Take a photo of a barcode or cover
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Sexual violence, Sexual harassment
This was atrocious. I read a review on here that said this book is like a warm sweater. If your sweater is filled with misogyny, SA, and tons and tons of grossly described stains then, yes it's a sweater. But not one I ever want to try wearing again. I actually felt ill reading this book. Loved the premise and the writing was good but the actual plot and characters made me sick. There is so much abuse in this book it's intolerable. The worst for me was the SA then the immediate victim blaming from our supposed love interest. No way. DNFed in the third chapter.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
If you love an enchanting, yet sinister fantasy atmosphere, this book is for you. Especially if you want a story based in folklore and aren't adverse to a bit (a lot) of on page violent murder. Really adored the way the main character tirelessly fights tooth and nail not only for herself, but for what's right, even when those in power around her are concerned with something else entirely.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual assault, Violence, Blood, Murder, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury
Protagonist is boring, clumsy and a special snowflake. The man who is clearly going to be her romantic interest is verbally abusive, literally calling her "mentally deficient" and victim blames her. It's disgusting.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Emotional abuse
Moderate: Sexual harassment
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I read this when I was 15 and thought it was aggressively mid, came back to it and am a little horrified that my opinion hasn't changed.
Overall nice world building and scenery but never really decides if it wants to be high fantasy and I think it really suffers as a result. It is clear that Novik is a very talented writer, the prose is really great but is let down by plot structure IMO. Not helped by the MC being incredibly annoying in the first half of the book with some weird development leading into conclusion.We are never told why she is able to do magic that no other wizard can, there is seemingly no reason. Most of the plot is driven by what's happening with her best friend who we are told is very amazing but who is actually very boring and sleeps mostly until she needs to swing a sword around. Their relationship is really bizarre: a few moments early on that lead to some great conflict but these threads are all dropped. However, the final chapter was incredibly sweet and did bring it back a lot for me, I'm a sucker for a village boogie. Romance and magic system a bit nonsensical and underdeveloped (interesting age gap!) I really do think you could squeeze the entire romance plot into the content of about 5 pages, it never really goes anywhere: he's written entirely out of the second act and receives next to no development as a result. A travesty honestly. Also an instance of sexual assault that is kind of brushed under the rug once the plot get rolling, dissapointing. Random very slow 100 pages or so in the middle that get very political, a bit of a standstill that doesn't gel fabulously with the first section of the book. Generally good vibes if you don't think too hard about anything and just roll with it. If looking for fun fairytale is a great pick but a bit of a shallow fantasy otherwise ://
Overall nice world building and scenery but never really decides if it wants to be high fantasy and I think it really suffers as a result. It is clear that Novik is a very talented writer, the prose is really great but is let down by plot structure IMO. Not helped by the MC being incredibly annoying in the first half of the book with some weird development leading into conclusion.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Confinement, Death, Sexual assault, Murder, Sexual harassment, War
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Minor: Death, Infidelity, Violence, Sexual harassment
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:
Complicated
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.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, Vomit, Sexual harassment
The start of this book I actually really liked but the second the romance between the main character and the dragon really started I nope'd out, her being underage and him being who knows how many 100's of years old and them doing stuff really grossed me out, I was listening to the audiobook and ended up skipping through the sex scene because it made me too uncomfortable. I've never read twilight but from what I've heard the focus there is more around him still kind of being stuck around the mindset of the age where he became a vampire.
In this book that's just not the same, this is a whole ass man that might not be grey and wrinkly but he's grumpy and 'has seen too much' he has 100's of years of experience and the 17 year old girl who is naive and has no experience in the world is the one who grabs his attention?? Big pass I'm sorry I really am not the target audience for this) (I also wanted to add that not only is it a 100+ year old man and a minor, it's also a teacher/student dynamic and also he is technically her master (she called him that multiple times at the start of the book) once again, I know people like those dynamics, in this case, Especially with her being underage, I hated it)
I kept going in between if I wanted to rate this lower or higher than I ended up doing but I decided to go with this, up until they came out of the woods I quite enjoyed this (except the things mentioned in the spoiler) but after that point I really started to lose interest in the plot bit by bit, this may have to do with what I described in the spoiler and it putting me off too much but I honestly don't know, maybe the story changed too much for me to keep interested.
In this book that's just not the same, this is a whole ass man that might not be grey and wrinkly but he's grumpy and 'has seen too much' he has 100's of years of experience and the 17 year old girl who is naive and has no experience in the world is the one who grabs his attention?? Big pass I'm sorry I really am not the target audience for this) (I also wanted to add that not only is it a 100+ year old man and a minor, it's also a teacher/student dynamic and also he is technically her master (she called him that multiple times at the start of the book) once again, I know people like those dynamics, in this case, Especially with her being underage, I hated it)
I kept going in between if I wanted to rate this lower or higher than I ended up doing but I decided to go with this, up until they came out of the woods I quite enjoyed this (except the things mentioned in the spoiler) but after that point I really started to lose interest in the plot bit by bit, this may have to do with what I described in the spoiler and it putting me off too much but I honestly don't know, maybe the story changed too much for me to keep interested.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship
Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
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:
No
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Blood, War
Moderate: Sexual harassment
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Where to begin? This book is as close to a unique story as I've ever read. It's hard to describe because it feels quite original.
The underlying tones are definitely Beauty and the Beast but in very much its own way.
Our heroine, Nieshka is instantly loveable for her clumsy, messy, confident self. I've never read a hero quit like her and it was very enjoyable.
Her sunshine to the Dragon's grumpy was delightful.
Perhaps one of my favorite things about this book was the themes of friendship and individuality seen side by side without being pitted against each other. Nieshka and her best friend Kasia have a beautiful friendship that acknowledges their flaws but never stops them from loving each other. We see hints of real human jealousy, grief, annoyance, and love in both girls even though their personalities couldn't be more different. I don't know if I've ever seen such a wholesome and believable friendship in literature before.
I enjoyed the story over all, though for a while the plot did get terribly confusing and difficult to follow. Once we were given answers they were mostly satisfying.
While I will never completely enjoy the "undefeatable villain" trope, the reasoning behind this one was at least understandable.
Even the ending was quite unique. I enjoyed the less-than-perfect end. I think everything neatly wrapped in a bow would have betrayed the overall feel of the story.
Over all I definitely liked Uprooted, and am likely to read it again.
The underlying tones are definitely Beauty and the Beast but in very much its own way.
Our heroine, Nieshka is instantly loveable for her clumsy, messy, confident self. I've never read a hero quit like her and it was very enjoyable.
Her sunshine to the Dragon's grumpy was delightful.
Perhaps one of my favorite things about this book was the themes of friendship and individuality seen side by side without being pitted against each other. Nieshka and her best friend Kasia have a beautiful friendship that acknowledges their flaws but never stops them from loving each other. We see hints of real human jealousy, grief, annoyance, and love in both girls even though their personalities couldn't be more different. I don't know if I've ever seen such a wholesome and believable friendship in literature before.
I enjoyed the story over all, though for a while the plot did get terribly confusing and difficult to follow. Once we were given answers they were mostly satisfying.
While I will never completely enjoy the "undefeatable villain" trope, the reasoning behind this one was at least understandable.
Even the ending was quite unique. I enjoyed the less-than-perfect end. I think everything neatly wrapped in a bow would have betrayed the overall feel of the story.
Over all I definitely liked Uprooted, and am likely to read it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Confinement, Kidnapping, Medical trauma, Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Rape, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War