"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 onlyas 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"-- - (Baker & Taylor)

A tale inspired by the "Beauty and the Beast" story follows the experiences of Agnieszka, who becomes the latest girl chosen to serve an immortal wizard who protects their village from the malevolent forces of a nearby forest. - (Baker & Taylor)

Naomi Novik, author of the New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed Temeraire novels, introduces a bold new world rooted in folk stories and legends, as elemental as a Grimm fairy tale.

“Every so often you come upon a story that seems like a lost tale of Grimm newly come to light.Uprooted is such a novel. Its narrative spell is confidently wrought and sympathetically cast. I might even call it bewitching.”—Gregory Maguire, bestselling author ofWicked and Egg & Spoon

“Our Dragon doesn’t eat the girls he takes, no matter what stories they tell outside our valley. We hear them sometimes, from travelers passing through. They talk as though we were doing human sacrifice, and he were a real dragon. Of course that’s not true: he may be a wizard and immortal, but he’s still a man, and our fathers would band together and kill him if he wanted to eat one of us every ten years. He protects us against the Wood, and we’re grateful, but not that grateful.”

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.

Praise for Uprooted

“Uprooted has leapt forward to claim the title of Best Book I’ve Read Yet This Year. . . . Moving, heartbreaking, and thoroughly satisfying,Uprooted is the fantasy novel I feel I’ve been waiting a lifetime for. Clear your schedule before picking it up, because you won’t want to put it down.”—NPR

“A very enjoyable fantasy with the air of a modern classic . . . Naomi Novik skillfully takes the fairy-tale-turned-bildungsroman structure of her premise . . . and builds enough flesh on those bones to make a very different animal. . . . The vivid characters around her also echo their fairy-tale forebears, but are grounded in real-world ambivalence that makes this book feel quietly mature, its world lived-in.”—The New York Times Book Review

“Novik here delivers a tale that is funny and fast-paced, laced with hair-raising battle scenes and conspiracies; it also touches on deeper ecological concerns we grapple with today.”—The Washington Post

“Novik takes us on a surprise-filled journey. . . . The resulting warmth and intimacy provide a nicely nurturing environment for her heroine’s unusual adventures.”—The Seattle Times

“Breathtaking . . . [Novik] weaves a tale that is both elegantly grand and earthily humble, familiar as a Grimm fairy tale yet fresh, original, and totally irresistible. This will be a must-read for fantasy fans for years to come.”—Pubilshers Weekly(starred review)

“An original and fully realized fantastical place guaranteed to enthrall her longtime fans and attract new readers.”—Library Journal (starred review) - (Random House, Inc.)

Naomi Novik is the acclaimed author of His Majesty’s Dragon, Throne of Jade, Black Powder War, Empire of Ivory,Victory of Eagles, Tongues of Serpents, Crucible of Gold, and Blood of Tyrants, the first eight volumes of the Temeraire series. She has been nominated for the Hugo Award and has won the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer, as well as the Locus Award for Best New Writer and the Compton Crook Award for Best First Novel. She is also the author of the graphic novelWill Supervillains Be on the Final?

Fascinated with both history and legends, Novik is a first-generation American raised on Polish fairy tales and stories of Baba Yaga. Her own adventures include pillaging degrees in English literature and computer science from various ivory towers, designing computer games, and helping to build the Archive of Our Own for fanfiction and other fanworks. Novik is a co-founder of the Organization for Transformative Works.

She lives in New York City with her husband, Charles Ardai, the founder of Hard Case Crime, and their daughter, Evidence, surrounded by an excessive number of purring computers. - (Random House, Inc.)

Booklist Reviews

Novik (Blood of Tyrants, 2013) swaps the fire-breathing dragons of her Temeraire series for a dragon of another sort in her newest fantasy. In the village of Dvernik, the powerful wizard Sarkan ("the Dragon") keeps the nearby Wood's dark forces at bay. As payment, he takes a 17-year-old village girl to be his servant every 10 years, which is how dirt-smudged Agnieszka ends up locked in his tower. Though she loses her freedom, she also discovers she is a witch. Her magic lessons with Sarkan are soon interrupted as the Wood begins encroaching on villages, spreading illness and death. Throwing caution to the wind, Agnieszka takes on its horrors, aided by Sarkan, but are they strong enough to defeat such deeply rooted corruption? Novik's atmospheric tale blends folklore, magic, danger, and a pinch of romance into an enthralling narrative; however, it is the headstrong Agnieszka who drives the story. Readers will not falter in their devotion to this inspiring, yet down-to-earth heroine as she takes enormous risks and carves her own place in the world. Copyright 2014 Booklist Reviews.

BookPage Reviews

Waging a magical war

With the blockbuster success of the Lord of the Rings series, the Wheel of Time saga and, most recently, George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, the fantasy genre has been steadily gaining in popularity for nearly a century. Are you ready to dive into a world of magic and adventure, but a bit hesitant to pick up an 800-page doorstopper with a hefty roster of characters? Then Naomi Novik, author of the best-selling Temeraire series, has the perfect summer fantasy for you in the spellbinding Uprooted. 

Agnieszka is a bullheaded and accident-prone 17-year-old from a sleepy, vaguely Eastern European village that lies in the shadow of the mysterious and malevolent Wood. Grotesque creatures and horrors of all kinds creep from its depths to terrorize the villagers. Their sole protector is the Dragon—the realm's most powerful sorcerer, who keeps the enchanted Wood at bay. All the Dragon asks in return is a harvest of sorts—a village girl to live in his tower for 10 years at a time. Usually, he chooses the most exceptional girl, but shockingly it is Agnieszka who draws the Dragon's attention. 

Although at first desperate to escape the gruff wizard, Agnieszka discovers a latent gift for spell casting, and when her improvised, earthy style of magic sparks the Dragon's curiosity, an ember of friendship (or maybe something more?) begins to glow. Soon the two are sent on a deadly journey into the heart of the Wood itself in order to make their final stand. 

With a foothold firmly in the fairy-tale tradition, Novik spins an enthralling story of the classic good-versus-evil variety, where magic, monsters and romance abound. Truly beautiful prose, inventive twists and a capable, tenacious heroine make this charmingly accessible fantasy shine.

This article was originally published in the June 2015 issue of BookPage. Download the entire issue for the Kindle or Nook.

Library Journal Reviews

Agnieszka has no plans to leave her village on the edge of the forest until she is unexpectedly chosen to serve the local wizard, a mysterious man known as the Dragon. Agnieszka's exploration of her new life coincides with an attack from the deadly sentient forest, a kissing queen, and a prince on a quest. Novik's newest is a departure from her previous military influenced Napoleonic dragon fantasies (most recently seen in Blood of Tyrants), so much so that readers can't be blamed for thinking it's a completely different writer. Drawing on her Polish heritage and fairy-tale tropes, the author has penned an original and fully realized fantastical place guaranteed to enthrall her longtime fans and attract new readers. VERDICT This exceptional fantasy for adult and teen readers should appeal to those who love fairy tale-influenced stories such as Robin McKinley's Spindle's End. [Five-city tour; library marketing.]—Jessica Moyer, Sch. of Information Studies, Univ. of Wisconsin, Milwaukee

Publishers Weekly Reviews

In this breathtaking departure from her Temeraire alternate history series, Novik drops readers into an instantly immersive Polish fairy tale. The so-called Dragon is actually a man—a wizard who takes young women from a rural village as payment for protecting the region from the poisonous influence of the evil Wood. When Agnieszka is chosen to serve the Dragon for 10 years, she finds within herself a rare and incredible talent for magic. She is disaster prone and homesick, but nonetheless steps up to the role of heroine when the situation demands it. Soon, Agnieszka's fabulous journey expands to encompass a deadly quest, the terrible glamor of a royal court, a true and unbreakable friendship, and just a touch of romance. Novik's use of language is supremely skillful as she weaves a tale that is both elegantly grand and earthily humble, familiar as a Grimm fairy tale yet fresh, original, and totally irresistible. This will be a must-read for fantasy fans for years to come. (July)