Uprooted gets a standing ovation and 4.5 stars! Bra-vo!
Written in a style reminiscent of old-school Robin McKinley and Diana Wynne Jones, Uprooted is a standout fantasy and fairytale retelling. Agnieszka (Ahn-YESH-ka) has always been prepared for the day when she and the other girls in her village will be inspected, and one taken away, by the ageless wizard and lord known as "the Dragon." However, she and everyone else in the village always expected Kasia, the most exceptional girl amongst them, to be selected as a tribute. When the Dragon selects Agnieszka instead, she must submit to ten years of servitude and confinement.
It sounds like a straightforward Beauty and the Beast interpretation, no? However, after the initial hook, the story diverges drastically from your run-of-the-mill romance. What drives the story forward is the threat of an insidious and elusive dark magic. Manifesting itself as a thick, impenetrable forest, the sentient evil is slowly and inexorably spreading across the kingdom. Agnieszka is swept up in the resistance against this evil, her unique talents forcing the Dragon and herself into an uneasy alliance.
The whole self-aware, malevolent forest thing is quite similar to Rosamund Hodge's evil woods in Crimson Bound, a high-profile novel released just months before Uprooted, but in my opinion, Novik wins the comparison hands down. Although I read Crimson Bound first, I didn't understand what Hodge was trying to accomplish until I took up Novik's novel. The forest was deliciously creepy and an inventive villain.
As for the characters, I found Agnieszka to be a fantastic heroine, resourceful and intuitive. She was well written, being both a distinct person and consistent in her behaviors, while also growing throughout the story. The cantankerous and wounded Dragon was equally compelling. These two characters and their combative relationship steered the novel, but the assisting and peripheral characters were an accomplishment as well. However, I must complain, as others have, that the Dragon was not given nearly enough page time to satisfy me. There had better be a sequel.
Overall, Uprooted was a fantastic read and is a novel to get excited over. If you enjoy fairytale retellings, or YA fantasy, this book is not to be missed.
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fantasy. Show all posts
Monday, July 27, 2015
Thursday, July 23, 2015
A Darker Shade of Magic | Review
As a huge fan of Schwab's Vicious, I was really expecting to enjoy A Darker Shade of Magic more. This is not to say I didn't like the book — in fact, I thought it was very well-written. Schwab is an excellent writer. However, I find myself thirsting for the sequel, for the further development of the characters and worlds, far more than I want to re-read the exploits of book one.
The novel begins with a long exposition and a lulled state of action. We meet Kell, a young man and magician who possesses enough oomph to cross over into parallel worlds. His stomping grounds are a number of different Londons, which he keeps straight by assigning them colors — red London, grey London, and white London. (If this novel was ever made into a motion picture, I bet the art directors would have a heyday.)
Kell, with all his formidable powers, was adopted by the royals of red London as a child. In his brother's, Prince Rye's, eyes, Kell is a part of the family. Kell, however, feels like a possession. This resentment causes Kell to lash out in a particularly treasonous way — by smuggling objects to and from different Londons. His naughty habit is all going well until, one day, someone presses an unstable magical artifact from the fabled, forgotten, forbidden black London into Kell's hands. In a world of trouble, Kell flees into grey London, where he runs into a wanted criminal by the name of Delilah Bard, who is quite eager to join in on Kell's misadventure, by force if necessary.
What bothered me about A Darker Shade of Magic was the unrealized potential of all of the characters. We only got to know three of them somewhat well — Kell, Lilah, and Rye — and I was still left wanting more detail, more motivations, more backstory, just more! You'd think that with only three major characters, there would be plenty of room for their development. However, most of the words of the novel were spent on a plot that I cared quite little about. I hope that Schwab was just holding back, with books two and three in mind.
These frustrations should provoke me to give this book a lower rating than 3.5 stars, but I am quite eager to read book two. I plan to withhold my judgement of the series until after I read 2016's A Gathering of Shadows.
The novel begins with a long exposition and a lulled state of action. We meet Kell, a young man and magician who possesses enough oomph to cross over into parallel worlds. His stomping grounds are a number of different Londons, which he keeps straight by assigning them colors — red London, grey London, and white London. (If this novel was ever made into a motion picture, I bet the art directors would have a heyday.)
Kell, with all his formidable powers, was adopted by the royals of red London as a child. In his brother's, Prince Rye's, eyes, Kell is a part of the family. Kell, however, feels like a possession. This resentment causes Kell to lash out in a particularly treasonous way — by smuggling objects to and from different Londons. His naughty habit is all going well until, one day, someone presses an unstable magical artifact from the fabled, forgotten, forbidden black London into Kell's hands. In a world of trouble, Kell flees into grey London, where he runs into a wanted criminal by the name of Delilah Bard, who is quite eager to join in on Kell's misadventure, by force if necessary.
What bothered me about A Darker Shade of Magic was the unrealized potential of all of the characters. We only got to know three of them somewhat well — Kell, Lilah, and Rye — and I was still left wanting more detail, more motivations, more backstory, just more! You'd think that with only three major characters, there would be plenty of room for their development. However, most of the words of the novel were spent on a plot that I cared quite little about. I hope that Schwab was just holding back, with books two and three in mind.
These frustrations should provoke me to give this book a lower rating than 3.5 stars, but I am quite eager to read book two. I plan to withhold my judgement of the series until after I read 2016's A Gathering of Shadows.
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Vicious Review
I am kicking myself for not having picked up Vicious sooner. I knew it was well-received, but for some reason I thought the book would be boring. I'm not sure why I got that impression, but I was wrong, wrong, WRONG! Vicious was a complete and total page-whipper!
The book opens with a man, Victor, and a young girl, Sydney, digging up a grave. Quickly, we learn that this grisly task is all part of a mad scheme for revenge, years in the making. Victor has just broken out of jail. And he has one hell of a grudge against his old college roommate, Eli.
This decision to pit two former college roommates against each other is just inspired. In my experience, your relationship with your college roommate is one of the most intense and bizarre relationships you ever have. You're both "young adults," living in an oxymoronic state, under the influence of higher education, sleep deprivation, intoxication, and whatever the hell else you put into your system. Your roommate becomes in turn, your friend, your ally, your enemy, your obsession, your nightmare. V. E. Schwab deftly captures all of these dynamics that bounce between Victor and Eli.
Eli and Victor's vortex of envy and murderous loathing begins ten years before the current events of the novel, when they choose their college thesis topics. Victor chooses to study [spoiler]adrenaline.[/spoiler] Eli chooses to research [spoiler]ExtraOrdinary abilities.[/spoiler] The events that follow, during their spring semester of their senior year, are shocking.
Of course, Eli and Victor have back-up personnel to aid them. Two talented sisters, Sydney and Serena, find themselves on separate sides of the vendetta. And of course, Victor has his cell-mate and break-out buddy, Mitch. And there's the dog, Dol. All of these labels — hero, villain, sidekick, mascot — get tossed around and mixed up. Who is who?
These characters were all fantastic. I especially appreciated Victor. He was a highly complex character, but Schwab still managed to keep him consistent. I was at times, horrified by Victor's decisions, but somehow kept rooting for the man. I loved hating the self-righteous Eli. Sydney and Serena were used as effective foils to Victor and Eli's twisted brotherhood. I appreciated what it said about the nature of conflict that these two mirror-image sisters wound up on opposite sides of someone else's fight. And Mitch was a steady column of normalcy and reason that balanced the other characters out. These were fabulous players in a fabulous plot.
The pacing was also a strong point in Schwab's novel. The narrative flipped around in time, but this hardly phased me. At first, I had a preference for the present events over the past, but very soon I was fully engaged in the entire story, past and present. I was so absorbed in the book that at times I forgot that I was flipping paper pages and reading symbols made of dried ink. I was inside the story. What a rare and wonderful experience!
So, in short, I HIGHLY recommend this book. Five north stars out of five!
The book opens with a man, Victor, and a young girl, Sydney, digging up a grave. Quickly, we learn that this grisly task is all part of a mad scheme for revenge, years in the making. Victor has just broken out of jail. And he has one hell of a grudge against his old college roommate, Eli.
This decision to pit two former college roommates against each other is just inspired. In my experience, your relationship with your college roommate is one of the most intense and bizarre relationships you ever have. You're both "young adults," living in an oxymoronic state, under the influence of higher education, sleep deprivation, intoxication, and whatever the hell else you put into your system. Your roommate becomes in turn, your friend, your ally, your enemy, your obsession, your nightmare. V. E. Schwab deftly captures all of these dynamics that bounce between Victor and Eli.
Eli and Victor's vortex of envy and murderous loathing begins ten years before the current events of the novel, when they choose their college thesis topics. Victor chooses to study [spoiler]adrenaline.[/spoiler] Eli chooses to research [spoiler]ExtraOrdinary abilities.[/spoiler] The events that follow, during their spring semester of their senior year, are shocking.
Of course, Eli and Victor have back-up personnel to aid them. Two talented sisters, Sydney and Serena, find themselves on separate sides of the vendetta. And of course, Victor has his cell-mate and break-out buddy, Mitch. And there's the dog, Dol. All of these labels — hero, villain, sidekick, mascot — get tossed around and mixed up. Who is who?
These characters were all fantastic. I especially appreciated Victor. He was a highly complex character, but Schwab still managed to keep him consistent. I was at times, horrified by Victor's decisions, but somehow kept rooting for the man. I loved hating the self-righteous Eli. Sydney and Serena were used as effective foils to Victor and Eli's twisted brotherhood. I appreciated what it said about the nature of conflict that these two mirror-image sisters wound up on opposite sides of someone else's fight. And Mitch was a steady column of normalcy and reason that balanced the other characters out. These were fabulous players in a fabulous plot.
The pacing was also a strong point in Schwab's novel. The narrative flipped around in time, but this hardly phased me. At first, I had a preference for the present events over the past, but very soon I was fully engaged in the entire story, past and present. I was so absorbed in the book that at times I forgot that I was flipping paper pages and reading symbols made of dried ink. I was inside the story. What a rare and wonderful experience!
So, in short, I HIGHLY recommend this book. Five north stars out of five!
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