it. I just think it could’ve been greatly improved in certain areas.

I love the way the story is written, as though you’re an observer peeking in on this section of time. There are subtle threads of romance but the story is really about a woman coming into her own during a tough adventure. 10/10 would recommend！

Naomi Novik has taken tales from Polish mythology and crafted an engrossing world. It is a hero’s journey; the hero is a young woman - Agnieszka - coming into her own as she discovers her own powers and the responsibilities that go with them. Growing up with the ever present threat of The Wood, a source of malevolent magic, she is selected at age 17 to fulfill a tribute of 10 years of service to the powerful wizard whose task is to defend against it. She never expected to be chosen, nor did she know why she was - because the wizard realized she had magic ability of her own and needed to be trained. The title of the tale is “Uprooted” because that is a recurring theme throughout. Agnieszka is uprooted from all the expectations she had had growing up as a peasant, but as she progresses through the story, a comparable overturning happens to all who come in contact with her. Not least of all is the effect on her wizard mentor who finds both his understanding of magic and his own life overturned by her. And without giving away too much, the ultimate confrontation with the villain of the tale also defies expectations . Novik has crafted a fine story with rich characters living in a well-realized world. It is a wonderful stand-alone work. There are - so far - no sequels and no prequels, although there is plenty of potential for more stories from the world Novik has put together. Enjoy!

I really got attached to the characters.