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alobearUprooted by Naomi Novik is billed as a Beauty and the Beast style fairy tale, but it's really so much more than that.
Yes, the protagonist gets taken to the wizard's castle, where she will be imprisoned for ten years. But then he starts teaching her magic and there's a whole thing about the cursed Wood and the missing queen and corruption at court and historical trauma that needs to be healed before the valley can thrive.
At the first hint of romance between the 150 year old wizard and the 17 year old protagonist, I was ready to hurl, but it's not as much of a thing as you think it's going to be. Plus, he actually brings up the age gap when she eventually comes to his room to seduce him, which maybe mitigates it a bit?
Regardless, the strongest relationship is actually between the protagonist and her best friend, Kasia, who has her own pretty awesome arc and is one of the best things about the book.
It's more violent, more convoluted, more densely descriptive, and slower than I was expecting. And I'm not sure it entirely hangs together. There are a lot of things about the initially setup that make no sense and are never explained. And the whole section at court in the middle is way too long and mostly unnecessary. A lot of people die, and some of the plot is a bit nonsensical. But the protagonist finds her power and her place in the world, and makes the situation work for her. She avoids the obvious, and very destructive path, and fights for rehabilitation over execution, and I can respect that.
So, an interesting read, but perhaps not as compelling as I had hoped.
Yes, the protagonist gets taken to the wizard's castle, where she will be imprisoned for ten years. But then he starts teaching her magic and there's a whole thing about the cursed Wood and the missing queen and corruption at court and historical trauma that needs to be healed before the valley can thrive.
At the first hint of romance between the 150 year old wizard and the 17 year old protagonist, I was ready to hurl, but it's not as much of a thing as you think it's going to be. Plus, he actually brings up the age gap when she eventually comes to his room to seduce him, which maybe mitigates it a bit?
Regardless, the strongest relationship is actually between the protagonist and her best friend, Kasia, who has her own pretty awesome arc and is one of the best things about the book.
It's more violent, more convoluted, more densely descriptive, and slower than I was expecting. And I'm not sure it entirely hangs together. There are a lot of things about the initially setup that make no sense and are never explained. And the whole section at court in the middle is way too long and mostly unnecessary. A lot of people die, and some of the plot is a bit nonsensical. But the protagonist finds her power and her place in the world, and makes the situation work for her. She avoids the obvious, and very destructive path, and fights for rehabilitation over execution, and I can respect that.
So, an interesting read, but perhaps not as compelling as I had hoped.
