August 31, 2015

Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Uprooted by Naomi Novik (May 2015)
438 pages
Genre: Adult/Fantasy
Publisher: Del Rey
Source: The library.
Purchase: Barnes & Noble | The Book Depository | Amazon
My Rating:
“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

My Review

Well. Well. Well. I finally read this very hyped up fantasy novel. In the end, I had a hard time coming up for a rating for Uprooted. Did I like it? Yes. Did I love it? I think so... I still can't really say.

Uprooted reads like a dark fairy tale, and that just wasn't what I was expecting. That didn't make it bad, it just made me a little shocked when I began reading. Once I got into the flow of the book I had no problems diving in and appreciating its uniqueness. 

The other little snafu I ran into, I had a horrible time with the characters at first. At least when I reached 100 pages in the story the characters finally started to become interesting and less annoying. At that time I finally really started to appreciate the now more complex characters and I no longer had a problem with the MC, Agniezka. I do wish we could have gotten some chapters from the Dragon's point of view. That would have been nice. I ended up liking him the most, and Kasia, Agniezka's best friend, was close second.

The best thing Uprooted has to offer, the utterly fantastic world building. The vivid descriptions were intense. I sure as heck wouldn't ever go into the Wood. No way. The details of where the Dragon lives, the descriptions of the villages, the clothes, the magic, everything was also wonderful. The whole world was captivating and magical. I couldn't ask for a more interesting magic system.

The bottom line: Uprooted was a really good book, but it didn't quite hit epic status for me. Fans of dark twisty tales, fairy tales, and just a good fantasy world with some interesting magic will enjoy Uprooted.

15 comments:

  1. Yes, more from the Dragon! He got left behind for long periods and that was a pity.

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  2. This has been the hype around booktube and the blogosphere for a while. I really do hope I get to pick it up sometime in the near future. It looks so good and i"m one for some dark fantasy reads.

    Alex @The Book's Buzz

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    1. It was very good! Although it was an epic read for me, I think it lives up to the hype pretty darn well.

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  3. I HAVE heard this described as a dark fairy tale, so I think that will help when I finally dive in! It's always tricky when you expect a certain thing and that is not what a book turns out to be. Glad to hear you liked it though :)

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    1. It was a little surprising since I didn't realize that was the type of book it was, but luckily I like those types of books too! It was a really good book with great world building and interesting characters! I think you will like it Christine!

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  4. I'm sorry this fell a little flat for you. Gorgeous cover though!

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    1. It was still good, and I do LOVE the cover.

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  5. Justin and I are listening to this together on our long car rides. It has been pretty good so far but we are not too far in yet so I am interested in what we will think of the characters. Hopefully they stay interesting enough in the audio version!

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    1. I am glad to hear it is good on audiobook so far! I can't wait to see what you think when you are done.

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  6. I started reading this and then put it down when I saw there was an audiobook! I think I'm going to listen to it once I finish Lioness Rampant - I can't wait to pick it up again. And then I'll have a better idea of whether or not it hits epic status for me...

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    Replies
    1. I can't wait to see what you think once you finish it!!!!!!!

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