A review by rokinjaguar
Uprooted by Naomi Novik

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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