Uprooted

Product Information

Ok so to start with this book took me months to read...MONTHS I tell you. Actually looking at the dates on Goodreads it was close to a year but I did start and stop a lot so... I can normally devour a fantasy book twice this size in half the time . I just wasn’t interested. Left to his own devices, he would never have chosen her as his new companion, but Agnieszka has magic, and the King's Law states that any found with the talent must be trained, so choose her he does.

Also, one of my favourite things was the creepy Wood - a literally evil forest that is alive with a dark corruption that will claim you if you ever enter it, or get touched by one of the monstrous beings that come out of the Wood. How weird and creative and scary... I LOVED it. But there was darkness in Uprooted that you don't encounter in most of the fairytales. There were brutal murders, desperation, hatred and rage, and the good guys didn't always win. There wasn't a Prince Charming, only a grumpy, sassy wizard who was irritated most of the times and he couldn't remember what being a human felt like. Thousands were slaughtered due to one man's certainty and ambition. And the wizards weren't good or evil, just opportunists, devoid of love. And Agnieszka? A flawed, stubborn girl with a good heart and iron will, unable to hate even her worst enemies, a dedicated friend and daughter, and a different kind of hope. Don’t even get me started on how many times I had to reread a paragraph because I lost count on how many times my mind wandered while I’m reading this book. This situation almost never happened before; even on books I disliked, I didn’t have much trouble finishing them. I legit thought about the process of turning a raw potato into French Fries out of nowhere while reading this, and hey, it’s more interesting than what the pacing and romance this book put me through.This is one of the few books in the last year that managed to captivate me. From the opening paragraph this story grabs and hauls you off into the wonders of darkly wooded world and just as sincerely holds you captive. Ms. Novik did everything right here. There’s no learning curve, as the story starts small, simple, and yet captivating. The the reader is introduced to a pleasant and likable young woman, whose life is drastically altered, not in some horrible way, but rather in an unexpectedly nice way. Such things don’t usually happen in fantasy stories. Nice characters, nice places, pleasant events—almost sounds boring, only it isn’t. Quite the contrary, I was far more fascinated and riveted by this not-miserable place and kindly people than in any other fantasy book I’ve read in decade.

He called her intolerable and crazy in one sentence and then he kissed her. This is only the first kiss. 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 main characters and their romance were some of the worst problems for me in this book. Kasia, the side character, would’ve been a much better choice for a protagonist compared to Agnieszka; I’ll dub her as Agony because it captured my feeling towards her. Agony is a Mary Sue, and she’s the epitome of Special Snowflake Syndrome. To make things worse, the Dragon, Skunk, Skank, or whatever his real name is was an ultimate asshole just for the sake of being one. From the beginning to the end, no organic development to these characters occurred. The flatness of their characterizations was even worse than a skateboard. I found myself reading and rereading the various passages. More than an image clearly formed in my mind, I felt what Agnieszka felt. I could have been her:

Uprooted has everything I love: a great heroine, new takes on old myths and legends, and surprising twists and turns. A delight.”—Cassandra Clare Magical and practical, otherworldly and planted in the real, I could not stop reading this book and neither will you!” —Tamora Pierce A dark enchantment blights the land in the award-winning Uprooted - a enthralling, mythic fantasy by Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series. Breathtaking . . . a tale that is both elegantly grand and earthily humble, familiar as a Grimm fairy tale yet fresh, original, and totally irresistible.”— Publishers Weekly (starred review)

OH MY GOD A DRAGON. A TERRIBLE DRAGON WHO KIDNAPS A VILLAGE'S BEAUTIFUL YOUNG GIRLS. DO THEY GET EATEN?! DO THEY GET TORTURED?!!! WHAT IS THEIR TERRIBLE FATE?! “They forget how to live here...[they] remember to be afraid,” my father said. That was all. What an incredible fairy tale. This book is a lot like the The Wood that dominates this story, luring you close, whispering in your ear, offering you the most tantalizing temptations, if only you'll be persuaded into it. The difference between the two is that where The Wood is a dark, twisted creation that speaks only lies, this book delivers on its promises. I'll freely admit that I was immediately caught within its grasp, and remained spellbound from beginning to end.I'm glad," I said, with an effort, refusing to let my mouth close up with jealousy. It wasn't that I wanted a husband and a baby; I didn't, or rather, I only wanted them the way I wanted to live to a hundred someday, far off, never thinking about the particulars. But they meant life : she was living, and I wasn't.

This one treatment to Agnieszka is particularly the most terrible Sarkan had pulled out of his sleeve.Of course, it wasn't the dichotomy alone that made it special. It was the interwoven dualism of both and the harmony that both deep learning and a trust in instinct can form together. ONE STAR to character developments. I cannot stand any of them. Nearly all of them are as flat as a cardboard cutout. None experienced huge break throughs and if they did, it did not show in the book. The characters are none I can connect with and none I could care less about. all of that and there’s nothing overt that i can point to and say “ that’s where it lost me. that’s what i didn’t like.” it wasn’t that it was unenjoyable or a chore to read, it just never made my readerheart sparkle. its hooks hooked me: it’s a fairytaleish book with a spooky forest and a mysterious castle and an enigmatic wizard and a village with a long-standing and creepy tradition of gifting a young woman to the enigmatic wizard in the mysterious castle every ten years. I need to create a new shelf and label it "all time favorites" and put like three books on there, of which, this would DEFINITELY be one.