Book Review: ‘Uprooted’ by Naomi Novik

Uprooted is a stand-alone fantasy novel by Naomi Novik.

Every ten years Sarkan (aka The Dragon), a powerful wizard, picks one of the village girls from the valley to serve him in his tower. Kasia is brilliant and beautiful. Everyone knows she will be chosen – right up until the moment Agnieszka is selected instead. Torn away from her family and terrified about what The Dragon will do to her, Agnieszka is determined to avoid interacting with her captor as much as possible. But when her magic starts to manifest the pair have no choice but to work together. Elsewhere The Wood, with its dark presence and horrifying creatures that can turn a person into a monstrous husk of themself, is growing further and further into the kingdom…and it may already be too late to stop it.

Uprooted is a great example of the ‘unexpected hero’ sub-genre. Agnieszka is an ordinary girl who wants nothing more than to live an honest life in her village with her family and friends. She initially refuses to accept either Sarkan or her magic. She struggles with ‘book taught’ magic and prefers to instinctively find her own path through the magic around her. She enjoys frustrating Sarkan with her lack of progress and has no interest in developing her skills. All of that changes when her village is in danger from The Wood. Realising she is one of the few people in the kingdom with the ability to save the ones she loves from this growing threat, Agnieszka puts aside her feud with The Dragon to try and stop the evil from spreading.

My favourite part of the book was its use of The Wood as the antagonist. During the first half of the story The Wood is a malevolent entity that lurks in the background. Everyone knows it is there and the dangers it poses but, unable to change or fight it, the majority of the characters do their best to ignore it. Next we are introduced to its effects – animals and people that strayed too close to The Wood only to come back as monsters. Then we see its guardians – giant praying mantis and wood spirits that can carve a person up in seconds. Finally we understand that the true danger is not the creatures that come from The Wood but the forest itself. It is alive and thinking and influencing those both within its boundaries and slowly planting the seeds that will change the politics of the kingdoms surrounding it. This evil is personified in the form of The Wood Queen who is the main villain in the second half of the novel.

Novik does a fantastic job of making The Wood feel like a real living entity. Whether the characters are exploring the forest or just simply talking about it, The Wood always feels very threatening and a genuine danger to the characters.

Agnieszka and Sarkan are both great characters with lots of development throughout the story. I enjoyed following along with both of their journeys. However the story does change location and direction a few times and each time it took me a while to adjust and grow to like this new part of the story.

We start in the valley and Sarkan’s tower. I loved these early chapters and I would have been happy if the entire story had stayed here. In these chapters, Agnieszka and Sarkan butt heads, struggle to understand each other’s magic, and battle to save the valley from creatures in the woods. Then the story moves to the capital where Agnieszka must convince the royal family to send soldiers to the valley to fight back The Wood. The two locations are tonally very different (which technically is a good thing) but it took me a while to warm up to this new cast of characters and busier pace from what had previously been quite an intimate story. When the location switches back to Sarkan’s tower, the story changes again – this time with a military/siege focus – and again I fell out of the love with the book for a few chapters before coming to like it again.

Uprooted is the second book I’ve read by Naomi Novik and the second time I’ve both liked and disliked the story I was reading at different points. I know a lot of people will enjoy this book for its characters and world building. On balance, I did enjoy Uprooted and I’m pleased I read it but I’m not sure if this is one I will re-read.

---

Related Posts:

If you enjoyed this review you may also like these reviews: