Uprooted: By Naomi Novik

UPROOTED

SUMMARY

“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 were 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.”

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.

REVIEW

Uprooted is absolutely beautiful and enchanting. I can't exactly put my finger on what causes this but the story and the written feels positively lyrical. This smoothness to the writing alone is enough to recommend this book. Luckily for readers that is not the only thing Uprooted has gong for it.

On top of sensational writing, Uprooted is filled with tons of action, magic and intrigue as to the Wood's origin and its spies at court. In fact the second half of the book is filled with so much action readers will be hard pressed to set the book down until the final pages once they reach this point of no return.

Of course Uprooted also has a strong protagonist who readers will easily root on (no pun intended) in Agnieszka. She grows both in strength of magic as well as strength in character as the book progresses and the story of her independence will be one that readers will easily get behind in support. This intertwining of the magical and practical growth of character helps build the story making her decisions more practical and leaving readers satisfied with the decisions made as opposed to rolling their eyes with the stupidity.

Between the magic, the action, the impressive display of writing ability by Novik and the subtle natural growth of a love interest, there is very little not to love about this book. It kept me engaged and entertained and therefore I highly recommend it.

INFO

Publisher: Del Rey

Published: May 19, 2015

Price: $25.00

Link to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Uprooted-Naomi-Novik-ebook/dp/B00KUQIU7O/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1432787986&sr=1-1&keywords=naomi+novik