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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
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
Stunning
i liked this book a lot, i thought the magic was interesting, i liked the world, i even enjoyed the protagonist, but i could not get over the (sort’ve?) romance that was going on between her and the dragon, and a book i spend in fear of making this relationship permanent is not a book i will be currently finished. (she’s 17)
This book packed in more plots that other series would drag out over a trilogy.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I enjoyed this story mostly during the first half, and then on and off after that. I liked the slow burn of the relationship, and I felt that the pacing of the plot was rather good too. I also really liked the world building and culture, along with how it was built into the magic. I also really enjoyed the Dragon/MMC’s personality—I liked that he stayed snitty throughout the story and his softer moments were hard won. (Honestly, when he was off screen, I felt I noticeable decrease in my enjoyment.) I did want to see where the plot was going, but it wasn’t the most engaging thing in the world—though it was entertaining enough to keep me reading and finishing the story. I thought the ending was sweet, if not a little boring (but the relationship was my favorite part, of course).
However, I do have a multitude of issues throughout the story that bugged me.Firstly, it feels like there are little to no stakes in this story, because it seems like the MC can whip out literally any magic she wants to just solve her problems. Whether it takes her a minute or an hour, she just fixes it eventually with whatever random magic she pulls out of a hat. World building wise, it feels like there are literally no restrictions on what she can do—just have her think it and she can do it! Why should I care about any stressful moments when she’s just going to save the day ten minutes later? Sure, some sad things happen, but they really only happen to side characters—and anything sad that happens to main characters is fixed, like I said, like ten minutes later. And she’s more powerful than literally every single character (ensuring this can happen), even when the Dragon is literally said to be the most powerful of them all—and his magic is piddling compared to hers. So what’s even the point?
This is also linked to my other issue: Agnieszka is constantly rewarded for her idiocy. Everything she does that would get any other character killed, she does while escaping any consequences that would ordinarily happen, while also receiving benefits from what she did, proving her right. She is proven to be right every single time she wants something to be true. No matter the world building rules for everyone else: eventually, Agnieszka is right all along. It is supremely frustrating because these decisions are reckless and get other characters in danger, and it feels like she goes through no conflict making all these decisions. It’s completely boring and irritating, because once you know she’s made a decision, that’s what’s going to end up happening.
As for the romance: initially, in about the first 40-50%, I thought it was EXCELLENT. It was an amazing slow burn, and I loved that they didn’t suddenly fall in love, and that the Dragon was consistently irritated, building up delicious tension. But then, at that 40-50% mark, because of ~magic~, any slow burn emotional tension is thrown out the window and they just suddenly start wanting to have sex. This continues throughout the rest of the story: there’s a good slow burn, and then she just suddenly decides to sleep with him for no reason. It feels like the relationship has a slow burn interjected with random scenes of them deciding to have sex, which really threw me off every time and kind of ruined my enjoyment of the relationship. The fact that the Dragon also leaves for a solid chunk of the story, when the relationship and his personality/interactions with Agnieszka were my favorite parts, also kind of soured my experience with reading this. The romance was really just tossed to the side at this point, and limply resurrected every time Novik remembered that it was part of the plot.
I also feel like this story got too sprawling for me to actually enjoy it. I really liked it in the beginning when we were exploring the Dragon, Agnieszka’s character and abilities, the magic world building (which was shattered as soon as she was just able to do whatever the plot wanted), the slow burn, and the tension between Agnieszka and her town. Once we started doing the whole plot with the world ending and a war with another country and saving the queen and succession, etc., it just felt like it switched plots completely and it kind of lost a lot of the elements I was really enjoying.
Overall, I really enjoyed the first half of the book, I’d say—when we were still building up the magic (so no Agnieszka is always right kind of stuff), the slow burn relationship, and we only had a minor external plot going. Otherwise, everything else about kind of dulled my enjoyment. 3.25 stars.
However, I do have a multitude of issues throughout the story that bugged me.
This is also linked to my other issue: Agnieszka is constantly rewarded for her idiocy. Everything she does that would get any other character killed, she does while escaping any consequences that would ordinarily happen, while also receiving benefits from what she did, proving her right. She is proven to be right every single time she wants something to be true. No matter the world building rules for everyone else: eventually, Agnieszka is right all along. It is supremely frustrating because these decisions are reckless and get other characters in danger, and it feels like she goes through no conflict making all these decisions. It’s completely boring and irritating, because once you know she’s made a decision, that’s what’s going to end up happening.
As for the romance: initially, in about the first 40-50%, I thought it was EXCELLENT. It was an amazing slow burn, and I loved that they didn’t suddenly fall in love, and that the Dragon was consistently irritated, building up delicious tension. But then, at that 40-50% mark, because of ~magic~, any slow burn emotional tension is thrown out the window and they just suddenly start wanting to have sex. This continues throughout the rest of the story: there’s a good slow burn, and then she just suddenly decides to sleep with him for no reason. It feels like the relationship has a slow burn interjected with random scenes of them deciding to have sex, which really threw me off every time and kind of ruined my enjoyment of the relationship. The fact that the Dragon also leaves for a solid chunk of the story, when the relationship and his personality/interactions with Agnieszka were my favorite parts, also kind of soured my experience with reading this. The romance was really just tossed to the side at this point, and limply resurrected every time Novik remembered that it was part of the plot.
I also feel like this story got too sprawling for me to actually enjoy it. I really liked it in the beginning when we were exploring the Dragon, Agnieszka’s character and abilities, the magic world building (which was shattered as soon as she was just able to do whatever the plot wanted), the slow burn, and the tension between Agnieszka and her town. Once we started doing the whole plot with the world ending and a war with another country and saving the queen and succession, etc., it just felt like it switched plots completely and it kind of lost a lot of the elements I was really enjoying.
Overall, I really enjoyed the first half of the book, I’d say—when we were still building up the magic (so no Agnieszka is always right kind of stuff), the slow burn relationship, and we only had a minor external plot going. Otherwise, everything else about kind of dulled my enjoyment. 3.25 stars.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
“Uprooted” managed to surprise me in a number of ways. I went in expecting something along the lines of [b:Beauty|41424|Beauty A Retelling of the Story of Beauty and the Beast|Robin McKinley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1294192311s/41424.jpg|2321285] or [b:Rose Daughter|8089|Rose Daughter|Robin McKinley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1398552029s/8089.jpg|2321287], where most of the book takes place in a very limited, though magical, setting, with very few characters beyond the protagonist and her captor. And that’s really not what this is at all. The through line is a coming of age story in which Agnieszka discovers that she’s a witch, learns to do magic, and finds her place in the world. But as soon as she gains a few skills, the adventure kicks in. There are some rescues, some court politics, an escape, a battle, and more than one venture into the Woods.
In short, while it draws strongly on fairy tale elements, there are enough other things mixed in that being Genre Savvy doesn’t tell you everything. On the contrary, my pattern-loving human brain kept trying to predict the structure of the narrative, and mostly getting it wrong. Which is good - different is good - though it did lead to an instance or two of wondering whether the beginning and the middle belong to the same book.
The one element mixed in that I wish weren’t there is the romance. Or, at least THAT romance. At best, it’s just unnecessary: you could make two, maybe three cuts, and you’d never know it was there. And at worst, it’s problematic: the age difference is massive, but more importantly, their positions are somewhere between student/teacher and servant/employer. Novik does at least have Sarkan halt an encounter early on, at a point when Agnieszka is still very much dependent on him; their later encounter is much later, when she is more independent, and it is entirely initiated by her. But I also didn’t feel that the narrator ever makes the case for what she sees in him. Novik never really lays the groundwork for this to blossom into a romance.
Funnily enough, there IS enough of a foundation for Agnieszka’s relationship with Kasia to blossom into romance, but that doesn’t happen.
That said, one of the points where Novik surprised me was having Kasia re-enter the story at all - at first I assumed her only purpose was for the initial surprise (everyone expected the Dragon to take Kasia but WHOOPS nope it’s Agnieszka). But with her return, Novik is able to explore the psychological damage of being or loving the presumed chosen one. It’s not the most prominent theme in the book, but it does pop up here and there.
If anything, I would have loved more of Kasia: she turns into something of a game piece for a while, just another set of eyes and skills to place somewhere. But at her best, their friendship is a solid example of a women supporting another women. We also get some of that in Alosha, who makes her mark as a powerful and interesting character despite not having a large role. She’s allowed to have her own perspective and priorities that lead her to be skeptical of Agneiszka, but ultimately make her a trustworthy ally.
On the other hand, the men tend to be problematic. Prince Marek starts the book by attempting to assault Agnieszka - happily, the narrative never asks you to consider him truly trustworthy or heroic after that (though it’s clear that Marek desperately wants to be heroic). Solya is oily and manipulative, thus untrustworthy for different reasons. But at least the narrative recognizes that these men are trouble and treats them accordingly. Novik makes no attempt to redeem either of them.
And then there’s the Dragon, Sarkan. He’s aloof, guarded, and initally regarded as potentially dangerous. But unlike the other men, he changes over the course of the book, and the narrative asks us to change our reaction to him as well. And - this is weird, because he’s around nearly all the time - but I think we don’t get enough insight into his character to warrant the degree of change that’s asked of us as readers. In the same way that he tends to glare at Agnieszka and expect her to intuit things she couldn’t know, we seem expected to read more into Sarkan than Novik gives us.
But while men like these tend to be the immediate obstacle for Agnieszka, the main struggle in the book is between the villages of the valley and the Wood that encroaches on them. (Or perhaps they encroach on it, humans being what we are...) The Wood is definitely a character in the book, and its a vividly drawn, powerful antagonist.
Overall, I enjoyed this and I’m open to reading more from Novik.
In short, while it draws strongly on fairy tale elements, there are enough other things mixed in that being Genre Savvy doesn’t tell you everything. On the contrary, my pattern-loving human brain kept trying to predict the structure of the narrative, and mostly getting it wrong. Which is good - different is good - though it did lead to an instance or two of wondering whether the beginning and the middle belong to the same book.
The one element mixed in that I wish weren’t there is the romance. Or, at least THAT romance. At best, it’s just unnecessary: you could make two, maybe three cuts, and you’d never know it was there. And at worst, it’s problematic: the age difference is massive, but more importantly, their positions are somewhere between student/teacher and servant/employer. Novik does at least have Sarkan halt an encounter early on, at a point when Agnieszka is still very much dependent on him; their later encounter is much later, when she is more independent, and it is entirely initiated by her. But I also didn’t feel that the narrator ever makes the case for what she sees in him. Novik never really lays the groundwork for this to blossom into a romance.
Funnily enough, there IS enough of a foundation for Agnieszka’s relationship with Kasia to blossom into romance, but that doesn’t happen.
That said, one of the points where Novik surprised me was having Kasia re-enter the story at all - at first I assumed her only purpose was for the initial surprise (everyone expected the Dragon to take Kasia but WHOOPS nope it’s Agnieszka). But with her return, Novik is able to explore the psychological damage of being or loving the presumed chosen one. It’s not the most prominent theme in the book, but it does pop up here and there.
If anything, I would have loved more of Kasia: she turns into something of a game piece for a while, just another set of eyes and skills to place somewhere. But at her best, their friendship is a solid example of a women supporting another women. We also get some of that in Alosha, who makes her mark as a powerful and interesting character despite not having a large role. She’s allowed to have her own perspective and priorities that lead her to be skeptical of Agneiszka, but ultimately make her a trustworthy ally.
On the other hand, the men tend to be problematic. Prince Marek starts the book by attempting to assault Agnieszka - happily, the narrative never asks you to consider him truly trustworthy or heroic after that (though it’s clear that Marek desperately wants to be heroic). Solya is oily and manipulative, thus untrustworthy for different reasons. But at least the narrative recognizes that these men are trouble and treats them accordingly. Novik makes no attempt to redeem either of them.
And then there’s the Dragon, Sarkan. He’s aloof, guarded, and initally regarded as potentially dangerous. But unlike the other men, he changes over the course of the book, and the narrative asks us to change our reaction to him as well. And - this is weird, because he’s around nearly all the time - but I think we don’t get enough insight into his character to warrant the degree of change that’s asked of us as readers. In the same way that he tends to glare at Agnieszka and expect her to intuit things she couldn’t know, we seem expected to read more into Sarkan than Novik gives us.
But while men like these tend to be the immediate obstacle for Agnieszka, the main struggle in the book is between the villages of the valley and the Wood that encroaches on them. (Or perhaps they encroach on it, humans being what we are...) The Wood is definitely a character in the book, and its a vividly drawn, powerful antagonist.
Overall, I enjoyed this and I’m open to reading more from Novik.
It was hard for me to choose between 3 and 4 stars... I'd settle at 3,5 and scale it down.
I love the start! It sucked me right in - I was there with the characters and I wanted to know what would happen next. I like the names and the setting and the idea of being taken (and not eaten...!) - and having no idea what will happen next.
It read almost like a YA book for most of the time - with almost no romance at all. And then all of a sudden, there is one kiss, and it is over again. And then - completely out of the blue we get a quite detailed sex scene. That didn't fit the YA feel for me at all- and charred with the rest of the book, as it didn't seem to fit in at all. (And yes -
I am very picky about that topic, so it jumps out at me especially strong. Might not be as strong a misfit for people who like to read sexscenes.)
I loved the idea of the woods - I adore the explanation of HOW that all came to be in the end! But the way there was a bit riddled with too much uneven things. Either the main character is completely helpless, or she flings around magic better than anyone else - who might have studied it for millennia for all we know. It is explained a bit in her doing "instinctive" magic, and not the scholarly one - but it doesn't completely contain the differences.
I did love the way her instinctive magic was described though - so that helped me a lot to cope with having no idea what she could and couldn't do.
Another thing I missed was the feeling of danger. Somehow I always felt "Ah, no matter - they'll be fine..." about all the characters. Not knowing a limit to the powers, other than using up all the power and not being able to cast before the magic replenished over days without dying (but somehow STILL being able to cast a spell again just some hours later), had me feeling like there would surely be another hidden trick to find and save the day.
All in all it was a good read, but it didn't blow me away. I wish it had stayed as gripping as the first 1/4 - then it would have been a five star book for me. This way it hangs between 3 and 4 stars.
I love the start! It sucked me right in - I was there with the characters and I wanted to know what would happen next. I like the names and the setting and the idea of being taken (and not eaten...!) - and having no idea what will happen next.
It read almost like a YA book for most of the time - with almost no romance at all. And then all of a sudden, there is one kiss, and it is over again. And then - completely out of the blue
Spoiler
the main character decides to crawl out of her bed in the middle of the night, go to the dragons bedchamber andI am very picky about that topic, so it jumps out at me especially strong. Might not be as strong a misfit for people who like to read sexscenes.)
I loved the idea of the woods - I adore the explanation of HOW that all came to be in the end! But the way there was a bit riddled with too much uneven things. Either the main character is completely helpless, or she flings around magic better than anyone else - who might have studied it for millennia for all we know. It is explained a bit in her doing "instinctive" magic, and not the scholarly one - but it doesn't completely contain the differences.
I did love the way her instinctive magic was described though - so that helped me a lot to cope with having no idea what she could and couldn't do.
Another thing I missed was the feeling of danger. Somehow I always felt "Ah, no matter - they'll be fine..." about all the characters. Not knowing a limit to the powers, other than using up all the power and not being able to cast before the magic replenished over days without dying (but somehow STILL being able to cast a spell again just some hours later), had me feeling like there would surely be another hidden trick to find and save the day.
All in all it was a good read, but it didn't blow me away. I wish it had stayed as gripping as the first 1/4 - then it would have been a five star book for me. This way it hangs between 3 and 4 stars.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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:
Complicated
I cried for 15 minutes when I finished this book because I was so sad to leave the world. On to Buried Deep!
I did like this book however there were some elements that confused me and I started to loose interest towards the second half of the book as i found it quite underwhelming. I did however appreciate the different style of writing and the gothic theme. I may re-read another time.
Should have been labeled as YA. It's so tropey. Typical not conventionally pretty, clumsy, etc teenage girl. Ancient, yet ageless sexy wizard man (insert fairy, vampire etc). Hes frustrated with her clumsy, unkemptness (sigh) and says shes not like other girls who love pretty dressed and are feminine (sigh again). I DNF'd at chapter 3.