Uprooted by Naomi Novik

Naomi Novik, author of the bestselling and critically acclaimed Temeraire novels, introduces a bold new world rooted in folk stories and legends, as elemental as a Grimm fairy tale.

“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.
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MY REVIEW:


 https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/1214925125

I loved most of the main characters in this book. Agnieszka is the sweet girl that is taken from her home to live 10 years with the wizard Dragon, although I like his name Sarkan better. It seems from the very start that these two have a rocky beginning. She is clumsy, he is hateful. As a matter of fact, I didn't like him throughout the first part of the book. His prissy attitude is hilarious and the mishaps him and Agnieszka get into are classic. But he does grow on you after a bit.

Sarkan is teaching Agnieszka to be a witch and she does remarkably well to Sarkan's astonishment. And at times he gets cranky about this :)

**SOME MILD SPOILERS**

Then her best friend Kasia is taken by walkers into the WOOD. The woods are corrupt and anything that goes into the woods, or is taken into the woods become corrupt as well. Agnieszka refuses to believe she can't save Kasia and sets out to do this very thing, much to the chagrin of Sarkan. Agnieszka does manage to free her from one of the heart trees and bring her back to the tower with Sarkan. They manage to combine their magic and perform a Summoning spell and save Kasia although she's not quite the same.

The story goes on to tell of more corruption from the Wood and what they must do to make it all better. Agnieszka is very good at this and keeping up with taking care of the Wood and the heart trees with the help of the walkers. I think Agnieszka is a wonderful character and the things she does to help the trees and the people are bitter sweet.

I loved the character of Alosha. She's a tough warrior with magic of her own. She's only in the last part of the book though and I'm hoping there might be another book to go with this one, but if not it's great as it is, I just want the story to continue for myself :)

There are some people in the book I don't care for but what would a book be without that!

I love the atmosphere and the descriptions of the places in the book. I could see it all in my minds eye. And the ending is so good! I really enjoyed my journey with this book.

I would recommend this book to anyone that likes these types of fantasy books. My review is short and to the point, I don't like to drag on and on. I hope you enjoyed it and it gave you a little bit of an idea what you will find in this wonderful book.

Fin!  4 Stars!