Book review from Mary S. at the Library

“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.”

I love fantasy rooted in folklore. Especially if it’s folklore from another part of the world. Naomi Novik creates a world that is so close to the one we live in, but also so far that I found myself wishing this wasn’t just a standalone novel.

Agnieszka is messy. She is clumsy. She is typically covered in some sort of dirt or food from her day. If you were to spin her in a circle you’d find rips and tears in her dress that she is probably unaware of, or where they came from. She is also fiercely protective of her loved ones and the valley she lives in, especially her best friend Kasia. The whole valley has raised Kasia to be the one chosen by the Dragon.

The Dragon is quiet, clean, strict and could be described as a loner. He’s an utter mystery wrapped in rumors and songs. Most of them aren’t true but he doesn’t correct them. His job is to protect the valley from the encroaching Wood – a magical and evil forest creeping its borders further and further to engulf everything. Most wizards live near the King but the Dragon chooses the isolation.

Agnieszka is chosen instead of Kasia, to everyone’s shock, and must live with the Dragon for the next ten years. The dichotomy between her and the Dragon’s personalities is a push and pull that Novik writes beautifully. I found myself angry at the Dragon, rolling my eyes at both of them, and my heart aching for Agnieszka at times.

The journey this book takes you on regarding their relationship is a rollercoaster. It’s reminiscent of The Bear and the Nightingale meets Beauty and the Beast. This has definitely become one of my favorite books!

Check out Uprooted by Naomi Novik at the Library (https://catalog.lclibs.org/polaris/search/title.aspx…).