DearWilderness's Books

Book Review: Uprooted

Title: Uprooted
Authors: Naomi Novik
Published: 2025
Language: English
Rating: 5foxes out of 5


After a dry spell with a bunch of horrid YA's, I seemed to have lost my faith in all books. I did what any sane person would do after a nasty book breakup--I swore of all books! That meant: no bookstores, no audiobooks, no lovingly rearranging my shelves, and no Goodreads *GASP*. 

Of course, that lasted for about a day.

Then, I picked up Uprooted by Naomi Novik, and it was like the first sip of a cup of tea after walking home in the rain. Pure bliss. 

"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"

What utterly charms me about this book is the creativity. I value imagination in a writer more than anything, and Novik seems to be chock full of imagination. I also liked that the romance in this book wasn't overbearing, but fit alongside the plot quite well (trust me... it wasn't insta-love). 

Now, let's speak about the characters. 

Agniezka:

I adored her. She was funny, loyal, and extremely untidy. I'd be hard pressed to find a book where friendship, especially between girls (authors generally don't write much about strong female friendships, and if they do, they're usually extremely catty, and filled with petty jealousy's... SIGH!), that was portrayed so well. 
One criticism though, I felt that as we progressed throughout the book, Agniezka became almost too amazing at everything she did. 

Sarkan:
Not going to say much about this, but totally had a crush on him.

The pacing was fast, I found that I wouldn't have been able to put this book down even in the face of Russian torture. I especially liked the message the author was trying to communicate about the forest. 

Overall, this was an enjoyable read that turned out to be my favourite one this year. 


You can read this review and others on my website:

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Sincerely,