Uprooted

An exceptional novel, forever a fan🫶🏼❣️

I went into this book with high expectations, and sadly to say I was let down a bit. I’ll start with the positives first; I absolutely loved the world building and the writing. The descriptions of the Wood and how the characters interacted with it always left me uneasy; I felt as if I was there and struggling to understand it’s mysteries with the characters. I was completely immersed whenever I picked up reading this book, and could understand the scene the main character was describing. I enjoyed reading about the politics as well as the magic mechanics in this world, as they were completely different and unique to what I’ve read in the past. There was loads of ideas and thought put into creating this world and the magic system. To the negatives I have about this book, some of the characters were forgettable and the relationships were not well-developed. Agnieszka and Kasia as characters and their strong bond was lovely to read, while others were left to be desired. The Dragon/Sarkan, for example, never had any sort of character development and remained the same throughout the entire novel. He felt very bland and forgettable, while also being extremely rude to Agnieszka for no reason. Their romantic relationship had no development or build-up, I felt I had just been smacked across the face when the first the “romantic”scene occurred, because it came out of left field completely and made absolutely no sense. There was no chemistry or “playful” banter whatsoever, it was just Sarkan being overly cruel even after being saved multiple times by Agnieszka (never even said thank you??). I don’t understand what Agnieszka could ever see in him after how he treated her. I felt I would’ve been more satisfied if there had been no romance at all and more time was spent on developing characters. Overall, I did enjoy the book and I am glad to have finally read it. I just think it could’ve been greatly improved in certain areas.

I love the way the story is written, as though you’re an observer peeking in on this section of time. There are subtle threads of romance but the story is really about a woman coming into her own during a tough adventure. 10/10 would recommend！

Naomi Novik has taken tales from Polish mythology and crafted an engrossing world. It is a hero’s journey; the hero is a young woman - Agnieszka - coming into her own as she discovers her own powers and the responsibilities that go with them. Growing up with the ever present threat of The Wood, a source of malevolent magic, she is selected at age 17 to fulfill a tribute of 10 years of service to the powerful wizard whose task is to defend against it. She never expected to be chosen, nor did she know why she was - because the wizard realized she had magic ability of her own and needed to be trained. The title of the tale is “Uprooted” because that is a recurring theme throughout. Agnieszka is uprooted from all the expectations she had had growing up as a peasant, but as she progresses through the story, a comparable overturning happens to all who come in contact with her. Not least of all is the effect on her wizard mentor who finds both his understanding of magic and his own life overturned by her. And without giving away too much, the ultimate confrontation with the villain of the tale also defies expectations . Novik has crafted a fine story with rich characters living in a well-realized world. It is a wonderful stand-alone work. There are - so far - no sequels and no prequels, although there is plenty of potential for more stories from the world Novik has put together. Enjoy!

I really got attached to the characters.

Love good fairytale with a strong female character.

The concept is interesting and that’s about as nice as I can say about it. The writing style is very frantic, making it difficult to read. The characters could have been flushed out a bit more, and the development was lacking. Romance should not have been on the table for the two main characters, because it didn’t fit. It was awkward and felt like it was thrown in there for fun. This could have been done so much better. I’m very disapointed i spent money on this.

I wish this was a series! I would love to read more books in this world and with these characters. Agnieszka was awesome, I loved her magic. I kinda wish the romance was a little spicier, but I thought they developed a really cute dynamic and I was smiling at the end.

Mary Sue gets in an abusive relationship but wins over her abuser. I can’t remember the last time I hated a book so much I put it in the recycling rather than give it away. I thought the premise and setting were intriguing, but the story was just “problem appears, protagonist tries to solve it, everyone tells her it’s too dangerous, she solves it anyway” over and over again. Bad enough but just poor writing, but then the one person who is unrelentingly mean to her turns out to be the love of her life. Way to model strong self-sufficient behavior. The love story is flat-out offensive and the reason this went in the bin.

I was really excited to read this book, but sadly the style, story, and suggestion of cuckolding, didn’t really jive with me. Definitely seems like some weird fetishy-tumbler-esque story.