Uprooted

Upon finishing this book I was reminded of Return of the King with Frodo saying "It's gone. It's done."

The accolades for the book piqued my interest but it led to disappointment. Seeing a Hugo nomination, Nebula victory and the popularity of the book on Goodreads polls I had a different set of expectations going in than I would have if I focused on the words "Young Adult Fantasy".

Right away I felt that there was more emphasis on "Young" in that description. Times where the story veered towards Fantasy were enjoyable, and almost redeemable, but then the scales would tip back to "Young Adult". I knew from the start that this story wasn't for me but I kept on going and I learned a lesson that my High Fantasy and Low Fantasy enjoyment should never cross over with YA.

I have to give the story credit in that this was a different take on magic and fantasy, but whenever a spell was butchered or mumbled intentionally I heard Hermione Granger scold the character with “You’re saying it wrong...it’s Wing-gar-dium Levi-o-sa, make the ‘gar’ nice and long”.

Ever 10 years the local wizard comes into the valley to choose a girl to live with him. Usually he chooses the most beautiful or talented. But this year, instead of taking Kasia who everyone knew was going to be the chosen one, he takes her friend Agnieszka because he recognizes her latent magical talent. He isn't happy about having a student especially when Agnieszka can't seem to master any spells.There is a Wood at the end of the Valley. Monsters live in the wood. The wizard is supposed to protect the people in the valley from the Wood but there isn't really much he can do. If anyone is taken by the monsters, they are dead.When the Wood attacks Agnieszka's home village and then takes someone that she cares for, she decides to use whatever magic she has to fight back.









The Good

• I have a soft spot for non-World War II books set in Poland. This book is set in a fantasy version of Eastern Europe. The audio version of this book was done with a strong Eastern European accent which was a constant reminder of the world where it was set.


• I like the fact that Agnieszka and the Dragon have very different systems of magic.  At first they don't even recognize the power that Agnieszka has because it is so different than what magic is supposed to look like.


• There is a great story of female friendship here.  That's isn't something that is always seen in fantasy books.


• Spoiler - Highlight to read - She sleeps with someone and then goes on with her life when a relationship doesn't develop.  She doesn't sit around and pine. There is some resolution of this at the end but there isn't a happily ever after.  That is refreshing.

The Bad

• I'm not a person who routinely says that books are too long but this one started to really drag after a while.  I sped the audio up and powered through it.  There was a complex political world that Agnieszka was thrown into and it went on and on.


• The Dragon is always written as annoyed or glaring.  Maybe he just a grumpy fella but don't try to make sympathetic and a potential romantic interest while having him be nasty to the character that you want him to get romantic with.  That's no basis for a relationship.


• There is a point where a prince comes to visit them.  He attempts to rape Agnieszka.  She realizes her power at this point and not only fends him off but almost kills him.  The Dragon then explains this all to her by telling her that the Prince planned to insult him by raping her.  We are into some seriously problematic territory now.  Her personal autonomy doesn't come into consideration at all.  Then it gets worse.  They decide to plant a false memory so he doesn't realize that she was violent towards him.  The Dragon gives her a choice of letting him think that she complied enthusiastically to his sexual advances and they had a great time or that she complied but was really bad at it.  She half heartedly complains about this but no other options are considered.  I mean, if you can implant a false memory why not have him think he got drunk at dinner and went to bed?

Bottom Line

I liked it but it drug on audio.  Maybe read this one instead so you can go faster.  That's sad because the narration was really well done.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

Reminds me of early Patricia Briggs, Patricia McKillip, Patricia Wrede, Bujold's Challion stuff, Robyn McKinley... you get the picture.

Quite decent and readable, and I particularly enjoyed the multiple distinct female characters and the relationships between them, the recognition of the creepiness of the maiden in the tower trope, even where creepiness was averted, and the use of Russian traditions, even though they are not a tradition I am familiar with.

Story: Agnieszka is selected to be the village sorcerer's girl-captive, and goes not very gracefully to her fate. She finds herself a terrible captive/housekeeper, but learns about magic, and her world, which comes in handy when the creepy woods which have been trying to consume them all makes its next attempt.

One of the most fascinating characters was Kasia, the girl everyone had assumed would be the next Girl Captive. It strikes me that she would have a fascinating story in her. Also I would not turn down the Kasia/Agnieszka fanfiction.

I was vaguely sad to see reconciliation with Agnieszka's romantic interest in the last chapter, because I had actually been pleased by her "fuck all'y'all, I'm going to go be a crazy witch lady in the woods" exit.

When my sister and I were little girls our cousin gave us a beautifully battered old copy of Grimm's Fairy Tales with the dessicated exoskeleton of a spider crushed between the pages. There is some possibility that my deep love of this dark, creepy book warped me for life. It was not the sunny nonsense that my well-meaning relatives kept trying to spoon-feed me. Characters faced real dangers and had actual horrible consequences. The wolf was not always defeated and the evil stepmother's spells had some real bite.

I'm always in search of dark fantasy that grabs me the way that old copy of Grimm's did, so I signed up to get an ARC of Naomi Novik's Uprooted from NetGalley, hoping it fit the bill. For the most part it did not disappoint. We have our protagonist Agnieszka, the woodcutter's daughter who is swept away to the tower of The Dragon at the age of seventeen to start ten years of servitude. Perfectly excellent start to a fairy tale and I enjoyed watching our girl step into the world of magic by learning of her own hidden powers, which again is a very pleasing coming of age and into her own sort of fantasy storyline. This tower and the villages nearby are surrounded by The Wood, a deliciously creepy sentient place from when evil springs, where villagers get snatched and lured to either death or a fate worse than. All fine and good and very entertaining reading. It sent me back to my happy place and reminded me of the Grimm brothers in the best ways.

I greatly enjoyed watching Agnieszka grow into her power and butt heads with the Dragon over her inability to follow simple spellbooks in favor of her own intuitive style of casting spells. Learning more about how The Wood encroached upon human settlements and how it threatened to destroy them in so many varied ways kept me turning pages well past my bedtime. Once Agnieszka, the Dragon, and an intrepid band of royals and soldier decide to take on The Wood to destroy it once and for all I found that the pacing suffered. The book would have benefited from some harsher editing to keep things humming along. From time to time it felt like I was slogging through an RPG game, watching my characters repeat certain spells in order to level up enough to face the boss. Overall, though, the strengths outweighed the weakness and I really enjoyed the book. Those of you who prefer the battle scenes of sword and sorcery novels will probably enjoy Uprooted even more than I did, so four stars for me with the potential to add another half star for some of my more bloodthirsty friends.

I picked this up thinking it contained dragons, but it doesn’t, only a wizard who bears their name. It does however play with the idea of a dragon taking a tribute or sacrifice, something that is common in folklore. The Dragon keeps the villagers safe from the Wood, but only if they offer him what they need.

Uprooted is firmly rooted in Slavic fairy tales and folklore. The Wood is a living, sentient thing, malicious in its actions. It is the thing that the people most fear. I’m not sure if the heart wood trees are something that have been around in folklore for a long time or if it’s borrowed from A Song of Fire and Ice, however these trees are not ones you would pray to. The idea of being trapped in a tree for months, years, but still alive is terrifying.

Traditionally, trees played an important part in Slavic religions, before Christianity came along. Each village would have a sacred tree, but they would also believe that some trees contained malevolent spirits. Baba Yaga is one of the best known characters from Slavic mythology and she gets a nod here, even if she isn’t in the story. Witches were always feared and here they have respect, perhaps out of fear, but do good for the land.

Agnieszka’s first forays into magic do not go well and the Dragon exasperates over her. As her abilities grow, it becomes clear that her magic is more organic in nature rather than the more academic style the registered wizards and witches prefer. Agnieszka has raw, unstructured magic, rather like the Wood perhaps.

Kasia is the girl everyone expects to be chosen by the Dragon. She has spent her whole life knowing what her fate will be and being groomed by her parents. She’s Agnieszka’s best friend and they worry about being separated. Kasia seems like the perfect fairy tale maiden but her role grows and grows, and she becomes a much more interesting character.

I liked the theme of being attached to a place, despite its dangers. And the walkers are basically giant stick insects but actually made out of wood. They were one of my favourite bits, and I don’t want to give too much away, but I loved their closing scene. It’s amazing how much a creature can evolve during a story, without it being the focus.

Review copy provided by publisher.