Uprooted

Cover retrieved from Goodreads

Uprooted
Naomi Novik
Del Rey: 2015, 435 pages
Reviewed by Salina Bush

Agnieszka and her village live on the edge of the corrupted Wood.  They rely in the powers of the wizard called the Dragon to keep it at bay.  In return he demands one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years.  Everyone expects Agnieszka's best friend, Kasia, the best and brightest among them to be chosen, but no one is more surprised than Agnieszka when she is chosen.  I really enjoyed reading this book.  I went into it thinking that it would be another beauty and the beast retelling but I was pleasantly surprised with where the story went.  It was fast paced without feeling rushed, the characters felt like real people and not tropes from a fairy tale, and I really enjoyed the dark atmosphere that was much more Grimm than Disney.  This was a great story about growing up, finding your place in the world, and learning that maybe the conventional way of doing things doesn't always work for you.