Uprooted

While I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and found the plot engrossing, I was bothered by two things: (i) the romance felt artificial and completely unnecessary to the plot and (ii) magic seemed to solve any problem without consequence or tradeoff. These distracted from an otherwise amazing story. But I really enjoyed the world building and the more horror elements of the book, some of which were downright nightmare-ish scenes. I look forward to reading more by Novik.

A dragon mage, an encroaching corrupted forest, and a girl caught in the middle. A+

After recently re-reading the Earthsea trilogy and writing a review condemning those fantasy novels that have no rules to when and how magic can be used, I was initially very frustrated with this book. Spells are cast willy-nilly (to repair clothes, or make a delicious feast, to transport from a village to the tower) but then not utilised in times of need. At least the author recognised this, at one point having Agnieszka notice that “perhaps the spell wouldn't work at such a distance”. But it was still annoying. Plus “the Dragon” - the ‘love interest' of the book - is just an irredeemable misery. At no point did his character soften, or apologise, or behave anything other than churlishly. I'm all for misanthropes but there seemed to be nothing to him at all that would draw Agnieszka to fall in love with him, except for their rather erotic magic-weaving, which I can assume was great for her but left me cold.

Having said all that, I found myself getting drawn into the book almost against my will. The malevolent Wood that “corrupts” anyone who gets drawn into it, and the horrific beasts and praying mantises that come out of it, I found quite disturbing. Add in some interesting magical concepts and eventually more engaging wizardly characters and I found I cared about what would happen in the end, despite the flaws.

4.5 stars. This book is so good! Novik writes really great action scenes, and the character development and world-building is on point in this book. I felt breathless at times reading this because of the action, but it's completely worth it.

I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator read it with a Russian accent which seemed to fit the main character really well. This is a dark Fairy Tale style book. It does have some parts that I do not feel are appropriate for young readers. There is a theme of forgiveness and letting go of the anger that I really liked. It was a fun story and I'm glad I listened to it

n.k. jemisin should've swept the hugo & nebula

Unfortunately this one just wasn't really for me. I thought the writing was enchanting (to agree with Robin Hobb's blurb on the cover) however I really felt the book lacked pacing. I enjoyed the story but it took a while to get through it, and I just don't think that's the right pace for a fantasy. I did also enjoy the fairy tale elements, it was somewhat Beauty & the Beast with magic and I could see the Polish/Russian undertones in the stories and magic words. I just thought if the story had been tightened up a so it read quicker and more fluently then it would be a lot better, for myself at least.

Un 3.5 digamos. Me gustó pero me dejó algo confundida.

RESEÑA

Ni siquiera sé cómo reseñar este libro porque hay tantas pero pocas cosas que tengo que decir respecto a esta obra de Naomi Novik.

Como dice la sinopsis, Un Cuento Oscuro trata sobre Agnieszka, una chica patosa de un pueblecito llamado Dvenik en el cual cada 10 años un mago al que llaman “El Dragón” escoge a una chica para llevársela a su torre. Todos creen en el pueblo que se llevará a Kasia, la mejor amiga de Nieszka y la chica perfecta pero mayor es la sorpresa cuando escoge a esta última.

Resulta que Agnieszka posee el don de la magia y por ley del rey el Dragón debe aleccionar a toda chica que tuviera ese don (como ocurrió con las anteriores).

Es por hacer un resumen de lo que pasa.

Voy a ser directa y clara: no entendí bien toda la trama que relata el libro y es por una razón: me saltaba partes de la narración debido al mismo. Es algo que le restó para mí al libro. La narración es tan compleja y pesada que llega a un punto en el que aburre. ABUNDA la narración y hay pocos diálogos. Y no digamos de que, siendo relatado en primera persona, Agnieszka no es una narradora divertida y fluida. Pero digamos que leí rápido este libro, en unos 3-4 días me tardé.

Nieszka es un personaje pasable. Es patosa, insolente, intrépida, no muy inteligente pero bastante empática con su alrededor. Aparentemente su don se relaciona con la sanación y es algo que se nota bastante, solo que no es tan buena memorizando hechizos y, como dije, es demasiado desastrosa cosa que le trae regaños con el Dragón.

Este, por otro lado, es un hombre de tantos siglos bastante perfeccionista y estoico, erudito, poderoso y uno de los magos más respetados en todo el país. Su actitud tan arrogante y déspota me recordó a Severus Snape (pero obviamente me lo imagino más guapo que el mismo Snape).

La relación de Sarkan (como se revela más adelante es el nombre real de el Dragón, y Nieszka se va dando con cierta lentitud pero, siendo objetiva, llega a costar un poco creérselo. Solo un poco. Quizás si aplicamos ese dicho de los opuestos se atraen calza justo aquí.

Queda obvio decir que la relación entre Agnieszka y Sarkan no es la trama principal en este libro, es más, se toca muy poco ya que se enfoca en un enemigo y es El Bosque que... lamentablemente no puedo decir nada por dos razones.

1- Sería spoiler (y ya sé que habré dicho algunos anteriormente).
2- Fue lo principal que no logré entender.

Por eso, este libro no llegó a las 4 estrellas ni a mis favoritos. Y dudo mucho que vaya a querer leer otra cosa de la autora, ya que me he dado cuenta que su estilo no es para mí aunque haya disfrutado (y fangirleado) este libro.

¿Lo recomendaría? No sé. Deberían probar a ver qué tal les va.

O começo é fenomenal.
O final também, mas o começo é mais.
É como se no começo eles me deixassem na expectativa de um unicórnio e no final eles me entregaram o melhor cavalo de corrida que existe.

Oh my, I loved this book so much! It was perfectly magical. This is one of those books that just fills you with joy and satisfaction to read. I came out of the end feeling like I had read something wonderful. It felt great to read a high quality standalone fantasy book. Some spoilers ahead I rarely love romance in a book, but I wanted nothing more than Sarkan and Agnieszka to get together, and I thought it was done really well. I loved the way the magic system worked, and the way that their magic worked together was beautiful. I felt it was a believable way of magic working - feeling different for each person. It wasn't always nice and pretty, often dark, gritty and brooding. I liked both main characters personalities (in as much as i felt they were written well, the Dragon is obviously meant to be a douche). Though I'm not sure I quite "got" Kasia. All in all, I loved it.

It didn't completely live up to my expectations (which, let's be honest, were set pretty high by the gorgeous cover and description), but Uprooted is still a very enjoyable fantasy novel. I wasn't too taken by the romance between the Dragon and the protagonist, but I loved the friendship between Kasia and Agnieszka. All in all, definitely worth reading.

Our Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley.


“I don't want more sense!” I said loudly, beating against the silence of the room. “Not if sense means I'll stop loving anyone. What is there besides people that's worth holding on to?”


That was a story, too; they all had stories. They had mothers or fathers, sisters or lovers. They weren't alone in the world, mattering to no one but themselves. It seemed utterly wrong to treat them like pennies in a purse.

¯_(ツ)_/¯ IDK MAN this one just didn't vibe with me at all

And I'm so disappointed about it. On the surface this book should have been perfect for me, and I can't believe I'm only giving it 2 stars, when at the beginning I was so sure it was going to be a 4 or 5 star book. Somewhere along the way (probably around when I was supposed to start liking the asshole who steals girls away from their homes for a reason that was not adequately explained) I just stopped caring about what was happening entirely. The characters ranged from bland to unbearable, the “romance” was ridiculously forced, and the plot seemed to drag on endlessly (likely because of the rambling writing style with almost nonexistent dialogue).

Fun and I read it in two big gulps on vacation, so in that way it was perfect. A bit gawkish at times but the reworking of the baba jaga story was interesting and I liked the symphonic spell casting.

Wow! I didn't expect much going into this book, so maybe that is why I enjoyed it so much, but I thought it was a really, really good book. It avoided a lot of the things I have come to dislike about YA (moody love-sick heroine's/love triangle/falling in love one chapter into the book). I liked the main character - she's fiesty when she needs to be, but also shows vulnerability at times, which made her seem much more human. I liked the world and the antagonist, it was just the right amount of creepy to keep me intrigued and the magic was unique and and a very wonderful intricate part of the plot without only being about it and not the people involved. The romance was just right - it wasn't the main focus of the story, and I liked that about it.
As a huge Howl's Moving Castle fan, I found this to be something I would recommend to someone looking for something similar, although not the same as that story. It gave me the same kind of feeling as that.
Highly recommend this one!

Fast action, really liked it but it didn't seem to stop. I felt like the characters never got a chance to catch their breaths.

This reminded me a bit of Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted, and I loved that so much. It felt like a piece of my childhood, grown up a bit and changed, but still with the same enchanting qualities mixed in. I really enjoyed this story and found myself wholly caught up in it. I loved Agnieszka and Sarkan, and Kasia too was a wonderful addition to the story. This book felt so much less traditional and predictable than anything I've read in a while. It felt like a fairytale, but with a modern twist that didn't make it black-and-white good and evil. There was tragedy throughout, on all sides, and I was surprised by the number of deaths throughout as well. But I loved how this story refused to let anyone be unimportant. At one point in the heat of battle, Agnieszka sees a boy on the other side who is her age, and she is deeply troubled. She thinks of how “they all had stories. They had mothers or fathers, sisters or lovers. They weren't alone in the world, mattering to no one but themselves. It seemed utterly wrong to treat them like pennies in a purse... I felt the soldiers understood perfectly well that we were making sums out of them – this many safe to spend, this number too high, as if each one wasn't a whole man” (346). This is something I don't notice often in fantasies, or any novels involving wars and battles and such. We're never made to think about how each person matters, in fact, we forget that they matter at all. So I really loved how this book drew attention to that and constantly reminded us that everyone does count. It was really a wonderful novel, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Still 3 stars.

The sign of a five star book is not wanting to read anything else after finishing it, and that's how I feel now, even after reading other books. So five stars it is.

Going into this book, I had no expectations. I knew little of the plot besides the synopsis and only heard of it from my friends. I knew there was little romance (but breathtaking nonetheless) and that there was magic. That was all. However, I was completely blown away by this novel. The mere fact that it's a standalone and not a series baffles me. The amount of time I've spent on this book, reading it with a normal pace but seemingly taking forever to finish, creates an illusion that this was 800 pages long. So much action and character development occurred in this standalone and I really have to give props to the author for this.
Nieshka and Sarkan, two polar opposites yet equally strong mages, come together in the most unusual circumstances and are bound together through their souls and their love for each other. Though it is not explicitly mentioned beyond physical desire, there is still a want in them both and this magnetism that they can't keep away from each other.
I really really love this book, probably one of my all-time favorites. This was a breath of fresh air compared to the young adult books I've been reading lately.

Embora toda a raiva do começo e a demora para ler, não poderia ser diferente: 5 stars.

Apenas tenho dúvida se o favorito ou não. Em alguns momentos, lembrava-me Castelo Animado e uma grande mistura de muitas fantasias, o que foi bom!
É uma história rica, repleta de elementos fantásticos e acontecimentos! Minha gente, como é denso de idéias de acontecimentos! A capa parágrafo MUITA coisa acontecia.
O que mais me agradou foi o desenvolvimento da Agnieszka, se descobrindo como bruxa, tomando frente de suas ações e da preocupação com sua cidade e entendendo The Wood.
(O penúltimo capítulo é ótimoo !)

Apenas queria mais do Sarkan, das suas tiradas sarcásticas e mal-humoradas que chorava de rir. Mas também de uma melhor explicação da parte dele do porquê não se apegar (além do explicado por Nieszka).

E a grande pergunta que resta é: como Agnieszka apresentou Sarkan a sua mãe no final? (“Olha mãe esse, é o Sarkan meu...” todos rubros!!)



OBS:: ACABEI DE LER QUE FOI INSPIRADO EM HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE”
Well... Realmente lembra xD

Potential for a good story here. However, I found the book to be way too long and the character development was lacking.

So this definitely took me a while to finish but I'm glad I followed through with it because it was a really good story. I mostly enjoyed the latter half of the novel because the first half had a lot of pacing and execution issues. It was very stop-and-go in the beginning; there was a burst of action and then the plot dwindled to a crawl then another burst and another crawl.

I liked the fact that since Agnieszka was introduced as the Dragon's latest captive it served as a catalyst in questioning the routine that was settled on the relationship between the Dragon and the villages he protects. Nieshka's involvement produces an awakening in the Dragon and his methods. Her unique power and straightforward personality was able to infiltrate the Dragon's dogged attitude and stiff mannerisms.

I had a love-hate relationship with the writing due to its inconsistent prose. I loved the fluidity of the author's writing when she was describing anything, the scenery, the action, character's feelings, etc. I hated when she tried to convey emotions via dialogue. In that instance, it was missing that fluidity and she wasn't able to fully get across the passion in the emotion the character was trying to express.

I enjoyed the characters for the most part and believed they developed quite nicely throughout the story. However, I didn't get attached to any of them because of their development that they each went through was restricted to the circumstances they were in. Like the main character for example, Agnieszka, she turned out to be an amazing character but beyond the scope of the plot of fighting against the Woods, there was no substance to her. The Dragon was the same. His grumpiness was mostly just irritating to read about and his development was very slow-going.

The best parts of the story were mostly when the characters interacted with one another. They showed a depth in feeling was easily captured and conveyed to the reader. Agnieszka's friendship with Kasia was one of favorite parts to read about. And the relationship between Agnieszka and the Dragon was fun to witness develop because of the polarity between them was comical.

Another aspect that I found fascinating was the character of the Woods and how elaborate the author made it. The entire world-building that the author constructed was magnificent and very fairy tale-esque. That may be the biggest reason this book wasn't a five stars for me. I don't enjoy the linear plots of fairy tales. There's just something very constricting about the plots of fairy tales that limits the characters personalities by tying their development to their determination of confronting the Big Bad, in this case the Woods.

Grade: B

So good! ah! girl-women growing their own magic and baba jaga references! just a fantastic thrilling pace to boot, I couldn't keep my eyes off it.

Neen! Het mag nog niet gedaan zijn. Zo mooi!! Wauw wauw wauw. Gewoon geen woorden voor.