Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik

I told one person I was looking for fantasy recommendations and received a massive reading list. Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series was also recommended, but I won’t review all nine books here. Most books in a series share common strengths/pitfalls so I’ll do a big round-up post if/when I finish. In the meantime, I read Novik’s Uprooted which is wonderful for being a single, self-contained book and not another series. At 439 pages, it’s not even long for its genre.

The beginning is formulaic: A local wizard, the Dragon, collects a girl once per decade and he selects the narrator, Agnieszka. She was 100% positive he’d choose her best friend, Kasia, but if that were going to happen then Kasia would be the narrator. Fortunately, this section doesn’t drag too long and Agnieszka takes up residence in the tower:

I didn’t even have a chance to turn around and say a last good-bye before he turned back and took my arm by the wrist. Only Kasia moved; I looked back at her and saw her about to reach for me in protest, and then the Dragon jerked me impatiently and ungently stumbling after him, and dragged me with him back into thin air. (13)

Page 13! Maybe my former issue with fantasy is that I read too many badly-paced novels. Things with the Dragon go how you’d expect: He’s crusty and short and impatient with the unpolished girl he’s dragged across his doorstep. I eagerly await the day I don’t have to read pages and pages about how the female narrator doesn’t like skirts/dresses and other stereotypically feminine aspects. It’s as annoying to read a stereotypical female character as her exact opposite—both are built on the same foundation of treating gender as a personality type.

Once out of predictable territory, Uprooted shines. The threat—the Wood, which infects people with contagious, feral madness—is genuinely terrifying. When a key ally is “saved,” the tension around whether or not they’re legitimately cured is maintained until the final pages. Fantasy novels earn a lot of leeway when they’ve got a a terrifying threat/villain. In between magic lessons, Agnieszka and the Dragon try to find ways to destroy the Wood permanently.

The seemingly straightforward quest of Defeating the Wood takes on additional depth as the Dragon and Agnieszka learn more about the Wood and its surprising capabilities. In response, Agnieszka’s skills develop at a good clip. She’s always outmatched, but it’s never out of left field when she tries something new and prevails. There’s a lot of room for her to grow because all wizards in this world have their own flair and magical styles, which keeps anyone from being overpowered.

The friendship between Agnieszka and Kasia is the best bit of the book and gives the ending its heft, but the relationship between Agnieszka and the Dragon is… let’s just say I don’t need a spoiler tag to say they get together. He’s exactly the kind of curt and crusty to be swayed by her warm and hapless demeanor.

4.5 (out of 5.0) I forgive the predictable moments because the Wood is downright creepy. There’s also a reveal that is so brilliantly pitch-perfect that I’ve asked friends to read this book just so we can discuss this amazing moment.

Image credit: Amazon