I picked up Uprooted by Naomi Novik when my reading was feeling a little tired. I’m sure many of us read lots of books because we feel like we should, we want to meet goals, someone else wants to read it, it’s an award winner, someone gave it to us… so many reasons, but I find myself often not just picking up a book because it sounds nice and fun and I FEEL like reading it. Does that make sense? While I often do really want to read award winners and the hot book of the moment… sometimes it can be a little forced. It may not be exactly what I was craving. I picked up Uprooted after quite a few books like that and it turned out to be exactly what I wanted to read.

Let me start with a disclaimer that this book has many tropes I often dislike. Chosen one, normal girl who learns she has magical powers that she never knew were there, made up fantasy names that are hard to remember, clumsy-but-in-a-charming-way main character, and more. However, those tropes did not bother me in this book, not in the slightest. This book was inviting, warm, and felt wistful somehow. I don’t know why, I’ve never read anything by Novik before, but maybe because I haven’t read fantasy in awhile, it felt a bit like home.

Uprooted is about a girl named Agnieszka who lives in a valley in a kingdom. The valley is near the Wood, a haunted-ish forest that is basically a character itself (which I love). The Wood creeps ever closer to the villages in the valley, corrupting anyone who has the misfortune of encountering its dark magic. The dragon, not an actual dragon but a powerful old wizard who still looks young somehow (another trope maybe but again, worked for me), scoops up a girl from the valley every 10 years and keeps her in his tower. Everyone knows that this time it’s going to be Agnieszka’s best friend Kaisa, but SURPRISE, it’s Agnieszka! Omg. Who could have guessed?! Okay, me, and probably you, and probably your cat after you read her the back cover, but again, it works for this book!

And so Agnieszka leaves the village behind for the dragon’s tower, and adventures ensue. I’m not going to say much more about the plot but I loved the story the whole time - lots of plot driven action, which I tend to like.

I found the banter between Agnieszka and the dragon to be funny and heartwarming. Even though Agnieszka is trope-tastic, she’s a likable character I found myself rooting for. I would describe this entire book as charming. The Wood is creepy, the fairy-tale elements are nostalgic, and the adventure is fun. Oh, and I thought the writing was pretty good too. If you like fantasy and you haven’t read this one yet, I’d absolutely recommend it. 5/5 from me.