Uprooted by Naomi Novik Review

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

I had been craving a good fantasy novel and this hit the spot. I found the book on a fantasy-faction.com post about the 2016 Locus Award winners. Uprooted won Best Fantasy Novel. I checked it out on Amazon and then immediately placed it on hold.

The story has a vibe of a fanciful fairytale. There is a dragon who takes a girl every ten years except this Dragon is a wizard lord and he doesn’t eat the girls, in fact after their ten years is up he releases them with a bag of gold. They visit their parents then move away. Agnieszka’s mother says they forget how to live there. (Please, don’t let her complex name scare you away.)

They live in the shadow of The Wood, an ancient forest that radiates evil. Twenty years ago the Queen was snatched away into The Wood. Only rarely do people come back out of the wood and they are always corrupted and put to death, a kindness.

The magic system felt natural to the world and wasn’t overly complex. The history of the world was grounded. The plot flowed nicely all the way to a thoroughly satisfying ending. While it is not needed, I would love to revisit this world, either as a prequel or a sequel. If you like fairy tales, fantasy or just a good story do yourself a favor and read this book.    

Amazon Description: 

 
“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.

Uprooted is available for checkout through the Lake County Library System.