Uprooted: A Novel

Product Information

Themes: Love, magic, gender roles, misleading assumptions. Howl’s Moving Castle By Diana Wynne Jones Also, one of my favourite things was the creepy Wood - a literally evil forest that is alive with a dark corruption that will claim you if you ever enter it, or get touched by one of the monstrous beings that come out of the Wood. How weird and creative and scary... I LOVED it. The outskirts of the Russian wilderness can be a bleak place to live, as the dark and cold of winter persist for most of the year. Vasilisa and her siblings share their favorite folk stories to stave off the chill.

Uprooted Quotes by Naomi Novik - Goodreads Uprooted Quotes by Naomi Novik - Goodreads

In short, the venn diagram of YA fantasy fans and Erin Morgenstern fans is basically a circle. For that reason, her place on this list feels apt.The first half of this book is so lovely. When Agnieszka arrives at the Dragon’s tower, she initially struggles with his attitude towards her, his moods, and her own inability to cope. What I love about this relationship is that Agnieszka constantly refuses to work within the confines the Dragon sets out for her. She pursues numerous little acts of rebellion. Then, when danger arises in another village while the Dragon is dealing with something else, she doesn’t hesitate: she takes matters into her own hands, proving herself heroic. Each character is vivid and fully realized. In the Dragon we see someone who is not nice, at all, but who always gets things done. He’s rude and verbally abusive, but he constantly puts his life and wellbeing on the line to do what’s right and goes above and beyond what is expected of him, and never asks for any recognition in return. In contrast, we have everyone at court, like Marek and the Falcon, who are all flashy and politically savvy, and always manage to present themselves as celebrated heroes without actually doing anything useful. Both types are common in the real world, and this representation rang very true. I can imagine Erin Morgenstern being annoyed at appearing on this list; she has mentioned in the past that hers are not YA fantasy books. They are, however, both accessible to YA readers and beloved by fans of YA fantasy.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik: 9780804179058 | PenguinRandomHouse Uprooted by Naomi Novik: 9780804179058 | PenguinRandomHouse

Jena spends most of her days exploring the woods with her frog friend, but when the moon is full, she and her sisters head to the enchanted Other Kingdom. The sisters find their perfect life is shattered when their father dies. Uprooted is beautifully written, with an unusual setting and a great set of characters, realistic and flawed but admirable. There's a wonderful, touching, layered relationship between Nieszka and her friend, Kasia. It explores good and evil, love for friends, family and nation, and other complex themes in a nuanced way. One of my favorite fantasy reads this year. Strange the Dreamer begins with the titular Lazlo Strange, a war orphan who begins his story at a monastery and then a library. He dreams (hence the title) of a magical and all-but-forgotten city known as Weep. Tiger guides Rintaro to three separate “labyrinths”, which each hold at their heart a person who is doing damage to the world of literature in some way.

But when Vasilisa’s new stepmother prevents the family from honoring the household spirits, their village appears to fall under a curse. Dark spirits draw closer, and Vasilisa must discover her own powers to keep her family safe. Uprooted is the kind of book you can read again and again. But when you’re finally ready to put it down, you might be wondering what to read next. The main character, Agnieszka, is seriously nothing new. You have read countless incarnations of her in every shitty YA book ever written because she's a special, special girl who doesn't know how special she is. She's just so ordinary and adorably clumsy and plain, y'all! The Dragon always, always takes the most special girl! The Dragon didn’t always take the prettiest girl, but he always took the most special one, somehow.:| <- this is my surprised face. A startling retelling of an ancient myth, Circe is for those who loved the way Uprooted explored the concept of home. Circe has a power that can threaten the gods themselves.

Must-Read YA Fantasy Books (and Series) 22 Must-Read YA Fantasy Books (and Series)

If you're a fan of beautifully crafted stories, slow burn romances, hideous monstrosities that are somehow all too human, and good triumphing over evil, read it. Now. None of this is bad, however. Tropes are tropes for a reason, and they’re used well here throughout. I'm glad," I said, with an effort, refusing to let my mouth close up with jealousy. It wasn't that I wanted a husband and a baby; I didn't, or rather, I only wanted them the way I wanted to live to a hundred someday, far off, never thinking about the particulars. But they meant life : she was living, and I wasn't. Author of the celebrated First Law trilogy, Abercrombie followed this up with a Viking-inspired trilogy of YA fantasy books which begins with Half a King. Shadow and Bone throws readers into the Grishaverse with a bang, and the pace only amps up from there. Which leads us nicely to Six of Crows.I love a good fantasy rooted in folklore, and Novik does a great job mining the mythology of Eastern Europe for this novel. Young Agnieszka lives in a small town in an out-of-the-way valley where nothing much ever happens . . . except for the fact that they live near an evil Wood that occasional swallows trespassers, drives villagers mad, or sends monsters to destroy neighboring villages. Oh, and also they are protected by a wizard called the Dragon who lives in a tower and does his best to keep the evil magic of the Wood at bay. In return for his protection, the wizard takes one girl from the valley every ten years to serve him in the tower. These girls aren't killed, but they are never the same after their ten years of servitude, and they never stay in the valley when they are released. Something about their servitude changes them . . . Oh wait, there's more. The Dragon also insulted her by calling her an idiot every steps of the way. About more than THREE times in the book. But of course, there's more to Ag-noying than meets the eye, why, she's got magical power that's just waiting to burst from her like a rose from a fermenting pile of steaming poop. My strength welled up through my body and fountained out of my mouth, and where it left me, a trembling in the air began and went curling down around my body in a spiraling path.Yeah, yeah. I've read this shit before, and I say no, thank you. I like my main characters average, thank you very much. I like my "Dragons" with humanity.

Uprooted by Naomi Novik: 9780804179058 | PenguinRandomHouse

Through notes left by previous girls, Agnieszka gathers that her role is mostly household duties. But the reason for his choice is that she has magical abilities, and he starts teaching her simple spells. Agnieszka finds these acts of magic difficult and unnatural. 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. Every 10 years, the Dragon is gifted a woman from the village. And this time, it’s Agnieszka he chooses. I swear to god I'm the only one in the world who didn't think this book is THE BESTEST MOST SPECIALEST WONDERFULEST BOOK EVER. For god's sake, Emily May loved it, and I highly respect her opinion, but this book is one case where we will have to agree to disagree. The book follows these two apprentices — Celia and Marco — as they learn more about their masters, the circus, and one another.Traversing the Fold is a deadly undertaking, with the Fold being home to hostile and monstrous creatures. Praised by my own all-time favourite fantasy author, Robin Hobb — who said that An Ember in the Ashes “Keeps one reading long after the lights should have been out”— this book certainly started the series on the right foot. Gideon the Ninth follows the titular Gideon, a girl born into servitude who works for her planet’s leader: another young woman named Harrowhark.