Really enjoyed Uprooted and its fresh take on magic, not usually my favorite sort of fantasy. Magic in this book is an isolating, exhausting endeavor.
It’s also a fresh take on a the now-classic “ceremony’ in YA lit, where a person is Chosen for a special destiny.
Agnieszka, our awkward, unlikely heroine, is an interesting, appealing character and she’s also a hot mess – perpetually messy, far from flawless. When she’s chosen instead of her best friend to be the companion/trainee of the Dragon, a local wizard, it seems like a mistake. But Agnieszka is the one with the true power, and the feistiness to stand up to the proud wizard.
She also turns out to be only one who can help the Dragon fight the creeping horror of the Wood, a mysterious entity that threatens the valley with monsters…and worse, possesses people and turns them into its puppets.
I liked the unusual Eastern European-flavored setting – that felt fresh too. I loved the feel of the valley Agnieszka lives in, its villages, the Dragon’s Tower, and most of all the faceless, cruel menace of the Wood. I did not enjoy the lengthy sequence where Agnieszka leaves for the capital city – I found the whole storyline with the royal family a bit dull and long.
I’m confused by The Wood – I still don’t understand why it was so malevolent, why humans kept living near it. The Wood’s powers seem to vary. Sometimes it seemed able only to cause havoc in the valley, sometimes it seemed all-powerful, able to move over the whole world. Without giving away any spoilers, I found the eventual original story of the Wood a little bit of a letdown. It was a more powerful, frightening concept when there’s wasn’t an explanation. Does evil always need an explanation or a justification?
Surprisingly violent and raunchy too…ok by me! But this might not be the YA you’re looking for when it comes to certain age groups.