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queenjasnah 's review for:
Uprooted
by Naomi Novik
There were so many things I loved about this book - how enjoyable the characters were to be with, Agnieszka's relationships with Sarkan and Kasia, the way the soft magic system interlinked so closely was with characters emotions and intention. I had so many wonderful feelings emerge reading the scenes where Agnieszka was casting spells, especially when they were joint workings with Sarkan. A definite highlight! Where the book lost me, however, was in the structure, pacing and rapidly twisting narrative directions that I personally felt blindsided and confused by. I was so thrown by this that, extremely close to the end of the book (after the battle of the tower), I actually went and googled to see if my assumption that this was a stand-alone novel was wrong and there was in fact a sequel because I felt, pacing-wise, that this had to have been the final Big Plot Thing that happened and there was no way the whole "destroy/save the Wood" plot could be resolved by the end (I was wrong lol).
Now, I'm all for an intentional subversion of traditional narrative structure and pacing in order to play with reader expectations and emotions to enhance the story, but to me this didn't feel well crafted - I felt confused, off-kilter and disconnected from the story by the constant setting changes, the many high-intensity sequences that I felt thrown into with little preparation or build up, and the sudden infodump of lore at the end of the book surrounding how the Woods came to be in the first place. I know that this reveal was foreshadowed earlier in the story, but the ratio of "clues-and-info-we-discover-along-the-way" to "info-revealed-whilst-Agnieszka-is-in-the-heart-tree" had nowhere near enough foreshadowing for it to feel like a satisfying conclusion to me. But who knows - it could definitely be argued that the disordered pacing and structure were intended to make the reader feel just as uprooted as Agnieszka and therefore increase empathy for her and investment in her story, and maybe that works for some readers! Regardless, for me, those feelings were not ones that I particularly enjoyed experiencing, nor did they heighten my experience of or connection to the story.
Even though the book's structural style didn't work for me, it was definitely worth the read for the deeply juicy relationship that developed between Agnieszka and Sarkan, and those magical moments of them casting spells together. I absolutely froth it when a magic system is used to incredible emotional/sexual/sensual intimacy between characters. Big A+ there. Oh also I LOVED the name of the book and how relevant it was to so many different parts of the story, that was really cool to experience.
Now, I'm all for an intentional subversion of traditional narrative structure and pacing in order to play with reader expectations and emotions to enhance the story, but to me this didn't feel well crafted - I felt confused, off-kilter and disconnected from the story by the constant setting changes, the many high-intensity sequences that I felt thrown into with little preparation or build up, and the sudden infodump of lore at the end of the book surrounding how the Woods came to be in the first place. I know that this reveal was foreshadowed earlier in the story, but the ratio of "clues-and-info-we-discover-along-the-way" to "info-revealed-whilst-Agnieszka-is-in-the-heart-tree" had nowhere near enough foreshadowing for it to feel like a satisfying conclusion to me. But who knows - it could definitely be argued that the disordered pacing and structure were intended to make the reader feel just as uprooted as Agnieszka and therefore increase empathy for her and investment in her story, and maybe that works for some readers! Regardless, for me, those feelings were not ones that I particularly enjoyed experiencing, nor did they heighten my experience of or connection to the story.
Even though the book's structural style didn't work for me, it was definitely worth the read for the deeply juicy relationship that developed between Agnieszka and Sarkan, and those magical moments of them casting spells together. I absolutely froth it when a magic system is used to incredible emotional/sexual/sensual intimacy between characters. Big A+ there. Oh also I LOVED the name of the book and how relevant it was to so many different parts of the story, that was really cool to experience.