Uprooted

Written by Naomi Novik

Narrated by Katy Sobey

A dark enchantment blights the land in the award-winning Uprooted - a enthralling, mythic fantasy by Naomi Novik, author of the Temeraire series.

Agnieszka loves her village, set deep in a peaceful valley. But the nearby enchanted forest casts a shadow over her home. Many have been lost to the Wood and none return unchanged. The villagers depend on an ageless wizard, the Dragon, to protect them from the forest's dark magic. However, his help comes at a terrible price. One young village woman must serve him for ten years, leaving all they value behind.

Agnieszka fears her dearest friend Kasia will be picked at the next choosing, for she's everything Agnieszka is not - beautiful, graceful and brave. Yet when the Dragon comes, it's not Kasia he takes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pan Macmillan
• Release date: May 5, 2016
• ISBN: 9781509827060

Naomi Novik

Naomi Novik was born in New York in 1973, a first-generation American, and raised on Polish fairy tales, Baba Yaga, and Tolkien. She studied English Literature at Brown University and Computer Science at Columbia University before leaving to work in the games industry. She soon realized she preferred the writing to the programming, and decided to try her hand at novels. Temeraire was her first.Naomi lives in New York City with her husband and six computers.

Reviews for Uprooted

[sylvia.epos · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If you don't like vampire stories/fantasy novels - don't read this book. We don't need your silly reviews stinking up the place!
A very enjoyable read/listen! I will certainly look out for other works by either the author or narrator.
Fair warning though - there are limited racy bits, so maybe not appropriate to listen to around the kids.

[kyonQchie · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Meh, I don't understand the hype for this book. I do not feel any love nor chemistry for the characters.. and the magic part.. hmm.. I prefer Winternight Trilogy if we're talking about magical stuff;;;

[Loïne Sch · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

this novel is a story full of magic, power in all its meanings, friendship and true-self. It is also a story about nature, and its rage; and about why, when and how it could rebel. The Wood indeed is so present in the novel it could almost be considered a character. The Wood acts, speaks and is spoken about a lot. Presented as the true enemy since the incipit, and throughout the novel, the Wood is the number one target of all the inhabitants in the valley. The rhythm, the rising actions and the climaxes of the novel all contribute to lead the reader to wonder one thing: who is the true enemy? Talking about the rhythm of the novel… it followed quite an odd scheme. For instance, it takes a while to fully be captivated by the story. However, once the clock is ticking, we would expect for it to never stop. Consequently, Naomi Novik's way of writing made this clock work according to her will, transporting us through different rhythms and time spaces. If I were to cite the climaxes in the novel, I could quote at least three, which made the reading experience truly unique, since usually once the climax has been reached, we know we can cease holding our breaths and continue reading with one goal: know the end.
In Uprooted, the first climax came so early in the story that I did not know what to expect. Each climax was separated by extremely long rising actions, and the author really refrained from revealing the final answers. Indeed, I had to wait until the very last chapters of the novel to get the denouement, which made me wonder multiple times: does what I am reading truly have an ending?

I listened a lot to Uprooted on Scribd and Katy Sobey — the storyteller — managed to keep the same narrating tone all along the novel, making the listening experience very calm and soothing. However, I think she could have made this story more alive. She did not do justice to the climaxes nor to the denouement.
Listening to Uprooted was then very practical but the storyteller's monotone voice throughout the story kind of spoiler the epic dimension of the novel.

[Anne-Laure · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed Katy Sobey's performance in Spinning Silver and she delivers an as great performance here. Uprooted is very different from Spinning Silver but as gripping. It still is very well written and original. The reasons why I don't give 5/5 is that I thought men were let off very easily : (spoilers) : agnieska continues to talk to marek like nothing had happened and she is belittled by Sarkan all the time at the beginning and falls into his arms as if nothing had happened. To me it feels like the author gave them a free pass for being a**holes.

[hoseokluvr420 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

narrator sounds like she has the mouth full of spit. writing was fine, naomi novik disappointed me with this one tho because she has written an absolute immaculate banger with a deadly education. magic system kinda eh. as soon as the prince showed up a second time i was scandalized as hell. why does her best friend have sexual tension with a r*pist. 2/5

[Silke Kirkeby · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I loved it, the story had a good tempo, the language was amazing, and the audio book really kept me in the world of magic