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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
Though I felt the ending was a bit rushed, overall I loved this book! Besides creating a fascinating world and intriguing magic system, Novik strikes a perfect balance of unpredictability. The story is full of twists and turns and surprises, just like the ominous Wood. I also loved getting to see the protagonist grow into her own and discover her power and purpose.
Ehh not a big fan of this one. Just didn’t really care about what was happening. I did listen to this on audiobook and I feel that might have hindered my enjoyment somewhat because the narration kind of took me out of the story.
This book felt like it was trying to do too much and got a little lost. I LOVED the first half but the middle got a little muddled, fortunately the end came together in a pretty satisfying way. Not “Spinning Silver” satisfying, but let’s face it that’s a high bar! More that I wish there’d been an Epilogue, as there were a few strands of storyline wrapped up in a sentence or two that deserved more attention. Still, I read it in a day, and that earns it no less than 4 stars.
adventurous
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
It's a 4.75 for me. I want to give it 5 stars but magic, castles ... these aren't something I am really into. But this book has really stretched things for me. At least I enjoy it more than I expected. (should i give it 5 stars exactly because of that?) But too many magic battles for me.
Absolutely love Agnieska. At the beginning she annoyed me a little because she was quite timid, not wanting to deal with being chosen by the Dragon. But when she started to have motivation to do things, I began to like her a lot. And her loyalty to Kasia just makes reading this book so enjoyable.
Absolutely love Agnieska. At the beginning she annoyed me a little because she was quite timid, not wanting to deal with being chosen by the Dragon. But when she started to have motivation to do things, I began to like her a lot. And her loyalty to Kasia just makes reading this book so enjoyable.
DNF about halfway through. My brain hurt trying to follow the pacing and storyline of this book. Everything moved way too fast. There was no development of relationships or plot. There was no world building. It was really not good.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
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
adventurous
dark
hopeful
mysterious
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
After thoroughly enjoying one of Ms. Novik’s other fantasy novels, Spinning Silver, I was excited to pick up this book as well. For me, it did not disappoint, despite there being a few (for me) negative elements.
Right off the bat, I want to address some similarities that I saw between Uprooted and Game of Thrones/A Song of Ice and Fire. They were definitely there (powerful people being more concerned about political infighting than the “real” threat to everyone, as well as the children of the forest sort of scenario). Those similarities were there, and a little hard to ignore, but I still enjoyed the story nonetheless.
Additionally, I felt the denouement to be a little…underwhelming? There was so much exposition, but then when we finally got to the moment of understanding I guess, who, what, or why was the Wood, it was…a little fuzzy to me, and I felt like this was because Ms. Novik had really sort of buried too deeply the element that the valley where the Wood grows is actually magical, and the home to a race of tree-people (treeple?) who clashed with the humans who inevitably showed up. I think that giving some more pages to that element rather than the sometimes overly-long description of magical battles would have made a difference in how the book was balanced and paced.
That all being said…I really enjoyed how Agnieszka’s approach to magic was so very different from all the other wizards. The approach the others take is very scientific and academic, whereas Agnieszka approaches it from a place of intuition and emotion. I loved the way other wizards would think her nuts for what she was doing, and then it would end up working, and working quite well. She sort of embodied the idea that there is more than one way to skin a cat. She brings fresh eyes and perspective to problems they’re so used to thinking about tackling in a very rigid and proscribed way. I also really liked how she wants to use her magic in service of regular people, rather than exclusively in service to the rich and powerful.
Overall, I felt this was an engrossing and entertaining stand-alone, female centered fantasy read.