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I've just finished Naomi Novik's new book, Uprooted, which is totally separate from her Temeraire series. This is more of a classic fantasy story, based on her childhood memories of a grandmother who told her fairytales from Poland. And thus it's got a bit of a fairytale feel, with the protagonist being a teenage girl who lives next to the deep and dark Wood, and there's a sorcerer who lives in a tower at the edge of the Wood who chooses a girl from the villages in that valley to come serve him every ten years...
For the first half of the book, I thought it was a really well-done YA novel. The protagonist is interestingly messy and interestingly talented, the magic system (and its complexities) was well done, and I like how creepy the Wood is. It's not just a dark place full of monsters: it's an actively corrupting and malignant force, and the sorcerer she's working for spends most of his time and energy just keeping it from getting worse and eating a village. Again. And then a dashing prince (who is very much less charming up close, but not in an ironic way, just in a very human way) gets involved, because he wants to save his mother who disappeared into the forest twenty years ago.
And then I reached what I thought was the conclusion of the book, and realized I was only 50% of the way in. Because that's when it starts getting complicated, and terrifying, and even more fascinating. I'm not sure I would've had the same experience of reading it in paper, where I'd be able to see myself getting closer to the end; but I was reading it as an ebook, and just didn't notice until then, when the plot I was expecting to wrap suddenly escalated, that there was that much more to go.
Anyway! I recommend it. It's got some really interesting reveals as the story goes on, it's got a nice solidity that some fairytale style stories don't, and I like the back and forth of different people trying to discuss magic by different metaphors. And I like the protagonist. A good book.
For the first half of the book, I thought it was a really well-done YA novel. The protagonist is interestingly messy and interestingly talented, the magic system (and its complexities) was well done, and I like how creepy the Wood is. It's not just a dark place full of monsters: it's an actively corrupting and malignant force, and the sorcerer she's working for spends most of his time and energy just keeping it from getting worse and eating a village. Again. And then a dashing prince (who is very much less charming up close, but not in an ironic way, just in a very human way) gets involved, because he wants to save his mother who disappeared into the forest twenty years ago.
And then I reached what I thought was the conclusion of the book, and realized I was only 50% of the way in. Because that's when it starts getting complicated, and terrifying, and even more fascinating. I'm not sure I would've had the same experience of reading it in paper, where I'd be able to see myself getting closer to the end; but I was reading it as an ebook, and just didn't notice until then, when the plot I was expecting to wrap suddenly escalated, that there was that much more to go.
Anyway! I recommend it. It's got some really interesting reveals as the story goes on, it's got a nice solidity that some fairytale style stories don't, and I like the back and forth of different people trying to discuss magic by different metaphors. And I like the protagonist. A good book.
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