UPROOTED, Naomi Novik

If you’re looking for a book that brings together the best elements of Sarah J. Maas and Patricia Briggs in style and story, and the intensity of the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Harry Potter heptalogy, you need look no further than Uprooted. Does that sound overblown? Hey, if it gets you to read this book, my work here is done.

Okay, okay, not exactly done, calm down.

Anyone planning to pick up Uprooted should have a fair idea of what to expect. When you read its summary, you might get a Beauty-and-the-Beast vibe, what with the arrangement between a humble village and a powerful figure called The Dragon, who ensures the villagers’ survival in exchange for one local girl every ten years. You wouldn’t be wrong to notice the similarity, but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

Novik doesn’t just draw on Beauty and the Beast in the fairy-tale department. She imbues her world with a timeless atmosphere, one laced with wondrous magic and dreadful curses, most prevalent in the looming Woods. Clearly much of the setting is inspired by Slavic legends like Baba Yaga. But she also weaves in lore seen in high-fantasy stories—there are politics, world history, specific magic spells and rules, etc., and the story hinges on a magical threat that could destroy the village the Dragon protects, and even the wider kingdom. We navigate this world and its dangers with our heroine Agnieszka. She’s the most recent girl the Dragon chooses, despite everyone’s expectation that he would take the far more beautiful and bold Kasia, Nieszka’s childhood friend. You might think it’s just a story about how her relationship with the Dragon (not actually a dragon, sadly—doesn’t even transform into one) evolves as they live together in his Tower. But one crisis after another pulls Nieszka not only to the Woods, but to the capital of her country, where court politics threaten to trap her. Given time, this plot sprouts into more than just a fairytale. It belongs in the same tier as the Oz books, a category that bridges magical tales with more complex and higher-stakes plots. Except Novik is clearly aiming for an older audience with the inclusion of graphic violence, disturbing imagery, and sexual situations. So, more in the tier of Gregory Maguire’s Oz books.

As far as champions go, Nieszka might sometimes seem as perceptive as Bella Swan (shots fired!), not catching on to things that are pretty obvious to the reader, like the fact she has magic. Yeah, it takes her several weeks and a hairy encounter with a prince to realize that the Dragon has been trying to teach her spells. In her defense, the Dragon isn’t inclined to spell things out (sorry), preferring to insult her intelligence. Ah, yes, a promising start to a relationship. And the relationship they have is quite interesting, if rife with misunderstandings and conflicting worldviews. When the two of them do find common ground, that’s when the tension changes from being purely hostile. Their more positive feelings for each other eventually pay-off, but the conclusion is far from a guaranteed “happily ever after.”

Nieszka’s connection with the Dragon isn’t the only intriguing development throughout the book. Kasia comes back after being left behind in the village, the girl everyone thought the wizard would favor. She isn’t just a pretty face to initially overshadow Nieszka—the authenticity in their friendship becomes more and more tangible as Kasia is also pulled into the perils that the Woods present and the measures required to keep those perils in check. Far from a background character, Kasia remains integrated in the storyline, even while not carrying the same narrative weight as Nieszka. It is Nieszka’s story in the end. I honestly didn’t even know precisely how it would end while reading, which is all the better. I made some predictions about Nieszka’s arc and how things might resolve for her, but Novik’s brilliance comes out in the details and little twists, and those are enough to keep even seasoned fantasy readers on edge. As I said, the stakes just keep escalating to grim proportions, so much so you find yourself putting the book down now and then to recover. What makes those stakes work is that while there is a plot, much of the action is driven by character choice. Nieszka and others initiate events that have consequences, even while they all react to the machinations of an intangible enemy. Just about every character’s motivations are laid out clearly enough to cement who they are and bring their world to life.

Uprooted, in its 400-plus pages, is packed with adventure, magic, horror, thrills and mystery, as well as a little romance. It might leave you reeling every fifty pages with the thought, “There’s more?” To which the answer is, “Yes,” until the very last page. And then you might say, “Oh, thank goodness!” And then, “Actually, I wouldn’t mind some more.”

Rating: 4.5/5