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author, book reviews, book, books, characters, fairy tale, fantasy, fiction, literature, Naomi Novak, novel, plot, read, reader, review, stories, story, uprooted, uprooted Naomi novak, write, writer, writing, young adult
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Pages: 448
Point of View: First (Agnieszka)
Released: May 19th 2015
Predictability: 2 out of 5 (Where 1 is totally unpredictable and 5 is I knew what was going to happen way ahead of time.)
Source: Edelweiss
My Rating: 10/10 Stars!!!
My Summary:
The dragon (actually a wizard) protects villages from the corrupted woods, but every ten years they must give him a young girl. (Not to eat, but to work for him.)
My Review:
Right away it’s obvious that Agnie has a good voice. (What I call her, since her name is a mouthfull!) Which is good since there’s a lot of narration in this book and it really helps it feel like a fairy tale.
The nature of the magic and how she described it was familiar yet unique. Though mostly spoken words and mystical-ness, somehow the way the character understand it made it feel real. “It’s like gleaning in the woods, you have to pick your way through the thickets and the trees and its different every time.” (And I like when magic has a cost, here energy.) The Dragon saw magic very much like a precise science so he didn’t know what to make of Agnie’s bumbling way.
Dragon and Agnie are very different people. They get forced together and I loved their interactions! The characters and the world were so well done.
There was a sense of a different culture, mostly in the words used. Even these little touches helped it to feel like a different world. I also appreciated that the characters were described like real people, Agnie’s not perfectly pretty. (I love oddball main characters!) The Dragon actually called her horse-faced at one point. (He’s rather bristly at first. He didn’t say it to be mean. Yes, I feel the need to defend him!)
The Wood was a great villain! Normally I don’t care for the ambitious unseen evil force, but this was so creepy! (Plus there are some human ‘bad guys’ as well. Okay, just jerks I kept hoping would die.)
Uprooted has a pace which is all its own. Everything about this book was unique, but it all worked! There are five acts to this book (not officially or anything) and I liked them all, but the parts with the Dragon were definitely my favorite! Oh, I should mention there’s a great female friendship too!
Am I babbling? I might be. It was just that good!
The Bad:
It’s a standalone!
It took me a while to read this book. It was so good I wanted to savor it! Am I the only one who does that?
Woven Magic Books 
Awesome review! I just finished this last night (stayed up way past my bedtime!) and I hope to post my review later this week. It really is quite a special book, very different from what I normally read.
Thanks! I stayed up to finish it too! I agree it is special and unique. 🙂 I can’t wait to read your review.
So many reviewers have loved this book! That settles it, I’m going to have to buy Uprooted soon. I want to know what I’m missing out on!
I think you’ll really like it! I’m not surprised that people love it. It’s a special book. Oddly enough I went in with low expectations.
I was offered an ARC of this one… and I didn’t take it. After seeing some of the reviews, I’m kind of sorry I didn’t!
Aw I’m sorry! I hope you get a chance to read it, it’s really something special.
I do that too when a book is really good and I don’t want it to end!
I love that this was one of those reads for you Molly. So many people are loving this. I think I may have to break down and get it.
Hehe I’m happy to have found another book saver. I hadn’t read any reviews when I read it so I had low expectations. Boy was I wrong! I can see why people love it. This is one special book!
I want to read it 😀
Yay stand alone, boo stand alone
I think you’ll really like it! I kniw just how you feel! I’m always happy to find a standale but then I just want more lol
Another wish list book! I’m so ready to read this. It’s nice to see another rave review for this book, because that just makes me want to read it all the more.
Yes! You have to read it! It’s so good! I hope you get it soon.
I was just talking to a close friend about this intense craving I have right now for high fantasy genre and then this lovely review landed in my email inbox; thanks for placing this one in my radar! And as always, great review 🙂
Haha that was perfect timing then. You’re welcome. I really think you’ll like it! Thanks!
Awesome review Molly! I just posted mine. I didn’t like it quite as much as you, but I still enjoyed it.
Thanks! I’ll have to go and read yours. I’m curious what you thought. It’s hard to love it as much as I did haha
I’m skimming this review and will read it again later, once I’ve finished the eARC I have of it. If it wasn’t for me juggling Uprooted on top of Bardugo’s Shadow and Bone, I’d probably have read this book by now. I love Agnieszka so far! (I probably spelled that wrong…)
Don’t worry my review is safe, no spoilers. I’m always really careful about that. I hope you like it. I think you will. Shadow and Bone is really good too! Haha that’s why I call her Agnie in my review.
I’ve heard nothing but glowing reviews for this, and already have a hold on it at the library! The creepy atmosphere and the Grimm-inspired plot sound like they are a winning combination. Definitely looking forward to reading this! Thanks for sharing and, as always, fabulous review! ❤
I think you’ll really like it! I’m sorry you have to wait for your library, I feel your pain. Thank you!
I know a lot of times I read an amazing book and think “Oh my goodness, I need more!” but sometimes a stand alone isn’t bad (and I read too many series!) and in this case I thought it worked very well as one. Loved this book, I foresee it being on many people’s top reads lists at the end of the year 😉
It did work well as a standalone, but I still want more. I seem to read mostly series. I’m only annoyed when things aren’t resolved. I’m glad that you loved it too! I think it will be a lot of people’s favorite. This is one time when the description really didn’t do it justice.
I’m about halfway through this book now, and I can say that I am really enjoying it. Agnie (ha!) definitely has a unique narration, and I also love how she’s physically flawed. 🙂 And the Wood is definitely intense! Fantastic review, Molly! 🙂
Aimee @ Deadly Darlings
I’m glad you’re enjoying this one too! I can never remember long strange book names. More characters need to look like actual people. Thank you!
I’m a fan of your blog. Thanks for coming to visit.
Thanks so much, Molly! ❤
It’s great to have a standalone book like that, so great and unique, well mainly the unique part because I know it’s difficult to have that. It’s the first time I hear about it but now I’m really curious! great review!
I’m glad I brought this one to your attention. Everything about it was really unique. But in a good way. Thanks!
I absolutely loved it as will! I plan to read it again with audio this time so I can hear the pronunciation!
I didn’t think of that. The audio would really help with some of those news! I’m glad to hear you loved it too!
Wow, this sounds good! I keep seeing great things about it, and I had literally never heard of it before like, a week ago! I am SO glad you loved it! The standalone thing would totally bum me out too 😉 And yep- I do the same thing, you read extra slow just so it won’t end! This sounds great, especially that there is a female friendship, YAY! I will have to check this out! Fabulous review 🙂
It was really good! I was surprised how much I enjoyed it! Standalones are nice sometimes, but I just wanted more, it was so good! I hope that you like it! This is definitely a I don’t want it to end sort of book. Thanks!
This novel was really good – I’m so glad you could enjoy it as well 🙂 I thought the plot and the actual romance was perfectly balanced. The female friendship was one of my favorites as well, happy that I came across your blog 🙂 Wonderful review.
Thanks! I’m glad you stopped by. It’s nice to hear that you loved it too! I need more now! I was so afraid that one of the characters I liked would die! Thank you.
So glad you loved this because I was debating with myself if I’d buy it or not, and after this review then it’s a definite.
Yay! I’m glad to hear I convinced you. I hope you love it too! I have a feeling you will.
I kind of like that this is a standalone…though I can understand if you love a book so much that you need it to go on and on and never end! 😉 I’ve been hearing awesome things about this book and your 10/10 rating just proves that I should read this! Awesome review 🙂
Whenever a book is good I want more! There’s just such potential in these characters and this world! That can’t be all! It is awesome! Probably my favorite read so far thus year! I hope you like it too. Thanks!
I’ve never read anything by Naomi Novak before, though I have heard of her/seen her books. This one sounds like an interesting one – onto my TBR it goes. 🙂
I’ve been meaning to read one of Novak’s dragon books for a while now. If they’re anything like this I know I’ll love them. I hope you enjoy Uprooted.
YESSS, you loved this one as well! Wasn’t it just wonderful?? I thought it had a perfect balance of the romance and the actual plot. This was my first time trying out the author’s work and I really adored this book. Beautiful review.
It was wonderful! I was sort of regretting requesting it when I saw how long it was. I wasn’t expecting anything special, but boy was I wrong! I loved their relationship! Normally a mean guy bothers me, but somehow worked! Probably because it was just his personality, he wasn’t intentionally mean. I’ve been meaning to try this author, I’m glad I finally did! Thanks!
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