Uprooted

Wow.

I've only read a little of Naomi Novik in the past, and what I read I'd enjoyed but hadn't really bonded with emotionally. This book took me a couple of pages to form an emotional bond and may very well be the best thing I've read this year.

Uprooted is a little bit Beauty and the Beast, a little bit Sorcerer's Apprentice, and a lot of unique, well-written story that stands on its own. It borrows from classics to form a very modern fairy tale, and it does so without ever reducing its characters to archetypes. Every character in this is complex, down to peasant #2's mother, and their actions have causes and consequences. Our staunch young hero (while perhaps suffering a mild case of MarySueness) is nevertheless relevant, likable, and interesting. Our antagonists, such as they are, have valid justifications for making the choices they make, even down to the Big Bad Wood. Even the blond, immaculate, would-be heroine of Kasia is granted a depth of emotion and a degree of agency sorely missing from princess archetype. We've seen a million adaptations of Prince Charming turned into a shallow, glory hound, but Novik takes it one step further by also making the thoroughly detestable Prince Marek into a grief-stricken son bent on rescuing his mother. Evil wizards? Sure! But are they “evil” because they live so long they cut themselves off from humanity on purpose, because that's the only way to function in court society without being accused of treason, because their first love was books instead of magic or people and they can't separate themselves from this idea. Novik investigates these characters to their roots (see what I did there?), and the reader is left wondering more about their fellow humans and what secrets they may hold.

The woods have long been used as a metaphor for society's cast-aside darkness, and the Wood in this story is both a source and reflection of the corruption even the most noble-hearted of characters find in themselves. Yet Novik approaches the symbol in a unique way which I can't delve too deeply into without entering Spoilerville. It is a scary villain, made scarier by how easy it is to identify with the visions it shows.

While the novel lovingly displays and twists the tropes of high fantasy, it is not bereft of comedy, romance, or horror, and this combination of genre is what I think is making it such a success right now. I get how Ellen DeGeneres could read this and go, “Movie Rights. Gimme. Now,” although I don't think film could ever match up to the images present in the prose. This is definitely an important novel in the fantasy timeline, and I highly encourage you, whoever you are, to pick this one up.