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Book Review
May. 17th, 2016 09:20 amUprooted
by Naomi Novik
I loved this book, and could barely put it down. Set in a fantasy version of early modern Poland, the story concerns Agnieszka, a young woman living in a small village in a valley surrounded by a malevolent and corrupting Wood and dominated by a wizard, called the Dragon, in his tower. Every ten years, the Dragon chooses a woman from one of the villages to come and serve him in his tower for the next ten years. At the next choosing, Agnieszka is unexpectedly chosen. She soon discovers that the Dragon took her because she has great magical ability. As her training progresses, so does her involvement in the fight against the Wood, which visits monsters and madness upon the villagers in an attempt to devour the valley despite the Dragon's efforts to protect them.
Agnieszka is a great character. I really enjoyed the way her folklore-based magic developed and grew, and the way it contrasted with, and sometimes complemented, the Dragon's scholarly, orderly magic. I also loved the way Agnieszka grew into her magic and her power, her determination to save the people she loves from the Wood and its horrors, and the way she becomes someone who knows what she wants and what she needs to do, and has the spine to go after it.
I also loved the fairy-tale framework of Uprooted and the way it works within and against the genre's conventions. Of course, this is an Eastern-European fairy tale, so it is much darker and more dangerous than most of the tales we are familiar with. There are wizards and witches, a prince charming, a grand queen, hearty villagers, adventure, romance, and magic, and of course, the enchanted forest. But not everything is always what you expect or even what it seems.
by Naomi Novik
I loved this book, and could barely put it down. Set in a fantasy version of early modern Poland, the story concerns Agnieszka, a young woman living in a small village in a valley surrounded by a malevolent and corrupting Wood and dominated by a wizard, called the Dragon, in his tower. Every ten years, the Dragon chooses a woman from one of the villages to come and serve him in his tower for the next ten years. At the next choosing, Agnieszka is unexpectedly chosen. She soon discovers that the Dragon took her because she has great magical ability. As her training progresses, so does her involvement in the fight against the Wood, which visits monsters and madness upon the villagers in an attempt to devour the valley despite the Dragon's efforts to protect them.
Agnieszka is a great character. I really enjoyed the way her folklore-based magic developed and grew, and the way it contrasted with, and sometimes complemented, the Dragon's scholarly, orderly magic. I also loved the way Agnieszka grew into her magic and her power, her determination to save the people she loves from the Wood and its horrors, and the way she becomes someone who knows what she wants and what she needs to do, and has the spine to go after it.
I also loved the fairy-tale framework of Uprooted and the way it works within and against the genre's conventions. Of course, this is an Eastern-European fairy tale, so it is much darker and more dangerous than most of the tales we are familiar with. There are wizards and witches, a prince charming, a grand queen, hearty villagers, adventure, romance, and magic, and of course, the enchanted forest. But not everything is always what you expect or even what it seems.
