Reviews: "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik+"The Wrath and the Dawn" (The Wrath and the Dawn, #1) by Renee Ahdieh

Uprooted by Naomi Novik
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

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

“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.

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REVIEW

When I first saw this book on GoodReads, I wondered why everyone wrote reviews for a MG. I am so, so sorry for being mistaken! After reading the summary I made sure to get a copy.

What this book reminded me of?

Howl's Moving Castle!

Beauty and the Beast

And rich and old Polish folklore! Many words, especially the spells are written like this and often there are mentioned myths and legends of Medieval Europe along with Fae mythology and also Greek. I liked how Agnieszka tried to fight her fear for Dragon with her own strange magic and also Dragon wasn't your usual sexy character of YA. He is grumpy, get easy angry but he is strong and protective, even shy.

Also, this book was optioned for film by Warner Bros. so I am sure that great work will be done on this book! I hope to read more of the same author since she clearly know how to captivate her readers on high Fantasy!

About the author:

An avid reader of fantasy literature since age six, when she first made her way through The Lord of the Rings, Naomi Novik is also a history buff with a particular interest in the Napoleonic era and a fondness for the work of Patrick O’Brian and Jane Austen. She studied English literature at Brown University, and did graduate work in computer science at Columbia University before leaving to participate in the design and development of the computer game Neverwinter Nights: Shadow of Undrentide. Over the course of a brief winter sojourn spent working on the game in Edmonton, Canada (accompanied by a truly alarming coat that now lives brooding in the depths of her closet), she realized she preferred writing to programming, and on returning to New York, decided to try her hand at novels.

Naomi lives in New York City with her husband and six computers. Her website is at naominovik.com

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

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REVIEW

I mostly love reading books related to "Arabian Nights". Renee didn't disappoint me with her story! It has everything: words in Arabic, sensual descriptions of a world in the desert, magic and a great atmosphere where hatred and love bloom.

Shahrzad decides to marry the all-scary boy king who every dawn kills his wives and no one knows why. Determined to destroy him for killing her friend she doesn't expect to gorw feelings for him and later discover his secrets.

I am not sure if this book reminded me the tale of "BlueBeard" or Beauty and the Beast. Myabe something in between. Mostly I enjoyed the world building while the romance came a little late to the plot. Also I liked Dspina very much! A Greek slave in the arabian court? Yes, she had the sassy mouth and the behavior you can find in every Greekk girl! ;P

Much to my dismay, the book ended in yet another almost cliffhanger, leaving me with many questions and worries about the future of Chorasan as also if the main characters will find each other again. I recommend this book to everyone!