Author: Naomi Novik
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Year Published: 2015
Nerdection Rating:
“Nerdection Must Read”
Uprooted is a 2015 high fantasy novel written by Naomi Novik. It is based on Polish folklore. The book tells the story of a village girl, Agnieszka, who is selected by Dragon, the local wizard, for her unseen magical powers. Together they battle the nearby forest, the Wood, as it seeks to take over the land. Uprooted was a nominee for Best Young Adult Fantasy & Science Fiction in 2015.
Spoiler Free Plot:
“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he was a real dragon. Of course, that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”
The Dragon from Agnieszka’s village is not a monster but a man, a wizard who protects villagers against the ever-expanding, thriving, fouled Wood. In exchange for his protection all he asks is for a young woman to be handed over to him as a servant (and perhaps something more, so tells the whispering grapevine) for ten years. After ten years, the girl is free to go back but for some unknown reason, they never go back home.
Agnieszka and Kasia are best friends who grew up knowing they would both be up for the next selection. Everybody in their village knows that Kasia will be the chosen one due to her looks and grace. They have prepared all their lives for this day and their separation but when the Dragon comes, it is Agnieszka who is taken.
Uprooted from everything that she keeps dear, apart from family and her beloved friend Kasia, Agnieszka is thrown into a new life up in the Dragon’s remote tower with no hope for escape, in the company of a man she barely knows. Being held with what has happened is only the beginning, for deep inside Agnieszka, there is power and knowledge desiring to get out. And just as she is understanding to get along, the incomprehensible happens: Wood comes back and takes Kasia.
Will Agnieszka and Dragon be able to save Kasia and destroy the Woods?
My Take on Uprooted:
This book has everything to make this your favorite!
A plot that affixes you the minute you start reading, a terrific and terrible villain, a snarky sarcastic male character, a flawed female, kickass supporting characters, and a romance that completely blindsides you and there is nothing lovable than the fairytale/folktale backdrop!
This book is charming. It is exciting and creepy in the plot and world, but it is made especially extraordinary because of the character dynamics. Agnieszka and the Dragon are hilarious together because they operate with a kind of love/hate dynamic that makes for some really funny scenes and some heart-warming ones.
Also, one of my favorite things was the creepy Wood – an evil forest that is alive with a dark corruption that will claim you if you ever enter it, or get touched by one of the monstrous beings that come out of the Wood.
Novik does a great job twisting our expectations — inverting the tropes about fairy tale villains and heroes. You’ll get magic and monsters, princes and wizards, sorcery and chivalry, but not always in the ways you might expect.
Overall, this book was amazing and I highly recommend you read it.
My Ratings: 5/5 and Highly Recommended! and get the “Nerdection Must Read” seal of approval!
About the Author Of Uprooted:
Naomi Novik is the acclaimed New York Times-bestselling author of the Nebula Award-winning novel Uprooted, Spinning Silver, and the nine-volume Temeraire series, as well as a founder of the Archive of Our Own. [1 NaomiNovik]
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