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A review by sleeping_while_awake
Uprooted by Naomi Novik
4.0
I was enamored by the first third of the book. It reminded me of Howl's Moving Castle, which I absolutely adore. Sullen wizard and stubborn witch? Check and check.
After the first third, there was a significant shift in the story, and it moves into the real conflict. It moves from the more cutesy young adult book to something more serious.
The story felt fresh to me. Instead of an evil army or another evil wizard, the enemy is the mysterious Wood. It's interesting to plan a strategy against something that is not human.
There is a random sex scene. Well, I suppose it's not completely random, but it did throw me out of the book as the tone just reads younger than what I think was intended. So, Uprooted is not a book for kids then. If you clipped out those two pages, then it might be ok.
I thought the characters were slightly undeveloped. There was a pattern to rush through the events and scenes that it was hard to get to know anyone except Agnieszka. Kasia is a great example of this. She has a major role in the events, but I felt distant from her character.
The Dragon was an interesting character. The relationship he has with Agnieszka later on seems kind of weird.
However, I liked that the story wasn't overly political. There wasn't the current trend of multiple point of views, which made it more focused. The enemy is interesting, and I liked how at the end everything was explained well.
I liked that Agnieszka used magic in her own way, and that she had an innate talent that couldn't be taught. She require some mentoring, but she was smart enough to figure it out on her own.
Although I like the Temeraire series, sometimes Novik's writing can grate on me. I noticed she is using a lot less semicolon, thank goodness, but many of the paragraphs were overly long. Definitely see an improvement in her writing though.
After the first third, there was a significant shift in the story, and it moves into the real conflict. It moves from the more cutesy young adult book to something more serious.
The story felt fresh to me. Instead of an evil army or another evil wizard, the enemy is the mysterious Wood. It's interesting to plan a strategy against something that is not human.
There is a random sex scene. Well, I suppose it's not completely random, but it did throw me out of the book as the tone just reads younger than what I think was intended. So, Uprooted is not a book for kids then. If you clipped out those two pages, then it might be ok.
I thought the characters were slightly undeveloped. There was a pattern to rush through the events and scenes that it was hard to get to know anyone except Agnieszka. Kasia is a great example of this. She has a major role in the events, but I felt distant from her character.
The Dragon was an interesting character. The relationship he has with Agnieszka later on seems kind of weird.
Spoiler
Just ending up with someone that is your mentor...doesn't sit right with me.However, I liked that the story wasn't overly political. There wasn't the current trend of multiple point of views, which made it more focused. The enemy is interesting, and I liked how at the end everything was explained well.
I liked that Agnieszka used magic in her own way, and that she had an innate talent that couldn't be taught. She require some mentoring, but she was smart enough to figure it out on her own.
Although I like the Temeraire series, sometimes Novik's writing can grate on me. I noticed she is using a lot less semicolon, thank goodness, but many of the paragraphs were overly long. Definitely see an improvement in her writing though.