Reviews with content warning for Violence - Uprooted

Reviews tagging 'Violence'

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

136 reviews

thalia_r's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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

3.5

I really liked the use of the Woods as this looming figure and character - it felt very 'classic old fairytale' which I enjoyed. I like Agnieszka and Kasia's friendship a lot, both were solid characters. I liked the romance in this less, mainly because it felt a little out of nowhere and I wasn't convinced of it. It could have been removed entirely and barely changed the story. I prefer their relationship as begrudging and eventually caring mentor/mentee.

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jesshindes's review against another edition

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adventurous hopeful mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

I know Naomi Novik better as astolat, one of the founders of the Organization for Transformative Works and its offshoot Archive of Our Own (for whom I volunteer!). She writes tip-top fanfic (I've enjoyed her SPN and Game of Thrones works) and so I was pretty sure I'd enjoy Uprooted, which I did. It's full fairytale fantasy, set in a world where a wizard watches over a valley of villages and a cursed, magical forest threatens the lives of its neighbours. Novik's protagonist, Agnieszka, is also the novel's first-person narrator and I found her likable and interesting from the get-go, which is very important when she's your contant companion. I enjoyed her developing relationship with the sorcerer who takes her in, appreciated the fact that her relationship with best friend Kasia is treated with the same narrative weight as the romance, and found that the book in general kept up an entertainingly rollicking pitch throughout. Magic in this novel is scary, dangerous, but full of promise as well. If you like fantasy and fairytales, I recommend Uprooted. Novik knows what she's doing and it's fun from start to finish.

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elanele's review against another edition

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adventurous inspiring medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

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rokinjaguar's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

Hmm, okay. VERY good book. It's incredibly descriptive and vivid. I could see it all in my mind. I kept reacting externally to things that would happen, shuddering at horrifying moments, jumping when the Dragon would pop up out of nowhere, feeling real dread and fear, heart glowing at sweet moments, saying "get rekt" under my breath when Agnieszka roasts someone, etc. I really burned through this book.
There are a lot of amazing female characters, like Kasia and a powerful and wise witch later in the story. I also really love Agnieszka, she was a lot of fun to read about. Loved how intuitive, emotional, and in tune with nature she was. Like seriously, she really spoke to my heart. I'm sure she won't connect with everyone like she did me, but the starved emotional/creative part of my soul adored her. The male characters were good, too, I really enjoyed the Dragon, but the female characters are where the writing really shines imo. Side note,

Malek and the Falcon can choke and die, and I mean that in a my-compliments-to-the-author way

.
I think the book would have been better if the author had taken out the

attempted-rape scene with the shitty prince and the sex scene

The kissing scene

could stay or go, it adds and subtracts to the story pretty equally. But I feel like the

attempted-rape scene

wasn’t handled quite sensitively enough. Didn’t bother me, but it was borderline, and I have a little thread of upsetness in me that

the Dragon never really comforted or reassured her or was angry for her over that – it's an incredibly traumatizing thing to experience

. The Dragon's character arc was coherent and satisfying, I really liked it, but it was a bit unsatisfying that

he and Agnieszka never really talked about their feelings

. I get what the author was going for, but it just annoyed me that

so many things were left unsaid, like constantly

. But I did really like the part where

Agnieszka recognized he was scared to put down roots and was running away, now that he’d 1) lost his cold stone tower, 2) drank Spindle-water, and 3) held her hand. And I’m glad he came back, that was nice

. That was the part where everything really paid off, to me.
I really loved the Dragon and Agnieszka’s partner dynamic

(separate from their romantic dynamic)

. They’re so different, they’re exactly what the other lacks, and Agnieszka learns to understand and accept him, and the Dragon learns to respect her as an equal and accept her way of looking at things as valid. Their growing relationship and mutual respect was really great, but

the romance just fell flat. It was too little and too much at the same time. It was little enough that it felt irrelevant, but too much that the moments where the romantic element came together felt unearned, emotionless, and poorly-done.

I feel a bit mixed about the ending. It felt a little abstract to me, and the whole book is abstract, and like I don’t think it’s a bad thing, but I feel like my brain didn’t quite wrap around it well enough to feel fully satisfied. Maybe with another read in the future hindsight will help me know which parts are important to pay attention to, to understand the ending.

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fatherprozac's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-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

3.75

I kept rooting for this book and it kind of kept letting me down, sadly. I fell in love with the magic system, the visualizations of spell casting, the descriptions of reading the Summoning, and the dark horror of the Wood. Unfortunately, Sarkan's never ending verbal abuse toward Nieshka, her being 17 to his 150, the weird sympathetic framing of a rapist, and the inclusion of only one explicitly black character just to have her be the daughter of a slave really soured me on the whole thing.

I'll just rant here. The fact that Sarkan chooses specifically girls (never explained why boys aren't chosen if everyone with the gift must be trained) and expects them to cook all his meals for him for ten years was already irredeemable in my eyes. His constant berating of Nieshka literally left her EXPECTING abuse multiple times throughout the book which left me feeling sick at its romanticization. Truly, Sarkan's only traits were that he liked cleanliness and that he was mean. Their hideous age gap (of literally a child and a very old man) being framed as his excuse to momentarily hesitate from sex with her? yikes. Why did she need to be 17? I would have much preferred reading about an adult woman and her ages old immortal boyfriend. Lastly, the rape scene was handled unbelievably poorly and just made Sarkan even more monstrous to me.

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thedevouringbookshelf's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious slow-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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allmight's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

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robin_reads's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious 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

Someone said this felt like a trilogy in one book and I have to agree. So much happening but never overwhelming, always keeping you interested.
To me it was the perfect mix of fairy tale and epic high fantasy vibes. Absolutely loved it. I tried to take my time to savor it while I also couldn’t put it down.

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blueberrydoozy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark inspiring tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.25

It was enjoyable but from the middle/later part of the book, I kind of got lost like I would read sometimes but I couldn’t imagine what was happening exactly right. I don’t know whether it was because it’s just my mind, or it was the writing or the magic is just that complicated to fully comprehend. Nonetheless, I loved Agnieszka as a main character. If you love romance/used to ya romance or books where romance is a big focus and detest slow burn, you wouldn’t really like this. If you like The Witcher and Shadow and Bone, this kind of made me think of them and I listened to their soundtracks as I was reading. I want to read more books similar to this one.

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snowkestrel's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Interesting worldbuilding, I like the writing style.
Intriquing magic system rooted in real historical myths and superstition.
If only it wasn't YA.

The main character is an average Young Adult protagonist, in pretty much every way. Clumsy yet likeable, doesn't succeed in things by going the normal way so goes her own way, which just so happens to also be much better...

Protagonist has stockholm syndrome. That doesn't make for a nice romantic plot. Not that I like to read romance at all in the first place (why do books not have warnings on the cover?).

The wood was a really interesting concept, a looming threat which I found really immersive. The conclusion to its story, however, was a bit.. meek? It felt a bit hurried, and like there ought to have been more depth to it than there was (or did I just not see it?). It felt almost like a different book tacked on at the end to offer some sort of conclusion. A conclusion not hinted at in any way for the rest of the book.

Disappointed the dragon wasn't a real dragon. I mean, that was pretty much the reason I picked up the book in the first place. False marketing.

Definitively would have benefited from being a trilogy or something rather than a single book.

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