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4.01 AVERAGE
4.01 AVERAGE
5 stars again on the re-reading. An unusual opponent, and a romance with some surprising elements.
UPROOTED reads, especially at first, as a fairy tale. I love the idea of newly imagined fairy tales, especially since retellings seem to be so popular. I almost instantly loved the concept, too: the helplessness of a fearsome, encroaching dark Wood; a lonely wizard juxtaposed with a young apprentice; and magic that is powerful yet unknown and with the chance to be dangerous at the same time. While I started the book with high hopes, especially given all the rave reviews I've read of it, I was left a bit disappointed. I think that while the story and the concept are there, the execution of it was lacking.
In terms of character development, we know absolutely nothing about the Dragon. You're thrust into a "Beauty and the Beast" type situation, where there's a rude, angry, and powerful man essentially holding a young girl captive for unknown reasons. Yet we don't learn more about him as the story progresses; we don't learn anything about him by the end of the book at ALL. Yes, he's a strong wizard, supposedly the most powerful wizard in the country. But he's just sour, rude, and mean, and has zero other personality traits or backstory besides.
In terms of the main character, we don't get any semblance of personality from her until halfway through the book. For the first half, she's a blank slate: just a poor peasant girl ready to be impressed upon by the story. She becomes brave, willful, and intelligent, but not until later, and I found her lack of personality at the beginning to be annoying.
There are a lot of reviews complaining about her being a Mary Sue, or having Special Snowflake Syndrome. I think her friend, Kasia, has this much worse than she has. Kasia is beautiful, strong, brave, intelligent, and becomes nearly invincible. Kasia has no faults or weaknesses, and despite there being some sort of magic connection binding everyone in the Valley to the Wood, Kasia does not feel this and is able to separate herself from the Valley... somehow. In a way that is no explained. I found Kasia to be a device that lead to an easy way out for the main character whenever things got tough.
I liked the prose of this novel. I thought the descriptions of the Wood and of the magic were particularly beautiful, and those moments that were vivid and magical were the strongest parts of the book. With that said, sometimes the story got a bit confusing and convoluted because of the writing style. Novik leaves out details or rushes through things in the action scenes so that I'm left bewildered about what actually just happened in many instances. I feel like these times are something a good editor should have caught and told her to clarify.
Overall I really did like the story. I wish that we got to know the characters more, but I liked the premise, the world, and Novik's intricate use of language. I liked that the story went in a direction that I didn't expect it to. I liked that there wasn't romance in this novel; there were a few scenes of raw, realistic lust, and I much prefer that to a contrived love story any day. I liked that the ending was bittersweet in many ways. This was a good book, but because of the lack of character development I really can't call it a great one. Solid three stars for me.
In terms of character development, we know absolutely nothing about the Dragon. You're thrust into a "Beauty and the Beast" type situation, where there's a rude, angry, and powerful man essentially holding a young girl captive for unknown reasons. Yet we don't learn more about him as the story progresses; we don't learn anything about him by the end of the book at ALL. Yes, he's a strong wizard, supposedly the most powerful wizard in the country. But he's just sour, rude, and mean, and has zero other personality traits or backstory besides.
In terms of the main character, we don't get any semblance of personality from her until halfway through the book. For the first half, she's a blank slate: just a poor peasant girl ready to be impressed upon by the story. She becomes brave, willful, and intelligent, but not until later, and I found her lack of personality at the beginning to be annoying.
There are a lot of reviews complaining about her being a Mary Sue, or having Special Snowflake Syndrome. I think her friend, Kasia, has this much worse than she has. Kasia is beautiful, strong, brave, intelligent, and becomes nearly invincible. Kasia has no faults or weaknesses, and despite there being some sort of magic connection binding everyone in the Valley to the Wood, Kasia does not feel this and is able to separate herself from the Valley... somehow. In a way that is no explained. I found Kasia to be a device that lead to an easy way out for the main character whenever things got tough.
I liked the prose of this novel. I thought the descriptions of the Wood and of the magic were particularly beautiful, and those moments that were vivid and magical were the strongest parts of the book. With that said, sometimes the story got a bit confusing and convoluted because of the writing style. Novik leaves out details or rushes through things in the action scenes so that I'm left bewildered about what actually just happened in many instances. I feel like these times are something a good editor should have caught and told her to clarify.
Overall I really did like the story. I wish that we got to know the characters more, but I liked the premise, the world, and Novik's intricate use of language. I liked that the story went in a direction that I didn't expect it to. I liked that there wasn't romance in this novel; there were a few scenes of raw, realistic lust, and I much prefer that to a contrived love story any day. I liked that the ending was bittersweet in many ways. This was a good book, but because of the lack of character development I really can't call it a great one. Solid three stars for me.
Reread 2018! I listened to the audiobook this time and still really enjoyed the story. I cannot wait to read Spinning Sliver.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-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
DNF at 50%. This may be a factor of the narration in the audiobook as other reviewers pointed out. Some people have gotten really defensive about the narrator's accent, but that's not the issue at all, her accent is actually nice. The problem is that she adds a pause and a glottal stop every 2-3 words, which makes it sound like she's adding a period to the sentence and creates the "reading off a list of words" effect that others have pointed out. The narrator also has a very mature 60+ voice and the main character is supposed to be 17, so that really didn't work for me. The plot has a crawling speed and the audiobook is 18h long, so I won't be picking this up again in text format.
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
This was an amazing read. I was gripped in it's grasp from the first page.
The book is about a girl, named Agnieszka, that lives in a village near the evil and corrupted Wood. To protect the villagers from it, there is a Dragon stationed nearby (that is actually a wizard), who can keep the wood at bay. However, every ten years the Dragon requires a girl to live with him for as many years. All the villagers expect Agnieszka's best friend, Kasia, to be chosen, so when it's not her that is picked out, everyone is shocked. Agnieszka soon realizes that she possesses magic, ergo the reason the Dragon took her. Together they try to fight and keep the corrupted wood at bay.
The fantasy in this book was worked out beautifully. I loved the different works and forms of magic Naomi Novik used, it caused for me to be surprised everytime one of the characters used their magic. The story behind the woods also gripped and surprised me.
The writing style was sublime, I loved Naomi's use of words and sentences. They were beautiful, but at the same time understandable. Her description of the setting was descriptive and long enough to create the feeling that the reader was really there, but short and precise enough that it did not border on boring and 'I'm just gonna skip this paragraph'.
The story itself was very entertaining and fast paced. There was just one thing that missed. And for me that was crucial. So crucial, that Uprooted lost a star. Romance. Yes, there was romance. But not nearly enough. I am a sucker for romance and two scenes just don't do it for me. The story was all about bravery, tolerance and making sacrifices, which is all great and beautiful, but kind of repetitive and meaningless if there's almost no romance to compensate! My craving for romance is an addiction I know, but I can't help it.
Conclusion: add a few spoons of romance, and this would've been my favourite novel of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.
The book is about a girl, named Agnieszka, that lives in a village near the evil and corrupted Wood. To protect the villagers from it, there is a Dragon stationed nearby (that is actually a wizard), who can keep the wood at bay. However, every ten years the Dragon requires a girl to live with him for as many years. All the villagers expect Agnieszka's best friend, Kasia, to be chosen, so when it's not her that is picked out, everyone is shocked. Agnieszka soon realizes that she possesses magic, ergo the reason the Dragon took her. Together they try to fight and keep the corrupted wood at bay.
The fantasy in this book was worked out beautifully. I loved the different works and forms of magic Naomi Novik used, it caused for me to be surprised everytime one of the characters used their magic. The story behind the woods also gripped and surprised me.
The writing style was sublime, I loved Naomi's use of words and sentences. They were beautiful, but at the same time understandable. Her description of the setting was descriptive and long enough to create the feeling that the reader was really there, but short and precise enough that it did not border on boring and 'I'm just gonna skip this paragraph'.
The story itself was very entertaining and fast paced. There was just one thing that missed. And for me that was crucial. So crucial, that Uprooted lost a star. Romance. Yes, there was romance. But not nearly enough. I am a sucker for romance and two scenes just don't do it for me. The story was all about bravery, tolerance and making sacrifices, which is all great and beautiful, but kind of repetitive and meaningless if there's almost no romance to compensate! My craving for romance is an addiction I know, but I can't help it.
Conclusion: add a few spoons of romance, and this would've been my favourite novel of 2015 and the beginning of 2016.
This book was utterly enchanting!
It’s hard to put into words how much I’ve fallen in love with this book, but just like Agnieszka’s natural ease with Jaga’s spells, the summoning & the warmth of the spell books in the royal achieve written by people from her valley, it felt like magic drew me to this book
This was everything I wanted & more
It’s hard to put into words how much I’ve fallen in love with this book, but just like Agnieszka’s natural ease with Jaga’s spells, the summoning & the warmth of the spell books in the royal achieve written by people from her valley, it felt like magic drew me to this book
This was everything I wanted & more
AUDIO VERSION, 2022: The audio version, read by Julia Emelin, is interesting in its own right. Listening to the book, for me, really emphasized the horror and scary parts. I found the violence and gore a bit more disturbing than I did while reading it. This isn't a bad thing, but it surprised me. And re: the narration: I really appreciate hearing it read in a Russian accent, especially the pronunciations of the characters' names. But on the flip side, Emelin's pacing was a bit jarring sometimes. The narration almost reminded me of an AI narration on TikTok.
PRINT VERSION, 2019: Listen, I loved this book so much. I saw a quote from it online somewhere and looked it up at my local library and checked it out. I read it SO quickly and I was so Shook(TM) and immediately reread it. It was even better the second time. I am already excited to read it a 3rd time; for me, it gets better with each rereading because I appreciate more what is happening and what will happen and how significant it is. I almost immediately bought a copy for my friend for Christmas and then I was faced with the prospect of returning mine to the library and bought myself one, too.
I love a good "into the woods" kind of fairy tale, and this has it: A creepy Wood with evil monsters, a wizard protector who has a badass name (The Dragon), and a wonderful female protagonist.
But it goes even beyond that: The main female character has a great friendship, and that is never sacrificed, and they even have to walk through their own issues with each other - anger, jealousy, resentment. The Dragon, in all his knowledge, must challenge his own notions and beliefs. He melts. I love his progression, of being upset about how her magic doesn't fit into the accepted rules and then his grudging respect and fascination, and putting aside his preconceived notions to help her in the way she needs to be helped.
And then the ending - how it is not their violence or weapons that save the day, but her compassion and understanding, and her love. The Wood's corruption is broken because of a magical working between women - between sisters, between would-be family.
I am torn between really hoping a movie will be made of this, and hoping there is NEVER a movie because how could they possibly do it justice?
Anyway, I liked this book a lot and I would recommend it if you like fairy tale-esque stories and awesome women saving the day by being themselves and confronting the violence wrought by men.
PRINT VERSION, 2019: Listen, I loved this book so much. I saw a quote from it online somewhere and looked it up at my local library and checked it out. I read it SO quickly and I was so Shook(TM) and immediately reread it. It was even better the second time. I am already excited to read it a 3rd time; for me, it gets better with each rereading because I appreciate more what is happening and what will happen and how significant it is. I almost immediately bought a copy for my friend for Christmas and then I was faced with the prospect of returning mine to the library and bought myself one, too.
I love a good "into the woods" kind of fairy tale, and this has it: A creepy Wood with evil monsters, a wizard protector who has a badass name (The Dragon), and a wonderful female protagonist.
But it goes even beyond that: The main female character has a great friendship, and that is never sacrificed, and they even have to walk through their own issues with each other - anger, jealousy, resentment. The Dragon, in all his knowledge, must challenge his own notions and beliefs. He melts. I love his progression, of being upset about how her magic doesn't fit into the accepted rules and then his grudging respect and fascination, and putting aside his preconceived notions to help her in the way she needs to be helped.
And then the ending - how it is not their violence or weapons that save the day, but her compassion and understanding, and her love. The Wood's corruption is broken because of a magical working between women - between sisters, between would-be family.
I am torn between really hoping a movie will be made of this, and hoping there is NEVER a movie because how could they possibly do it justice?
Anyway, I liked this book a lot and I would recommend it if you like fairy tale-esque stories and awesome women saving the day by being themselves and confronting the violence wrought by men.