Reviews tagging 'Vomit'

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

29 reviews

doahdancer's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I don't understand why the romance subplot between the MMC and the FMC existed. It seemed more wholesome as a mentor/mentee relationship, considering that neither seemed all that attracted to each other overall. 

I love romance books and read this on a recommendation for a fairy tale style fantasy with romance, but I would say the lack of focus on the romance left it underdeveloped and made the age gap feel shallow and about relieving stress through a one night stand rather than them forming a connection that transcended their ages.

I also didn't love the ending, it felt a little cliche and the story was very Grimm tales up until that point, I wish the ending was darker and more twisted.

Overall, the fairy tale aspect of this book was well done and I love the Scholomance series by this author, so definitely try it anyway if you like romantic relationships being downplayed. It's a well written book.

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bearism's review against another edition

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adventurous funny hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

biggest flaw in the book was that the author made the ONLY black character have a background of being enslaved.

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ohno_joreads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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callitz's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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nitecrtlvr's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

An excellent read overall. I was expecting more of a romance but it was more of an adventure/fairytale retelling and the romance was a slow burn that was more in the back ground as a tasty morsel that left you wanting more but yet happy. 

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julesadventurezone's review against another edition

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inspiring reflective tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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jnichols's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.75


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renpuspita's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Reading reviews for Uprooted , I can see that the opinion of this book is pretty much polarized. Either you love and praise it or you hate it with a passion of thousand burning suns (okay, this is exaggerate). As for myself, I really liked it. Uprooted remind me of time when I read Elantris and Gods of Jade and Shadows, two standalone novels that I always recommend to everyone that want to read stand alone novels. However, Uprooted also have some glaring weakness that make me don't want to rate it more than 4 stars.

In her notes, Novik said that the idea of Uprooted come from Polish folklore, titled Agnieszka Skrawek Neiba, and because of it, the titular heroine of Uprooted also have name Agnieszka. In the first glimpse and also the blurb, Uprooted start with a single, simple premise. There's a wizard called the Dragon that lived in the Tower. For every 10 years, he will demand people from the village to give a girl age 17 years to live with him, in exchange of his protection from the malicious evil forest called the Wood. After 10 years, he will release the girl, but that girl herself will come out change, no longer want to live in the village. This year, it's Agnieszka and her friends turn. Agnieszka dread the time when the Dragon come, because she's so sure that he will choose Kasia. Kasia is the brightest girl in Dvernik village, she's beautiful, kind and brave, everything that Agnieszka not. Yet, it's not Kasia that the Dragon choose, because he choose Agnieszka instead.

Bewildered, confused, and angry -also Agnieszka already hate the Dragon because he will snatch her beloved friend Kasia at first-, Agnieszka find life in the Tower at first is difficult. The Dragon not only aloof and indifference, but also quick to anger and chastised Agnieszka because that girl is so clumsy. I understand that the first 5-6 chapters or so is slogging to read. Too mundane perhaps. Add it with the way Novik write Uprooted which told from Agnieszka's first PoV. We read she grunt, hate and whining. It can be tedious to read at first, yet I understand that Agnieszka is still 17, she is homesick already and scared because of the Dragon's treatment. When the Dragon realized that Agnieszka has affinity with magic, he reluctantly teach her the art of magic only to find that rather than healing magic, Agnieszka is more attuned to Jaga's magic that very much different from the Dragon's.

The story pick up the pace when Agnieszka decide to defend her village from the Wood attack. That's when the story finally shines. That's when I finally can enjoy this book. I see that Novik have a way with words. Sure, that Agnieszka's narrative can be too hyperbole, too flowery and exaggerating, but I can feel Agnieszka's emotion as my own. Her confusion, her eagerness to learn magic, her worry for her village and especially her beloved friend, Kasia. Novik's writing can evoke those emotions from me, merely just from reading her passage. Just like reading a story that need a sacrifice of my time sleep. I think that Agnieszka's driving force in this story mostly come from her friendship with Kasia. How she will move to Heaven and Earth to protect her, especially after Kasia got taken by the Wood and end up change. But, I also liked that despite their friendship, Novik manage to also write the frustration between both characters. How they also hate each other condition, although the friendship overriding those hate.

I read in some article that Uprooted is like a story that can be told in trilogy, but just condensed into one volume. I do agree, because there's so much happen in this book after a dragging and sloughing first part. There's a fight between the Dragon and Agnieszka against the Wood in order to free Kasia. Then, we will get introduced to the Kingdom of Polyan, in which their queen already taken by the Wood 20 years ago, and her son, Prince Marek together with his wizard companion, the Falcon want the Dragon and Agnieszka to save the Queen. Yet, The Wood is malice, cunning and its spread its seeds of corruption in everywhere Agnieszka turn and bidding its time to strike in order to destroy everything. This is when I hold my breath, because wow, the story is told in a high octane that make me want to devour the book in a whole but in the same time I don't want it to end. Agnieszka and the Dragon try to fight the Wood with their magics, but the Wood always have aces in its sleeve and always ready to face both Agnieszka and the Dragon. Not only just fight, battle and siege with the Wood, Novik also write about court & magician politic, especially when Agnieszka go to Kralia, Polyan's capital in order to become a witch and warned the Polyan King of the lurking danger from the Wood. 

However, for the last 2-3 chapters, the tension seems to lower and kinda lost some of the momentum after the intense siege between the Wood and combined force of the Dragon and Agnieszka. I feel like the ending feel open, like Novik tell the reader to how to interpreter it. I see a question  where people ask if Novik will write the continuation of Uprooted and she answer that she don't have plan yet. I think that as a story, Uprooted can be read as a stand alone, yet some things are still left unresolved. This is why I didn't give it 5 stars despite in the middle toward the end part that make me don't want to finish this book quickly. 

Another is the romance aspect. I'm a hardcore romance reader and I appreciate that Novik also incorporated the romance element. But, sadly I don't see the Dragon (aka Sarkan) as the love interest of Agnieszka, because I feel that he's too grumpy, aloof and although he relent when Agnieszka pursued him, he's also still running away from his feeling. I think maybe the first part when Agnieszka come to the Tower feel like Beauty and the Beast, but to read how Agnieszka's feeling toward the Dragon that changed from hate to want/need is weird. I can't said it's Stockholm Syndrome per se, and maybe Agnieszka feeling to Dragon come from when they try to intertwined their magic. Mind you, I read so much insta-lust and insta-love stories, but the insta-feeling that Agnieszka has for the Dragon in Uprooted left me dumbfounded. Although I praised Novik to write Agnieszka to pursue the Dragon first and didn't shy away from her sexuality. There's one sex scene, but modestly written and can be skipped if you prefer your fantasy to be clean from any sexual content (well, I'm not!!) Sadly, since Uprooted is told from Agnieszka's PoV, it's like the romantic feeling feel one-sided although the Dragon himself kind of reciprocated it.

One big question while reading Uprooted is why the Dragon took girls to his tower? With the story unfold, we will get the reason, and nope, the Dragon didn't rape or laying finger to them. Maybe he just want company but too proud to admit it and maybe there's a bigger reason for that. That reason is why I understand how the title Uprooted come. How the term "uprooted" is connected with the main plot in this book, not only with how the The Woods rooted in the place but also with the people of the Polyan Kingdom especially the Dvernik village. Some of reviews stated that Agnieszka is Mary Sue, however I don't feel it and I see that her emotion are valid although the narration can be too hyperbole. I also see that the magic system is sketchy at best and feel like Agnieszka can do many thing with her magic that seems endless. I do feel like the magic system is not explained thoroughly like with how Sanderson write, but well, this is the way Novik write her magic system for her Uprooted world. I liked her description of magic, and how the spell-tongue for the Wizard's real name when spelled by Agnieszka describe why the Wizard called by their moniker (like for the Falcon and the Dragon). I liked that Agnieszka's magic just a single or simple spell and cantrips but she wield it with song or telling a story. My favorite is when Agnieszka and the Dragon chant the Summoning spell, it's really feel magical.

I spent almost a week to read Uprooted because of my busy schedule, and find that with the dragging and slow first part, the story pace pick up in the second and third part although lost some momentum in the end. But, I still like Uprooted nonetheless, and will always recommend it if you search for a standalone fantasy that is magical and can evoke your emotions (in a good way) while read it. 

PS: The Indonesian edition have dragon on the cover. But, nope, there's no dragon. There's monster like chimaera, hydra, the Wood's monster such as wolves, walkers and mantises, and some abomination from the Wood's trap. But no dragon, and well the Dragon is just the wizard's epithet. He won't suddenly change into dragon, lel. 

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imbored_soillread's review against another edition

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Was wonderfully written, I just didn’t do my research and I don’t like any spice in my books at all. Dnfed at first sign of it. Also I didn’t love the age gap, and that the mc was 17 while the love interest is an immortal old man. Not for me

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reisrambles's review against another edition

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2.25

An interesting idea ruined by SA that isn’t properly addressed and uncomfortably told in first person perspective. I wanted to love this book. I was pleased that some things were addressed like the messiness, but that still doesn’t explain her using the dress she is wearing to clean sick off the floor. Or why she finds a note left by a former resident in chapter one and doesn’t think to look for others. It was a struggle to watch her, hard to like the wizard, and most characters you meet are thoroughly unlikable. 

I have so many thoughts that I’m just not even sure how to explain. None of the reviews I’d read back when I bought this book several years ago had trigger warnings or I’d probably never had bought or read this. 

Also my brain still is trying to figure out what her laughter spilling into his mouth making stutters of kisses would look like. But it’s kind of cursed sounding. 



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