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Having been a fan of Naomi Novik’s Temeraire series for many years, I have often wondered what she would do if she ever decided to write something else. After all, this is a woman who studied English Literature at Brown University, holds a degree in Computer Science from Columbia, and wasn’t afraid to show her geeky side as a game designer on Neverwinter Nights. That’s a pretty awesome combination in my book and when she chose to write the Temeraire series, a fantasy/historical mashup combining the concept of intelligent dragons working as a sort of Air Force with wartime forces in the Napoleonic era, well…I was hooked.
So now comes this new novel and my bottom line verdict is that it is fantastic. It’s straight fantasy but absolutely reminds one of that nostalgic feeling of fairy tales you read (or were read to you) from childhood. After reading the opening two chapters I thought I was on my way into just such a fairy tale, but it wasn’t long before any ideas I had about predicting where this was going were thrown out of the proverbial window. The plot begins as a twist in the age-old concept of a young maiden being picked every ten years by the village elders to sacrifice to the dragon in order to buy its protection. The twist is that this time it’s not an actual dragon but a renowned wizard who requires the sacrifice. And he doesn’t select the pretty young maiden that everybody was planning on but instead chooses Agneieszka, our protagonist, and it is though her eyes that we see the story unfold.
OK…interesting twist but I still thought I knew where the plot was going. I was wrong.
No spoilers from me but suffice it to say that this novel kept me turning the pages way past my bedtime. Ms.Read more ›
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I picked this up on a lark because I was snatched by the premise. I could tell right away that the main relationship, the critical point of interest, was going to be between the Dragon and the protagonist. At least, that's what I'd hoped for. Stories about two very different people who are forced to live and work together and then gradually come to understanding and affection as a result are my very favorites to read and write. First, I want to explain that I found the actual writing, the turn of phrase in this book, to be FANTASTIC. Beautiful, detailed, living imagery; such creative and tactile uses for magic. The author makes a real world, with real history, and the Woods are absolutely chilling--a breathing, moving villain in the story, though faceless. One becomes very afraid of this Wood as one reads, feeling its darkness creep up in the shadows all around. That writing is what kept me reading for the majority of the book, nonstop, even past one red flag, and a plot detour I didn't really feel like taking. (Spoilers ahead) I must confess, as I was reading the first few chapters, a strange feeling came over me--one that I expressed to a friend of mine who is an avid reader of fanfiction. It almost seemed, at first, that this was a story that had been converted from a fanfiction about Marvel's Loki. The Dragon just seemed so very like him in some respects. However, he didn't develop. I kept waiting for him to do so--because he starts out as frightening and a little abusive, but then loses all his fangs and claws almost right away in two shows of startlement and clumsiness. Beyond that point, he's just insulting, but none of his insults carried any sting for me, though they manage to frustrate the protagonist.Read more ›
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Uprooted is a comfortable, homey YA fantasy, reminiscent of Patricia McKillip’s work. It’s predictable, but pleasantly so. The narrator/heroine Agnieszka lives in a vaguely Russian village at the edge of a sinister wood. Every ten years, the local sorcerer/lord known as the Dragon chooses a village girl to live in his tower. When their term is up, the girls come home educated and refined, with purses full of silver for their dowries. They briefly visit their parents, then move to larger cities that have better opportunities. The chosen girl is always a local belle. While Agnieszka was growing up, everyone expected her best friend Kasia to be the Dragon’s next choice. Kasia is the most beautiful girl, and the most skilled in all the domestic arts (her parents made sure she was trained to serve a nobleman). No one expects the Dragon to choose Agnieszka, who is perpetually muddy and untidy, and whose only skill seems to be finding the unexpected, whether fruit out of season or more often, trouble.
Of course, the Dragon’s choosing spell lands on Agnieszka. Once in the tower, Agnieszka discovers that the returning servants told the truth when they claimed the Dragon didn’t molest them. However, Agnieszka’s inability to cook, clean, or even dress neatly, coupled with her plain face and low social status, leads the fastidious Dragon to utter an endless stream of sarcastic comments typical of a certain kind of romance hero. Agnieszka also finds it very hard to learn even the simplest spells. (Interestingly, she’s already literate.) But Agnieszka does have magical ability. Lots of it. It’s just a *feminine* magical ability: Organic, intuitive, inconsistent, largely nonverbal, nurturing, and cooperative.Read more ›
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