/r/Fantasy Discussion Group discussion

This is where you can talk about the complete book, spoilers and all!

Waiting for others to catch up ;-) but I loved this book. Hope others did as well.

I loved this book. I kind of wish Novik would have spread it out into a trilogy so we could explore more about Agnieszka's magic development and relationship with Sarkan.

tbh, I'm not sure how I would feel if she dragged the book out, since I like how fast pace and tightly written it is now.

Would be curious to see more books set in this world though

I love this book! I'm almost in the middle, it's a matter of time to finish it.
I hope there will be more romance between Dragon and Agnieszka (by the way how is this pronounced? I call her Annie :) )
I really like the way their magic and spells are blended!

Ag-nesh-ka I believe

Agnieszka is the Polish version of Agnes, so you may call her that :) It's pronounced like Rosalyn has said, more or less.

It was too short, would have loved at least 100 more pages. Maybe even a couple more books :D

I really liked it, a lot more than I thought I would. I feel like it started to drag just a bit in the middle, but then finished strong.

The only other nitpick I have is that I felt the two sexual scenes with the Dragon were really out of place and I don't feel that they really added anything to the book.

Ah really? I thought they were pretty par for the course but I was also kind of expecting it.

I think Marek was a really interesting character. I definitely really like villains (?) who don't consider themselves to be villains and I liked that he was this inversion of the fairytale prince. Not cartoonishly bad, but egocentric and almost childlike?

Great discussion so far, guys - thanks.

Linda wrote: "Ah really? I thought they were pretty par for the course but I was also kind of expecting it."

Honestly, I think my problem was that I went into reading this thinking this was a YA book. So, with that mindset in place I think it makes sense that it was a little jarring for me. I also think that if those two scenes removed, it probably could fit in the YA genre.

I've read a little more about the book now, however, and see that it wasn't necessarily marketed as YA.

Josh wrote: "Linda wrote: "Ah really? I thought they were pretty par for the course but I was also kind of expecting it."

I agree the sex scene was a bit unexpected. It was marketed as YA by the publisher (big surprise there). That whole YA fantasy thing that keeps getting pushed on so many books is really starting to grind my gears.

Tbh, I think right now most single female protagonist fantasy just gets marketed/classified as YA regardless of content because that's where a lot of the market for books is now. It's something I honestly hate because people are really dismissive of YA as a categorization because "it's for girls" or whatever and authors feel the need to make all their characters seventeen.

It's actually sort of unfortunate, because I was hoping to read this before letting my step-daughter read it. Those two scenes sort of ruin that.

Yes for sure. I mean, I don't really mind that it's in there, but it makes the book something you can't really give to a stepdaughter.

I also agree with people that she could have spilt it into 2 books, halfway into it I was totally expecting the book about to end (her going to Kasia to the castle) as another book. To my surprise, everything gets resolved. I don't really get it though - did they ever explain why the people were rooted to their village? Also why wouldn't he take 2 instead of 1? I understand if he didn't want a LOT of people, but 2 doesn't seem that much more.

I think maybe he could barely stomach one but didn't entirely want to be alone.

I think being rooted meant that these people were connected to the valley because they grew up there (drank the water? were steeped in the natural magic?) and he could tap into that and divert it from the forest by picking a girl to live with him (i.e. uprooting her) but she would eventually lose her ties to the valley.

Rosalyn wrote: "Josh wrote: "Linda wrote: "Ah really? I thought they were pretty par for the course but I was also kind of expecting it."

I agree the sex scene was a bit unexpected. It was marketed as YA by the p..."

In complete agreement. Hell, they made Pierce Brown's Red Rising a YA, even though he said himself he didn't have anything to do with that - it's not really a YA book.

I remember someone mentioning how Maria Snyder's Poison Study wasn't supposed to be YA but was classified as that by the publisher even though (view spoiler)[the story flashes to her backstory where she is brutally raped/tortured and then stabs her rapist to death (hide spoiler)]. I'm actually kind of wondering what it says that we're okay with YA heroines who have been sexually assaulted in the past but not okay with explicit depictions of sex in a romantic context.

That said, I'm not sure if I would be comfortable with it just being sprung on a young girl like that, especially since I read a lot of the YA fantasy standards (Tamora Pierce, etc) when I was twelve or thirteen.

I really enjoyed this book and will definitely read it again. I loved the fairy tale feel of it and the way the Wood was so alive and creepy.

I'm a little torn on whether or not I think it should be a series. Like I said, I liked it a lot, so I would love to have more of it, but I fear it might have started to drag if it were spread out across a series. I thought the pacing of the book was good as a standalone. I want more and would be fine with it being a bit longer, but I think it was wrapped up well at the end and is a good complete story on its own.

To be honest, I am relieved it wasn't YA. I love fairy tales and fairy tale retellings. Most of them are written mainly for children and young adults, so I get excited when I come across one that is written more for adults and doesn't shy away from adult topics. I was fine with the sex scenes, but, if it was going to be included, I do think a little more time could have been spent developing the love story between Agnieszka and the Dragon.

Overall, I loved this book. It is definitely a favorite. I was a little disappointed when I finished and had no one to share my joy and discuss it with. So I was very excited when I saw it nominated for June. I want to say thank you to the group for picking this book for this month. I've really looked forward to reading everyone's opinions and joining in the discussion.

I feel like there could be an entirely separate conversation on what constitutes YA, because honestly, there rarely seems to be total agreement. Personally I was fine with sex scenes in it, I read way more graphic stuff than that when I was a young adult, and I turned ok. I think. ;) I figure if it gets kids to read and doesn't glorify bad decisions, it fine. But I know I'm in the minority with that line of thinking :)

Anyway, like Linda said, I got the impression the people of the village were steeped with the magic by living so close and drinking the water/etc. And that Dragon didn't seem like he would be able to bear having two girls.

As for needing more time to build the relationship, I felt like it was the personal nature of binding their magic together for the spell that really truly brought them together. That was more personal/intimate than a barrage of small talk conversations :)

I liked that Agnieszka's personality. I liked that she hated the dresses should would conjure. She didn't dream of being some fanciful princess. Overall I really enjoyed this. But I didn't find it perfect as I did feel it lagged for a bit in the middle/towards the end, but not enough to leave me with any negativity towards it.

I loved the book! The story is mastered and I was totally compelled by the atmosphere, the suspense and the mysteries which drive the story.
I didn't really care about the characters, which is the only "bad" point for me, but I liked how their relationships evolved.

It was difficult to put it away and I'm a little sad I've finished it. Great read :)

Looks like there may already be a movie adaptation in the works: http://www.tor.com/2015/06/08/naomi-n...

I was thinking the other day how would it transfer to a movie screen. It's only optioned so it might not see the light of day but it would be awesome. Although I really want the her other series to be animated or something.

Could make a cool Miyazaki film I think. But he always threatens to retire every other year.

I'm wondering what they would do about the singing and chanting.

I would like a Miyazaki Uprooted, it could be great and Ghibli does well with the strange/magical atmosphere :)

The issue with a Miyazaki Uprooted is the story's remarkable similarity to Howl's Moving Castle. I hope Hollywood can make so magical a film translation.

I mean, I think Uprooted has more horror elements than Howl's castle, although I think they have that some numinous feeling of discovering new worlds.

Finished this today and found it one of the best written books I have ever read in over 30 odd years of reading.

Started reading Novik with the Temeraire novels but lost momentum somewhere around the fifth or sixth. Uprooted was a pleasant surprise. Hadn't really expected to be this impressed with it. Started reading one evening, stayed up far past my bed time and had to wrap it up the following morning. Her pacing and characterization were on point and the story retained a sort of fairy tale charm that I needed to leaven some of the grittier stuff that seems to have become a staple for me. Great choice group, and a great job by the author.

I was about halfway through the book when I suddenly realized that every verbalization was "he said" or "she said" without any variation. It made me slow my devouring pace of this book for about 10 minutes before I decided I didn't really care and continued reading through at a breakneck pace. I guess I'm just trying to say that I LOVED this book, flaws and all, and will highly recommend it to others.

I loved the book! I think the characterization was very light, but the story itself was great, and very fast-paced. I am not a fan of prominent romance in my fantasy books, so I appreciated it is just a sub theme here, and without awkward dialogues. My first Naomi Novik book, and surely not the last.

I can confirm that I loved this too! I pretty much read it in just a day, something that doesn't happen very often...

It was an absolute delight. I loved the characters, the pacing, the plot, and, in fact, the romance. The sex scenes kind of surprised me, and struck me out of nowhere, but they were extremely well-written in my opinion, and I thought suited their relationship (which, as someone else noted, was pretty non-verbal and physical given the magic intertwining stuff).

The ending was satisfactory, and I do wish there was more of the world to be had, though I love fantasy standalones. I can only hope she finds a way to use this universe again.

This'll definitely go down as one of my favourite reads of the year at this rate :)

Oh yes, I think that kissing scene is etched in my memory because of the physicality, I was surprised. I don't think the sex scene, instead, added to the tale but it was well done, I agree.

Surely it's a book I've liked very much, and I'm very happy I've read it.

So I waited my turn for a few weeks to get this book from the library but it was definitely worth the wait. I loved everything about it. The magic was so neat to read and imagine. It was so fast-paced, it felt like it could have easily been a trilogy but satisfying to read in 450ish very short pages.

I'm very glad it was picked and that I didn't protest the price so much that I ended up skipping it entirely. Yay for the public library I guess.