5 stars for Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
This book must have been uprooted from Heaven's ground and magically planted to take roots on Earth. It is a beautiful story, charming and captivating in all its originality.
Do not judge this book based on the peculiarity of a title and overlook it for good. As the chinese idiom goes, the phrase 臥虎藏龍 (Wò hǔ cáng lóng) totally applies to the story here. Translated, it means 'Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon', in which the words 'Tiger' and 'Dragon' refer directly to people with special hidden talents.
In a sense, there is a tiger and a dragon in this book. Well, if a tiger of magic is considered as one, then there certainly is one such crouching in the female protagonist, Agnieszka, waiting to be discovered and unleashed. As for the dragon.. this Dragon does not eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside the valley. Though this dragon is not a real fire breathing one, it is close enough; a wizard and immortal whose name tasted of fire and wings, of curling smoke, of subtlety and strength, and the rasping whisper of scales.
Besides the two enthralling main characters, the marvellously melodic prose of love and war brings out a kind of beauty that goes beyond skin deep to touch my soul and flutter my heart. On the surface, this story may read like a first-rate fantasy built upon a world of mystery and enchantment, of fighting evil and corruption. But often enough, there is no clear-cut case of good versus evil for there is always a good reason behind everything. In the end, in the heart of it all, Uprooted is about learning to let go, to free oneself from obsessing thoughts and from unhappy feelings. And that basically is what makes this fantasy story epic.
Now that I have reached the end of a magical adventure with a deeply satisfying conclusion, I cannot help but yearn for more. Perhaps one day, the author may have a change of mind and turn this standalone novel into a series. Why not, right? A girl can always hope.
Publisher: Del Rey; Reprint edition
Publication date: 1 Mar 2016
*** Favourite quote 1 ***
Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley.
*** Favourite quote 2 ***
..I didn’t need the Dragon to tell me I was going to have to work it out for myself. I swallowed and nodded instead, and then I said, “Thank you—Sarkan.”
His name tasted of fire and wings, of curling smoke, of subtlety and strength and the rasping whisper of scales.
*** Favourite quote 3 ***
She’d remembered the wrong things, and forgotten too much. She’d remembered how to kill and how to hate, and she’d forgotten how to grow.
~ Uprooted
Naomi Novik
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“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”
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.
*Blurb from author's website*
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