Review: Uprooted by Naomi Novik
Blurb:
“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.
My Review: ⭐️⭐️.5
I had heard so many positives about this book, so naturally I was extremely excited to read it. The Hades x Persephone / Beauty and The Beast vibes appealed to me, and the magic system seemed really intricate and exciting.
Unfortunately, this one was not for me. It started off really well, with an interesting new world and different form of magic. There were lots of mysteries at the start, which kept me hooked and turning the pages.
But, as the story continued, I started to get bored. That's never what you want in a book. I've made a little resolution this year (as you may know from my last post) to DNF books if I'm not enjoying them to save me time and prevent reading slumps. I was very close to DNFing this one, but for some reason I powered through, thinking I would end up loving it.
I didn't.
It started to get very repetitive - there was a problem, Agnieszka had an idea, she solved the problem. There was no more mystery, or fear that they would lose or someone would die (I feel like death is a given in a fantasy, right?). It just felt too predictable. And I wish it hadn't been, but that's how I felt.
If you have read it yourself, I would love to hear your thoughts so please do leave a comment below! I've heard lots of positives, so I'm curious!