20 August 2017

Uprooted


Uprooted by Naomi Novik is a well-crafted, brilliantly delivered fantasy story set in the times of fairy tales.

Every ten years in the valley next to the corrupted wood, a girl is picked to serve the magician who lives in the tower. Agnieszka is sure that her friend Kasia will be picked. He always chooses the pretties girl. Even the girls from the other villages couldn’t compete with Kasia. She has been training to serve the magician, known as the Dragon.

No one knows how the girl will serve the dragon. But at the end of each ten years, those girls come home and almost immediately move away. Kasia and Agnieszka have promised that they will still be best friends after they are separated for a decade.

When all the girls of the village are lined up, the dragon appears. But he does not pick Kasia. He chooses Agnieszka. And they are off to the tower before the shock can wear off. He always has to pick a girl with magic if one presents herself. Of course, Agnieszka has no idea she has magic… Nor does she know how to cook or do any other domestic things that Kasia has been trained for.

Novik has created a great story. It has all of the elements of a great fairy tale. This is a must read!

Novik, Naomi. (2015). Uprooted. New York: Del Rey.

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