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As my rating shows, I absolutely loved this book. To get the full 5 stars, a book has to enthral me and take over my life. Uprooted certainly did that, taking hold of me, pushing me to read at full speed, grabbing at any little minute I had, and didn’t let go until I turned the last page last night. Even now, dazzled, my thoughts are still roaming in the Valley that Novik crafted, and I am sorely tempted to just start again.

This book surprises. The blurb makes it look like one type of narrative when instead it is a lot more. Yes, it evokes the familiar world of fairy tales but not the one that we are acquainted today. No, it transports us back to the roots of story telling, when fairy tales were passed on orally and intended for all to hear, not just children, full of all the aspects of life and living, including the horror, ugliness and pain of it, and indeed death. Novik takes its usual tropes and turns them on, presenting them in unexpected ways. Don’t be lulled by the first few chapters. It soon picks up and nothing is quite what it seems.

The author’s writing style caught me at the beginning, some sentences arresting me here and there, full of meaning but also due to their form. They somehow reflected the organic theme, which permeates everything. The title, for instance, is at first very straightforward, but as I carried on through the book, it kept echoing in my head and taking more and more layers of meaning. Only too quickly however, the action swept me away. And so much happens in this book! The complex plot turns and coils on you like vines, with many knots. The growing tension never relents, but builds and builds, even when there are respites in the action, the underlying threat never goes away. I had to catch my breath a few times. Some might say that the author put too much in it, and they are probably right, but I don’t care. It is not a perfect book but it works beautifully (to me and it seems to many other people, including award-giving organisations).

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All this however wouldn’t work if it weren’t for the characters and their connections. The book tells Agnieszka’s story, her transformation from girl to woman, from village girl to magic wielding witch. She stumbles her way through, trying to make sense of the world she lives in, of her powers, making mistakes, but also remaining true to herself. Her relationship with Kasia, her best friend and indeed quasi sister, is beautiful in all its reality and messiness. There is trust, respect and devotion, but also guilt and envy and anger. Novak portrays characters with complex psychologies and a certain rawness. All are more than what appears, not just one thing or the other. The ‘good� are fallible and the ‘bad� have redeeming features. Marek is not a likeable protagonist and yet I can understand his driven endeavour to save his mother.

The witches and wizards are a bristly bunch but it is understandable when considering they have been living for over 100 years and lost many if not all of their loved ones. They shy away from such pain but in the process loose touch with humanity while trying to save it. Sarkan (wizard known as the Dragon) is unpleasant at best with his prickliness but he undergoes change too. Agnieszka crashes in his well ordered world and disrupts everything, pushing him to question what he thought was concrete. His power, as well as the one of his ‘colleagues�, is based on rule-following and slow learning. Agnieszka's is exactly the reverse, intuitive, flowing, experimental, organic even. I kept thinking one side was the written word while the other was the spoken one. Magic is again not just one concept, and comes into full blown power when these two combine forces, each as important. Sarkan resists at first but does helps Agnieszka, becoming a real partner while snarling all the way. I liked that Novik kept that aspect of his character, which is much more believable, and the evolution of their relationship rang true.

Finally, the Wood, antagonist of the novel, started in my mind as a known image, but one without clout. How wrong was I! Slowly, its cruelty, cunning and insidiousness transformed it into a real horrific entity, playing a war of politics and corruption on a life size chess board where the people are the pieces, and death is around every corner. Once more, there is much more than meets the eyes. How far do you go with retribution? Who is to blame? Where do you stop?

So, coming full circle, I loved this book :O)