Book Review: Uprooted

I did not want this book to end. And yet, it took me a month to finish it. Not because it was boring or uninteresting or I had better things to read.  I wanted it to last. Because this is a standalone, not a series, and there will be no more after.

I knew this going in, so I wanted to savor it. Like a plate of beef bourguignon straight from the hands of Julia Child. Because Naomi Novik is like the Julia Child of literature, creating a host of unequivocal pleasures and sensations in a single literary dish, enough to spoil my palate justthismuch into disappointment after tasting anything else.

Okay, I know I'm getting out of hand here people, but seriously - ALL TIME FAVORITES SHELF. Books don't just get added to it willy nilly. This is serious business.

I downloaded Uprooted onto my kindle the minute it was released, because bookshelf real estate is in high demand these days and the screening process is very unforgiving. About halfway through the second chapter, I knew I had to have the physical copy. I went to purchase it online, but somewhere along the way to amazon, I saw a different cover that made my eyes go starry and my mouth say, "Why didn't we get that cover?!?"

US Cover

UK Cover

It's sooooo pretty. So I ordered it from Amazon UK and didn't read another word until I held that little beauty in my own hands.

But even more beautiful than the cover is the story inside.

     The Dragon doesn't eat the girls he takes, no matter what

        stories they tell outside our valley.

So begins Agnieszka's story. The Dragon, we learn immediately after, is not a fire breathing reptile, but a man. A wizard. And one the villagers tolerate because he keeps the Wood away. Yes, the Wood is capitalized, because it is more than just a colony of thick trees sweeping down the mountainsides and into the valleys. It is a sentient being. An evil, malevolent one - intent on spreading ever further, eating whole villages alive in its path.

Agnieszka is chosen by the Dragon because she is capable of magic and he takes her back to his tower in the woods becoming her prickly, reluctant teacher. In this way, she becomes inextricably intertwined in the battle against the Wood, in the dangerous politics at the King's court, and in her budding relationship with the Dragon.

What I Loved:

Agnieszka: Our heroine is intuitive, resourceful, curious, naive, and stubborn. I loved how she came into her own throughout the novel. How she slowly conquered her fear and opened her heart. She experienced loss and failure, horror and sorrow, she was forced to make difficult decisions. Novik never made it easy on Nieszka. She developed in a beautiful arc over the entire course of the book.

Agnieszka and Kasia: Many times in books, especially in YA fiction, friendship is often swept aside in favor of developing romantic relationships. That was not the case in Uprooted where Nieszka's relationship with Kasia was just as important as her relationship with the dragon. Nieszka went where no man, not even the Dragon, would dare to go in order to rescue her friend from the Wood. And the experience changes both girls. I loved their friendship. It was one of my absolute favorite parts of the book.

Agnieszka and the Dragon: This romance was spot on for me. No insta-love present. Their path to romance was a subtle one, a slow, beautiful burn into eventual flames. Delayed gratification people. Anticipation. I loved every minute of it. And the amazing thing is, despite the wonderful way their romance progresses, it isn't even the center of this novel. Which I think made it all the  more special when it did happen.

The Wood: The Wood, in this novel, was akin to Jaws in the film adaptation. For the longest time, we don't really get to see it. We hear stories. We see the Wood at work, the evil spilling over and out in the form of various hideous things, but we don't actually see the heart of the Wood until the very end. So for the longest time, it is that fear of the unknown that sinks down into us. The Wood could be anywhere, in anyone, in anything. It reaches farther than we, or Nieszka, ever dare to imagine. I loved it's ominous presence and how it colored everything in Uprooted with complete uncertainty.

The Writing: Novik is among the best writers that I've ever read. Her descriptions of everything from the workings of magic to the machinations of battle to the subtlety of romance are vivid and creative. Word pictures: the only way I can think to describe what it felt like to read this book. I know, I know, that's what books essentially are, but this just takes it to a whole other level.

I also loved the pace of the story and how unpredictable it was. The whole time I was reading, I honestly could not have told you, with any amount of certainty, how this book would end. Many times I came to a place where I thought for certain that I was in the climax, only to discover that I had plenty more to go.

What I Disliked:

Standalone: Yep, that's pretty much it. This isn't a series. This is it. Once it's over, it's over. Honestly, Novik ends it in a way that doesn't leave anything open to a series. I don't feel like there are questions unanswered or subplots unresolved. It's meant to be a standalone. But that doesn't make me feel any better.


Uprooted is a story about friendship and love, past and future, destiny and magic. It is a classic good vs evil story, but utterly unique and wholeheartedly original. An instant favorite. This gets the highest stamp of approval I can possibly give.

Book Review: Flight Behavior

This was my first Barbara Kingsolver book, and I'm thinking I might should have started with a different one.

I was really torn throughout the book, finding myself either thoroughly engrossed, or hurriedly skimming over entire pages just to get to something interesting.

The premise is fascinating - a young Appalachian housewife discovers a colony of countless millions of monarch butterflies nesting in the forest above her house. They should be in Mexico, riding out the colder months in a decidedly milder climate, but instead, they have made their winter home in the mountains of Tennessee. 

Soon, Dellarobia Turnbow is an international figure and the butterflies themselves attract unwanted publicity and strife within her family - specifically between her and her husband Cub.

A scientist appears, Dr. Ovid Byron, an expert in the field of monarch butterflies wishing to study the phenomenon. Soon Dellarobia is caught up in the plight of the fragile creatures and begins to draw comparisons between them and her own life.

Kingsolver obviously had a very specific message she wished to convey through her book. Mostly climate change and its effect on our environment. Because of this, the text could get a bit preachy, and those were the parts that lost my interest. Most readers would have gotten the gist just seeing the story unfold through Dellarobia's eyes, but Kingsolver used her trusty scientist as an environmental bullhorn a few too many times and the results left me feeling talked down to and a bit patronized in many parts.

On the whole, Flight Behavior was earnest and full of heart, and I'll be revisiting Kingsolver in The Poisonwood Bible, of which I've heard countless wonderful things.

Book Review: At the Water's Edge

Water for Elephants, set in Scotland, with the Loch Ness Monster instead of Rosie the Elephant.

WARNING: - THERE BE SPOILERS AHEAD

 I will just go ahead and tell you right now, that this book opens with three of the most unlikeable characters you can possibly imagine. You might even ask yourself why you would want to continue reading several hundred pages about the vapid lives of a bunch of over privileged American brats. In response I say, just go with it. The story gets better. Maddie, her husband Ellis, and their best friend Hank, publicly disgrace themselves at a New Years Eve party in the upper crust of Philadelphia society and embarrass their family to the point of being cut off financially. In order to win back their money and their place among society's elite, they travel to Scotland, amid the horrors and dangers of WWII, in order to capture photographic evidence of the famed Loch Ness Monster. (There is a backstory that validates this move, I promise). Once in Scotland however, and ensconced in a local inn, Maddie's relationship with Ellis begins to change as colors start to fly true under the weight of an uncertain future.

  What I loved: Scotland: - I'm a total sucker for this country. Any story, set in any time period in Scotland, is guaranteed to catch my interest. Holding it is another thing for sure, but I felt like Gruen populated her story with interesting local characters and folklore.

  Local Characters: - Yes, the Scots outshone their American expats in leaps and bounds when it came to integrity, honor, and love. Meg and Angus were my favorites.

  Folklore and Superstition: - I'm a sucker for this stuff too. I don't mind a bit of the fantastical in my stories as long as it isn't too heavy handed, and I really thought this was handled very nicely.

 What I disliked: Romance: - Just to clarify - I do not dislike romance in general. I just wasn't too happy with the way it was handled in this book. I read another review that said the latter half of this book read like a paperback romance novel and I laughed out loud because Yes. That really is exactly how felt. The back half of the book was so very different from the first part. Only, I don't feel like the development was all there. It was like suddenly, halfway through the book, these characters realized they loved each other. There was hardly any buildup and I would have liked to have seen more development before hand.

  WWII: - I just didn't feel like the elements of war were blended into the story very well. There were periodic air raids and rationing of food and supplies, but we would go for lengths of time without any mention of war and then come to a chapter where a load of facts and info were suddenly dropped into our laps - how many Jews had been liberated at a concentration camp, how many German soldiers annihilated by the Russian army, refugees and fallen cities, and horrific tales of Nazi cruelty - usually gleaned from radio broadcasts or the local paper. I kind of think the war was touching the character's lives enough already and we could have done without the surplus information.

  Ellis & Maddie & Angus: 

**Here's where I gets really spoilery.**

 **Seriously...YOU"VE BEEN WARNED!!!**

 As I was reading along I thought to myself, hmmmmmm...where have I seen this before...

 The answer? Water for Elephants of course.

 Let me explain: Maddie is married to Ellis. Ellis turns out to be a lying coward of a douchebag who fakes being color blind so he can avoid the draft. (He also "won" her in a coin toss with his best friend) He is an alcoholic and an addict who steals Maddie's "nerve" pills and pops them hand over fist all day long, chasing them with whiskey or beer or whatever the hell else he can get his hands on. He has no clue how to please her sexually and is verbally and emotionally abusive as hell when he's wasted - which is pretty much all the time. He actually wants to have her lobotomized and tries to gaslight her by convincing her that she really is paranoid and crazy. In short - he's an abusive ass. Enter Angus - an ex war hero with a tragic past. He's lost his entire family. He now runs the inn that Maddie finds herself staying in, mostly by herself as Ellis and Hank leave for days on end for "research". Maddie finds out about Angus's past and the wife who drowned herself in Loch Ness when she got a telegram that told her Angus had died in battle (he hadn't, obviously, the information was incorrect). When Maddie goes down to the Loch herself thinking about suicide, a force of some kind comes out of the water and knocks her back. We get the indication that this force is Angus's dead wife, whose body was never found. She essentially becomes the mythical creature in Loch Ness for the sake of this story. Angus and Maddie begin to develop a relationship and when Ellis finds out, he tries to get Angus arrested for poaching - a sentence that would carry a two year prison term. When Maddie finds out what Ellis has done, she confronts him and he tries to kill her. Only Angus rescues her, and when the police go to arrest Ellis for attempted murder, he's found drowned at the edge of Loch Ness in less than two inches of water.

  So here we go: Water for Elephants/At Water's Edge

  Marlena/Maddie: Both are girls who were born into less than fortunate circumstances in different ways and were raised up to higher levels by dubious men in their lives who only want to use them for their own personal gain.

  August/Ellis: Both complete asses. Both very controlling of everything about their wives. Both abuse their wives verbally, mentally, emotionally and physically. Both attempt to have their rivals removed from the situation in dastardly ways. There is a lot at stake for both men to lose - and their wives are not at the top of that list. Both die at the end by the hands of something not human: August by Rosie the Elephant. Ellis by the "Loch Ness Monster".

  Jacob/Angus: Both men lose their entire families. Both men fall in love with the fragile women that are forbidden to them. Both men show these women more love than their own husbands ever have. Both men succeed and get the girls after their rivals have died.

  Rosie/Nessie: Both are the creatures around which our characters gather and develop. Both have incredible effects on revealing the true natures of certain characters and tearing one couple apart while bringing together another. Both are responsible for the deaths of the most reprehensible characters.

 So there you have it. At Water's Edge is essentially Water for Elephants, set in Scotland, with the Loch Ness Monster instead of Rosie the Elephant. Don't get me wrong. It was an enjoyable story, though I rate Water for Elephants much higher. I just hope that Sara Gruen will find herself a new formula before her readers catch on, because I do think she's a talented and creative writer and hopefully not a one trick pony.