Hello, Friends.
Here is the second part two to the book review on Monday. If you have not read it, this post will make no sense. Click
here to read it.
One thing I liked was the writing style. The way Novik writes, or the
way Agnieszka talks, is a truly beautiful writing style. The word order
isn't always the same as we talk normally, but it doesn't make the
prose more confusing or awkward. Rather, it enhances the novel.
Another
thing I liked was the back cover. The cover says a little more than my
description, but it ends the way mine does. As I was reading the book, I
thought:
I have no idea what this book is actually going to be about. I mean this in the way that the back cover doesn't spoil anything. It's not like the back cover of
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,
which basically says: Harry is a wizard, goes to a wizarding school, is
famous, and has to protect the school from a mysterious object. The
back cover of
Uprooted is like if the back cover of Harry Potter
went something like this: Harry lives with his horrible aunt and uncle
and their son. As the school year approaches, Harry starts receiving
mysterious letters, ones which his aunt and uncle are determined not to
let him see. After his uncle temporarily moves their family to a
run-down shack in the middle of the ocean to try to avoid the letters, a
giant man shows up, finally forcing Harry's aunt and uncle to let him
read the letter. In it, Harry discovers something wonderful, mysterious,
and just a bit magical.
See what I mean? Okay,
I know in some cases you would rather have the spoilers on the back
cover, but this book is better because you don't know what's going to
happen.
One thing I didn't like about
Uprooted
is it got inappropriate two or three times. While this was irritating,
the parts are easy to skip. I would definitely still recommend the book.
The rest of this post is for people
WHO HAVE READ Uprooted. If you are still reading this post and you have not read
Uprooted, shame on you. Imagine me glaring at you.
Now, for the rest of you who
have read the book, continue and enjoy. :)
I
also enjoyed the way Novik describes and uses magic. It's a very unique
way of looking at magic. On that note, I thoroughly enjoyed the way
Agnieszka used her magic. The other thing with that is, although
Agnieszka uses magic differently than everyone else, it wasn't the main
point of the book. . . I don't know how to say this. It's the opposite
of what happens with Alina and her powers in
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo. That's the only way I know how to describe it.
Another
thing I liked was the ending. I liked the way they defeated the Wood,
and that whole part/message. I'm being very cryptic for the sake of the
people who are still reading but have not read the book and therefore
should feel extremely guilty.
Of course, I appreciated
the allusions to Russian fairy tales. I mean, you must know how much I
love fairy tales from this blog. :)
Finally, the book
felt like something new, fresh, and original. I mean, yes, you could
reduce it to archetypes, but you can reduce anything to archetypes, so
that's not what I mean.
On a side note, I must have
really missed writing this blog. I wrote 1,122 words for a book review,
not including this paragraph. The maximum words for a blog post in order
not to overwhelm readers/ get readers to still read your post is 500.
Consequently and unfortunately, I'm going to have to split this into two
sections. Sigh.
I loved this book, and will continue to love it. This is definitely one I will reread multiple times.
Enjoy your holiday and happy reading, Friends!
Spruce Nogard
Attributions:
https://www.amazon.com/Harry-Potter-Sorcerers-Stone-Rowling/dp/059035342X
https://www.amazon.com/Uprooted-Naomi-Novik/dp/0804179050
https://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Grisha-Trilogy-Leigh-Bardugo/dp/1250027438
Also, it's fun when you take things out of context. For example, when we were playing, the prompt was: Something overheard at a government meeting. I put in: ". . . not quite as unpleasant, I would imagine, as getting back out again" (Gidwitz 208). This makes perfect sense, but it was amusing given the whole quote:
