Hey there, pals! :)
I’m back with another review!
I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas time, and if you don’t celebrate, a wonderful weekend nonetheless!
Basics
Title: Uprooted
Author: Naomi Novik
Release Date: May 18th 2015
Publisher: Del Rey
ISBN: 0804179034
Number of Pages: 435
Summary
Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.
Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.
The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.
But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.
My Opinion
“But she hadn’t been able to take root. She’d remembered the wrong things, and forgotten too much. She’d remembered how to kill and how to hate, and she’d forgotten how to grow.”
Ahh, I have really mixed feelings about this book.
On one side, I really enjoyed the world building and the beginning of the story! I found the concept of a sentient, murderous wood so fascinating, especially because there was obviously so much more to it than we were first told!
Like, how do you escape something that can have its “eyes and ears” literally everywhere around you in nature?!
But by the time Agnieszka was sent to the capital, I had really started losing interest in the story. It always took me forever to pick up the book again. That was mostly due to the slow and overly descriptive writing. I found myself skipping huge blocks of text because the story had begun to drag on so much. It’s not like there weren’t any fights – they were just lacking suspense whatsoever. Even towards the end, when I got to one major battle scene, there was no immediacy or pressure to it.
While reading Uprooted, I felt a lot like I had felt during my read of The Well of Ascension: Awesome concept, mediocre execution. I feel like the pacing of this story could have been a whole lot better.
After so much criticism, let’s talk about the things I actually enjoyed!
First and foremost: Kasia! When she was first introduced, I expected her to become either a neglected side-character or, in the worst-case, one of those shallow friends YA lit is so fond of. But I was pleasantly surprised!
Kasia is easily one of the strongest, bravest, and most complex characters of the story (and in the books I’ve read this year)! She gave her whole life to be trained to serve the Dragon, only to be rejected. And never did she show any cruelty or disdain towards Agnieszka for that. Their friendship was so full of love and care!
She was thrown into this world of magic and horror and did not complain once – instead she adapted and gave her very best to help, even without magic at her disposal.
Ah, I could go on and on about her! :)
I did also enjoy the romance between the Dragon and Agnieszka. Contrary to the book overall, I found it to be really well-paced. I was definitely rooting for them & the way Agnieszka forced Sarkan to come out of his shell made me giggle at times. But in the end, it wasn’t enough so save the book from its 3 star rating.
Favourite quote:
“Magic was singing in me, through me; I felt the murmur of his power singing back that same song.”
Rating
3 out of 5 stars
