#4 smudges

[smudgegirls]

Review of Uprooted by Naomi Novik

BOOK REVIEW: Every ten years, a wizard named Dragon selects a seventeen-year-old girl as payment for providing protection for the villages against the Wood. Agnieszka is an unlikely choice. In this retelling of Beauty and the Beast, she goes to live with the Dragon who uncovers her gift of magic. Together, they embark on a dangerous journey to conquer the Wood once and for all, rescuing their Queen it has held for 20 years and relinquishing its evil power devouring their land.

The opening of Uprooted is spell-binding. Although the Dragon is ominous, the girls he takes come back changed, unable to stay in their small villages and leaving home to go to universities and large cities.  This setup creates contradictory desires for the reader: (1) we don’t want Agnieszka chosen because we fear for her, and (2) we want her chosen because it could give her the opportunity to become more educated and enlightened, rather than staying in her village and marrying young.

Once Agnieszka goes to live with the Dragon, we expect some of the Dragon’s more honorable characteristics to come to the surface. Unfortunately, the harshness of his words and attitudes toward Agnieszka become too much to forgive. The attraction is odd, and unbelievable. The only redeeming moments are when they perform magic together. It is intimate and powerful. Outside of these scenes, the relationship is cold. And when *spoiler alert* they finally become physically intimate, it feels dirty and unhealthy, based on a moment of lust by two people on different playing fields.  

Another issue involved the Wood Queen. Her backstory is piled in during a very ethereal, intangible mess of an ending, giving us information that should have come earlier to create reader investment. The final battle also feels tediously redundant. This ending fails so immensely, I skimmed the last forty pages (known as the climax).

There are things to love and things to hate. Here’s another review to check out: http://www.tor.com/2015/06/10/book-reviews-naomi-novik-uprooted/

If you’ve read Uprooted, we’d love to hear what you think.

Photo of Uprooted by: Keep Holding On For Books

[smudgegirls]

Hounds of Autumn by Heather Blackwood

Chloe Sullivan embarks on a trip with her husband, Ambrose, to visit his estranged family in the moors of 1890 England, more excited about finally meeting her mechanical-inventing mentor than dealing with eccentric in-laws. On her way to the family estate, Chloe and Ambrose stumble across her mentor—or rather, her mentor’s dead body. While everyone jumps to accuse the dead’s mechanical hound of murder, Chloe is convinced that all the secrets kept within the family mansion have produced a motive from a human killer. As Chloe puts herself in danger to investigate her friend’s death, she is unaware that there are others in more danger, resulting in a rising death count. A steampunk Murder, She Wrote, Hounds of Autumn will keep you guessing who the killer is up until the bittersweet end.

Self-published author Heather Blackwood writes an intriguing tale where the Victorian steampunk elements don’t overwhelm the story or characters. Most notable in the story is the creation of an intelligent, feminist protagonist in a platonic but respectful marriage that has an endearing authenticity. This novel is a clean read for young adults and up, however, the slightly slower pace may not appeal to some teen readers or those who enjoy more elaborate world building. But for me, Hounds of Autumn was a fun romp that successfully balanced historical and fantastical elements.