Uprooted: A Novel

Naomi Novik

May 2015 · Sold by Del Rey

About this eBook

NEBULA AWARD WINNER • HUGO AWARD FINALIST • “If you want a fantasy with strong characters and brilliantly original variations on ancient stories, try Uprooted!”—Rick Riordan
 
“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)

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: NPR, BuzzFeed, Tordotcom, BookPage, Library Journal, Publishers Weekly

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.

Praise for Uprooted

“Uprooted has leapt forward to claim the title of Best Book I’ve Read Yet This Year. . . . Moving, heartbreaking, and thoroughly satisfying, Uprooted is the fantasy novel I feel I’ve been waiting a lifetime for. Clear your schedule before picking it up, because you won’t want to put it down.”—NPR

Ratings and reviews

The story is interesting. The writing style is on the simplistic side. I'm not certain if I would call that a bad thing as it is written exclusively in first person. Since it is written from the perspective of a 17 year old girl from a farming village with no mention of education past general literacy and the skills to live in her world simple is not inappropriate. I would say it is original, but not being familiar with her inspirations, I will say it is new to me.

Novik's writing blew me away, with a quality and standard all its own. Even as this book is 400+ pages, there was never a dull moment. The only reason I did not rate this 5 stars is because the main character is a bit of a Mary Sue... would've preferred her to have a little more room for growth...and while the romance was sexy, I still found it a little lacking.

This was a great story. However, the last 200 pages were an exercise in patience. The story became SO unbelievably tedious as a drawn out. I found myself scanning the pages just to get on with it. Over explanations, overly describing scenes, and parts of the story became choppy and hard to follow. And the ending, while positive, leaves the reader wanting more. After putting you through a very drawn out latter part of the story the least the author could have done was given you a longer, more satisfying ending. It just, very ubruptly ends. Overall this story was worth the read, but just barely.

About the author

Naomi Novik is the New York Times bestselling author of A Deadly Education, The Last Graduate, and The Golden Enclaves, the award-winning novels Uprooted and Spinning Silver, and the Temeraire series. She is a founder of the Organization for Transformative Works and the Archive of Our Own. She lives in New York City with her family and six computers.