Uprooted

By all rights I should have tumbled into Uprooted feeling disoriented and confused, dissonant and harsh in my criticism — but no. Between the warring kingdoms of Rosya and Polnya is the Wood, a place of corruption and danger. Protecting the villages of Polnya against the Wood is a wizard called the Dragon, to whom the villagers owe fealty. Every 10 years the Dragon chooses a young woman from the villages to come live with him in his tower as a servant — after which she never returns to her family, even once released.

He always chooses the girl who seems special in some way, the most beautiful or talented, the one whose loss will be most keenly felt. The Dragon has been doing this for as long as anyone can remember. Agnieszka of Dvernik is 17, the age at which the Dragon's choosing occurs, and she knows for certain that the Dragon will choose Kasia, her best friend. In fact everyone knows this, including Kasia's family, who have steeled themselves against the reality for years: Kasia is gorgeous, skillful, brave. Agnieszka is in many ways Kasia's opposite — uncouth, coltish, unable to keep herself clean and presentable for more than a few minutes at a time.

The Dragon's choice seems inevitable. But when the moment comes, the Dragon surprisingly — and reluctantly — chooses Agnieszka, compelled by the King's law that demands anyone with magical ability must receive magical training. Agnieszka, it seems, has that ability — which she will need when the Wood comes calling, threatening her family and friends. I'll probably be damned for saying this but screw sugar-coating. This book makes me so angry. Uprooted is one of those books with a pretty outside look full of sweet promises. It lead me in to having such sky high expectations only later that I have those expectations thrown back into my fucking face This book is underwhelming AS FUCK.

It lead me in to having such sky high expectations only later that I have those expectations thrown back into my fucking face. The beginning of the story started out really nicely in a whimsical fairytale sort of way. I thought this will be the next best thing to add into my Favourites shelf. How I pretty much sum up the book: I cannot stand any of them. Nearly all of them are as flat as a cardboard cutout. None experienced huge break throughs and if they did, it did not show in the book.

The characters are none I can connect with and none I could care less about. My biggest pet peeves is that Agnieszka suffers a huge case of Special Snowflake Syndrome. She's been picked by The Dragon who isn't an actual dragon or even a shapeshifter, to my disappointment out of the blue because she has magical powers. Oh and somehow out of other people, she can survive longer in the Woods.

No one has gone into the Wood as deep as you and come out whole: This is probably just my personal preference but Magic comes with a price and in this case, once you magick something it only drains you bit by bit. It's hardly any price to pay. I dont know about you but that all goes 'agskdfsfvslmvdgwddnlkgsljkl' in my head. I refuse to even read the spells properly. I legit have no idea just how Novik expected her readers to read that.

I also have to endure paragraphs upon paragraphs of useless, unnecessary descriptions. I got so fucking bored I nearly fall dead asleep. There was nothing spectacular about the way Novik writes. If there's one thing I really hate, it's romance revolving around verbal and physical abuses. I swear, verbal abusing Agnieszka is the only language the Dragon knows how to speak in. First of all, he insulted her appearances. Yet she still fucking fall for him anyway: The Dragon also insulted her by calling her an idiot every steps of the way.

More cases of abuse he showed the MC: And when he had finished working his magic through me and left me crumpled on the floor, he would scowl down at me and call me useless' He insulted her plain ways of dressing and forced her to re-dress for HIM in fancy gowns by using magic which wears out Agnieszka a lot. In the end, she had to crawl on her knees and hands.

Why the fuck would you bother with the way she dressed up herself? Sarkan, you motherfucking creep. He called her intolerable and crazy in one sentence and then he kissed her. This is only the first kiss. The sex scene between them both happened out of nowhere and it was sooooo fucking unnecessary. It was like the book decided to throw in a little spice to their almost non-existent relationship. I got so baffled that Agnieszka would throw away her maidenhood over Sarkan whose behaviour do not even fucking improve afterwards.

The fact that many gushed over The Dragon disturbed me. This dude is abusive. Verbal or physical otherwise. Place yourself in Agnieszka's shoes. Put more imaginations on how YOU would feel if you were being treated like all those ways I pointed out. This one treatment to Agnieszka is particularly the most terrible Sarkan had pulled out of his sleeve. He shoved me hard against the bed and bent low.

This novel effortlessly conjured up the familiar magic of my childhood favorites — it was like reaching for a sweater and finding my old worn favorite pushed into my hands. I'm going to wear it gleefully for a week, no matter the weather. This concludes my garment simile. Possibly fuller comments to come closer to publication date. View all 9 comments. May 16, Katerina rated it it was amazing Shelves: When it comes to rating books like Uprooted , I keep wishing I could give more than 5 stars.

Because honestly, 5 stars are not enough. That's the word I've been searching for. Uprooted is a beautiful book. Naomi Novik narrates the story of young Agnieszka, a constantly unkempt girl who to everyone's astonishment was chosen to live in the dreadful wizard's tower for 10 years as the price for his assistance against the evil Wood.

Agnieszka imagined how desperate and empty her life was g When it comes to rating books like Uprooted , I keep wishing I could give more than 5 stars. Agnieszka imagined how desperate and empty her life was going to be, locked away from her family and her dear friend with the Dragon as her only company. What she would never imagine was that everything she thought of him was a lie based on fear and prejudice.

That magic flew in her veins. That she would play a vital part in the kingdom's politics, that she would participate in the never ending war not only against their neighbors but also against the ancient Wood. The Wood that was calling for her. Aftel all, she was just the woodcutter's daughter. With an unequaled gift for disaster. It sounds like a fairytale, doesn't it? With the witches and the haunted forest and the knights and the brave girl who is about to find out her destiny is a great one and will affect thousands of people?

It seems so at first, partly because of Naomi Novik's spectacular writing. The world she created is so vivid and enchanting , you can smell the pines and feel the mud under your bare feet and the air crackling with magic, your stomach clenched with agony and fear, your heart hammering in your chest, and it takes tremendous effort to realize that you are not the one fighting the corruption in Polnya, you are just the reader, in the safety of your house, drinking your chocolate.

And you couldn't be more disappointed. But there was darkness in Uprooted that you don't encounter in most of the fairytales. There were brutal murders, desperation, hatred and rage, and the good guys didn't always win. There wasn't a Prince Charming, only a grumpy, sassy wizard who was irritated most of the times and he couldn't remember what being a human felt like. Thousands were slaughtered due to one man's certainty and ambition.

And the wizards weren't good or evil, just opportunists, devoid of love. A flawed, stubborn girl with a good heart and iron will, unable to hate even her worst enemies, a dedicated friend and daughter, and a different kind of hope. Well that does sound like a fairytale after all. View all 49 comments. Have you ever loved the first half of a book but hated the second? Well I have and it sucks.

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It leaves you feeling rather torn in a review. The character known as the Dragon was a complete enigma. Discovering what drove this lonely man was, essentially, the reason I carried on with the book. Well at least by my standards. The man locks himself in his immense library and reads all day. I love reading about characters that read, and appreciate books in the same way that I do. I find them quite compelling. But, he is also terribly moody and dismissive to his young student Agmeszka. So I wanted to know what was giving this man a sore head.

Every ten years he recruits a new student from the local village. He usually picks the most attractive girl or her who is remarkable in some way. He takes the woman home where she becomes his live-in-maid. See what I mean: He eyed me and said stiffly, "Don't land yourself into a boiling-pot, and as difficult as you may find it, try and present a respectable appearance.

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He pics the most ordinary girl out of the lot; she appears to have nothing special about her. When he goes back to his wizard tower he leaves her to her own devices. Would you guess it? She turns out to be a magic wielder too. She starts reading his books, very intimate I know, and discovers a strange affinity for the craft. This was my favourite part of the novel. But, the downside is that it was over far too quickly. This novel did not feel like a stand-alone fantasy.

For me, it had the potential to be an epic fantasy series, with this being the beginning. Instead it was over far too quickly as the recently acquainted characters were thrown into the action that became the second half. The world expanded far too quickly. The story went from being isolated to a tower to reaching across the entire lands, and even as far as to affect the random monarchy. The beginning was slow, perfectly so, then it rushed into world events and kingdoms and rulers all too quickly. I do like the idea behind this book, but there was no build up as the story expanded. The novel just had too much story for one book and it felt condensed as a result.

This could have easily been split into two. Structurally, the author made a few mistakes in my estimation. This book would have been far more effective had the friendship at the start been allowed more time to develop. It was thrown into the action that much, that when the romance came it made no sense. It was a case of where did that come from? I think there should have been much more time spent in the tower, as the rest of the world was slowly, and gradually, revealed. That way this could have easily ended at the midway point.

The woods are the antagonist in this story. I loved that; it worked. It more than worked it was rather brilliant. But it could have been better. I think a prelude demonstrating the dark nature of it would have helped to establish it as a real threat, rather than an irrational fear, very early on. Now that was so very disappointing! It was too fast. It was just too fast to be effective! I did like the story, but for me it took a terrible wrong turn which severed my enjoyment.

This could have been so much more; it was just over far too quickly. One book wasn't enough to tell this tale in. I think three stars is a fair rating, all things considered. View all 52 comments. Buddy read with Fantasy Buddy Reads My first review in and it started with a new milestone, my first ever 1 star rating. I wish I could give this a negative star as right now, this is literally the worst book I ever read in my entire life.

Oh wait let me start with the positive parts first: The main characters and their romance are one of the worst problem in this book next to its pacing. There's no development for them since the beginning until the end, the flatness of their characters are even worse than a skateboard.

The first time they made an appearance, that's how they will be until the end except for Kasia. The worst part out of all this? Agony ended up falling in love with him anyway. The romance happened pointlessly, out of nowhere and there is no middle part. The writing in this book were actually beautiful, probably the only good thing about it but the pacing oh dear God save me. I mean seriously why? I have quite a severe insomnia for 10 years now and this book managed to send me to sleep 8 freaking times, literally sleep because it was so unbelievably boring.

Lastly, the magic system is uber ridiculous. I pity the tree which were used to create this book. I never thought any book could inflict me with so much suffering. Once again, this is purely my opinion and review. A lot of people and my friends loved this book so it could still work out for you but if anyone asked me anything about recommending this or not, I will tell them to stay away as far as possible. This is now the worst book I ever read in my life and it will be my bench mark for the saying "It can't get any worse than this.

Rabid Reads Imagine a powerful sorcerer living in a tower in the middle of a forest. He is over years old, but he still appears to be a young man. Every 10 years, he picks a girl from one of the local villages to take back to his tower. The villagers don't know what happens to the girls during their time in the tower, only that they come back changed. Grander, finer, more polished. Educated and dr Reviewed by: Educated and dressed in fine clothes. The girls are well paid for whatever it is they do in the tower.

Alone with the wizard. In the middle of the Wood. When they've served their sentence, they return with a sack of silver to use as a dowry, but they don't marry. At least not anyone from their former home. They all leave, using the money to finance a fresh start somewhere else. This sorcerer, called the Dragon, is alone except for the village girl, and even with her, he maintains his distance. He will do neither. Rather than forming attachments to impermanent creatures, he buries himself in order and precision and the resulting beauty of a task well done.

His nature is taciturn, impatient, and formal, so the villagers, despite their dependence on him for protection, fear him, despise him: I had hated him, but I wouldn't have reproached him, any more than I would have reproached a bolt of lightning for striking my house. He wasn't a person. Agnieszka is the antithesis of this sorcerer, this Dragon.

Left to his own devices, he would never have chosen her as his new companion, but Agnieszka has magic, and the King's Law states that any found with the talent must be trained, so choose her he does. What follows is a compelling combination of stagnation and rebirth, misunderstandings and revelations, the fantastical and the horrific, and all of it is utterly captivating. Tired literary devices felt new again: She kissed me again and held me once more, and let me go.

It did hurt more. I found myself reading and rereading the various passages. More than an image clearly formed in my mind, I felt what Agnieszka felt. I could have been her: I had forgotten hours and days by then. My arms ached, my back ached, my legs ached.

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My head ached worst of all, some part of me tethered back to the valley, stretched out of recognizable shape and trying to make sense of myself when I was so far from anything I knew. Even the mountains, my constants, had disappeared. Of course I'd known there were parts of the country with no mountains, but I'd imagined I would still see them somewhere in the distance, like the moon.

But every time I looked behind me, they were smaller and smaller, until finally they disappeared with one final gasp of rolling hills. Novik perfectly captures human nature, plucking you from the physical world, and dropping you next to Agnieszka, making you an observer from within, so much more than a girl in a chair reading a book in Tennessee: It wasn't that I wanted a husband and a baby; I didn't, or rather, I only wanted them the way I wanted to live to a hundred someday, far off, never thinking about the particulars. But they meant life: And beyond the simple beauty of her words, she creates real, believably flawed people characters.

Marek is a prince, not the crown prince, and he has no qualms about making his displeasure on that topic known, and when I met him. I didn't know what to think. He behaved abominably, but in a way that he himself wasn't absolutely abominable. Then suddenly you have hope for him again. It was a cycle that I completed several times, and in the end.

But he was real. And he was one among many. Kasia is Agnieszka's best and only friend. She is also the girl that everyone expected the Dragon to choose. So imagine my dismay when shortly after she escapes that fate, she is abducted by one of the Wood's foul creatures. Now imagine Agnieszka's dismay. Fantastic al , right? The whole book is like that. I haven't been as enamored by a tale since I was child, and though this is not a children's story, I still found myself smitten like a girl with ribbons in her hair, twirling in her favorite dress in the sunshine.

This is a story that has carved it's place on my heart, and I enthusiastically endorse it as my top read of View all 60 comments. Oct 02, Navessa rated it it was amazing Shelves: What an incredible fairy tale. This book is a lot like the The Wood that dominates this story, luring you close, whispering in your ear, offering you the most tantalizing temptations, if only you'll be persuaded into it.

The difference between the two is that where The Wood is a dark, twisted creation that speaks only lies, this book delivers on its promi WOW. The difference between the two is that where The Wood is a dark, twisted creation that speaks only lies, this book delivers on its promises. It's as if Novik sprinkled real magic within these pages. As if the words written on them are spells in and of themselves, able to lift from the paper and ensnare those who read them. I'll freely admit that I was immediately caught within its grasp, and remained spellbound from beginning to end.

If you're a fan of beautifully crafted stories, slow burn romances, hideous monstrosities that are somehow all too human, and good triumphing over evil, read it. Blog Facebook Twitter Instagram Pinterest View all 43 comments. This was another favourite of mine. Unfortunately there is also a lot less kissing. But not to be discouraged. What kissing there is, is very lovely and, more importantly, Uprooted has a solid plot and is paced with ardent fervour.

Agnieszka is a fantastic character.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik | www.newyorkethnicfood.com: Books

Witty, strong, loving and heroic. The Dragon is hilariously uptight and poncy. Cue Agnieszka quickly tearing down every expectation and wall he builds up between them and you have an odd couple taking on the most sinister forest you can think of. This is a mini review since I posted a guide to Beauty and the Beast retellings here.

View all 11 comments. Guys, I know I'm late to the party, but this book was so worthy of all the stars. I'm still goo-goo eyed at how beautiful and breathtaking the writing is; saying it is atmospheric and quirky and full of heart and soul doesn't even do it justice, but I'm not sure there are proper words in the english language to convey the feelings this book gave me.

Right after I finished this one, Mr. Everything I said made no sense, just as this review will likely make little to no sense, but I'll try my best to convince you to give this one a try if you enjoy a fantasy that is equal parts tenderness and epic growth. But I didn't care: I didn't feel I owed him beauty. She begins as a self-conscious, waif of a girl who's self-esteem is what we see of many girls today as teenagers, yet as soon as she's taken by the Dragon, we see the fight well up in her and sparks begin to fly.

Her banter with the Dragon brings some of the heavier portions a levity that is needed to keep the story from getting too dark, and I love how creative this fantasy world is that Novik has created. It was crisp and clear in my mind; the descriptions are so vivid and cinematic that I could easily play this out as a movie in my mind rather than words on a page. I could go on and on about this book, but I gather you've either a already read this book and know all of this for yourself or b you haven't read it yet and don't need me spoiling any of the fun for you. If you haven't read this yet but enjoy atmospheric fantasies full of complex relationships and satisfying world building, please do yourself and pick this one up.

Thanks to everyone who recommended it to me and for my library for having a book I wanted to check out for once! View all 22 comments. It's nor here nor there. I'm going to steal a bit from Chester and say this is the epitome of Blur Rating. Are you one of those readers who really gets fed up with series? It's like every corner you turn, every book you read, you find out it's a trilogy. Or some kind of saga. I remember I used to whine and cry about this all the time because I don't know about you but if I read a book today you can sure bet your butt that I will not remember details about it in two months time unless it was utter It's nor here nor there.

I remember I used to whine and cry about this all the time because I don't know about you but if I read a book today you can sure bet your butt that I will not remember details about it in two months time unless it was utterly epic, and even then.

Naomi Novik

And unlike most readers, I refuse to reread so I trudge on to the next book most of the time not knowing what the heck is happening until my memories resurface or a friend usually Brit so kindly refreshes my mind. You may be asking yourself, why the heck is Melissa blabbering on about series and trilogies? Well, because this book made me appreciate them.

This novel is too dense. It's too layered and runs from one plot to another without giving us time to digest the previous one, making this one tough cookie to swallow. When it's not the overly descriptive surroundings, it's the tedious never ending rendition of magic, one that, by the way, still left a lot to be desired. See, that is one thing I'm able to appreciate from the Throne of Glass series. I'm not its biggest fan having actually only really enjoyed the second book but I was able to enjoy how the plot thickens and gets layers added as the series progresses but if you try to do that in such a short novel, it just becomes hard to swallow and digest.

But at the same time, if it wasn't going to be written into a series, than this needed to be slimmed the heck down cause I just read 3 stories in one. I mean, I know this is only pages or so and I've read longer books in one sitting but daaaamn at times this book read like a textbook. And ain't nobody got time for that. As for the writing You know how some authors have a way of writing in a lyrical and slow paced manner but when you enter an action scene they have a way of making your heart pound and adrenaline sky rocket.

That art of being able to make your breathe hold still and your anxiety hit the roof? A friend had previously warned me about the writing style but I did not heed caution cause in my mind you don't have to be a poet to woo me. But crap, you at least have to have some finesse. As for the magic Look, honestly I'm not one to fidget about this. Epic Fantasy Fairy Tales Audiobooks. Buy the Audiobook Download: Apple Audible downpour eMusic audiobooks. Add to Cart Add to Cart.

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