A short, lazy review that you shouldn’t read because you should be reading UPROOTED instead.

Uprooted was so good and I bought it immediately after returning my copy from the library. Everything about this book worked like gangbusters for me: the arc of the protagonist, the slow revelations behind the enigmatic “Dragon” character, the FEMALE FRIENDSHIP (squee!), the adventure, the homage to Slavic fairy tales and horror, the magic — everything!

Here’s the teaser from Goodreads because I’m lazy: “Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.”

Novik is just a star here — her language is so evocative, from the way that the Wood becomes a living, truly frightening entity, to the soulfulness of Agnieszka’s magic and how it flows intuitively out of her. And while the fantasy elements are on point, they are grounded in humanity: Agnieszka’s loyalty to her friend and village are the emotional core for her developing magic, and their relationship is probed in multiple ways. These friends endure a trial that shows them the worst of each other and the ugliness that underlies even the most loving relationships, and they emerge stronger from the revelations.

Seriously, I have nothing to say but cliched platitudes pointing to an unabashed love for this book, so stop reading my dumb review and go read Uprooted.