The Procrastinators Book Club discussion

This is the group thread for Uprooted!

This thread is open for discussion beginning July 1st! Please keep in mind that spoilers are allowed (mark as a spoiler) in this thread but only up to the group's current reading place. Do not spoil the book if you've read further than the group. Any extra days can be used to catch up if needed!

The Group Read Discussion schedule is as follows:

Week of 4/20
July 1: Chapters 1-3
July 2: Chapters 4-6
July 3: Chapters 7-9
July 4: Chapters 10-12


Week of 7/5
July 5: Chapter 13-15
July 6: Chapters 16-18
July 7: Chapters 19-21
July 8: Chapters 22-24
July 9: Chapters 25-27
July 10: Chapters 28-30
July 11: Chapters 31-32


You can read the group book at any time during the month and at your own pace. This is the pace the group will be using, but if you read ahead or will be giving spoilers, please mark them (click the "some html is ok button"). If you have any question a mod will help you.

A forewarning, if you have never read a Naomi Novik book, she has descriptive writing, so you might find yourself reading at a slower pace than you typically read at or listen to.

Yay! I'm in! But starting a bit later this month.

Me too! Thank you for the warning @Aless! Because I'm reading some hefty books right now and I don't wanna add to it just yet 😅

Oh, good. I thought ppl would start it and I would be "late". I'm going to start it in the second half of the month.

No problem! It's great writing but it is a lot to process.

I'm hoping to get to this later too.

I'm going to start on 16th

I started listening to the book on Friday, but I forgot to comment 😅
Today I continued listening to it because I couldn't stop thinking what's going to happen next. I finished chapter 10, and I have to say I like it :D Thanks Aless for pointing that out it's super descriptive, so I had time to prepare myself. Sometimes I like the descriptive ones, sometimes it's a no; this goes to the like pile. Even though it's very wordy it goes by fast because it's well written.

I'm finally joining in too! It took me a while to get here but at least I'm here 😅 It's definitely wordy! But I really enjoy the fairytale feel of it so I don't really care that it is.

Also, I didn't think about the summary so much when I gave it a brief glance so I'm so behind on this: is this a Beauty and the Beast retelling of sorts???? I feel so dumb rn 😅

Oh, maybe it is a B&B retelling. I remember seeing something about Rumpelstiltskin, but that could be her other story Spinning Silver. If it's a B&B retelling I have to say, to my surprise, that I'm liking it.

Chapter 12
I don't think it's a B&B retelling but maybe it has some vibes.
I enjoy the book so much! It's going to be one more 5-star read.
(view spoiler)[
I love how Naomi writes. Her writing style is not just good, but very unique. The atmosphere she creates is almost touchable.
And yes, this culture reminds me so much of my own culture (I'm originally from Russia). Though it's not particularly Russian but a mixture of slavic cultures.
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Chapter 15
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Those beautiful and perfect characters (like MC friend) always turn out to be not so perfect and really jealous. I love that here even she was jealous, she also was ashamed of it and they remained friends.
And I'm a bit confused about prince. Can't get his character. Sometimes he seemed so careless but sometimes so reasonable and passionate.
(hide spoiler)]

I finished chapter 17

I like the writing style too :D And I love Slavic culture being used. It reminds me a bit of The Bear and the Nightingale, although that had a stronger use of Slavic mythology, here it's more about magic.

I've been working at this book slowly but since we're in the home stretch of summer days I've been trying to speed up and I think I'm at a good place now to finally join the discussion! I've really been enjoying this book so far. I haven't come across many books that feel like a fairy tale without being a retelling. I feel like this would make a really pretty (non-Disney) animated film!

I've made it through chapter 16. Here are my thoughts!

(view spoiler)[
I really dislike the prince and The Falcon. I'm so glad he's the second son because I would not want someone that uncaring to be running my country. I could've never liked his character after he tried to rape Agnieszka but I was at least hoping to see him grow a bit since he saved her life. Guess not 🤷‍♀️

I'm sad she's leaving the valley. I liked her dynamic with the Dragon and don't want them separated. As much as I'm interested in seeing more of the book's world, I hope this next part doesn't last too long. I want her to quickly save Kasia and get back to the valley before the Wood does something terrible.

I wonder what name she'll be given?
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chapter 19 (view spoiler)[Oh, what a shame. It would've been nice if she did find a semi-friend. (hide spoiler)]

I finished it and it's beautiful. I thought because it's descriptive it'll take me more time to finish it, however I would end up enchanted by the story every time I picked it up that the pages went by faster.

It says it's a YA book, but it felt more serious to be a YA (view spoiler)[also there's that sex scene that also doesn't tell me "you are reading a YA" (hide spoiler)] I loved Novik's writing and I'm looking forward to reading Spinning Silver.

Another thing I loved but I don't know if I should put under the spoiler tag.. but will do. (view spoiler)[I like how there was no romance in it, at least not the one that's all in your face. And to be honest, I was a bit disappointed there was no more romance because by this point that's what I mostly get with other books. I was also a little disappointed when the Dragon left her, I mean I know he went to save the capital but *shrugs* I'm glad it ended the way it ended. (hide spoiler)]

Made it through chapter 26. Hopefully with six chapters left I can finish it up tomorrow.

(view spoiler)[
I feel like so much has happened these past ten chapters 😮 I'm surprised with how much I enjoyed reading about Agnieszka navigating the politics of the court. I thought I would miss her time with Sarkan but I barely thought of him with all the new people she was meeting.

The Wood has turned out to be quite the evil genius. It sucks that the Queen is actually evil and I feel bad for all the members of the royal family who have died. Those two kids better survive or I'll bawl my eyes out!

I can't believe Marek is the only one left to assume the throne. I don't want him to be king! He only cares about himself and makes so many false promises. I really hope he pays for the all the trouble he's caused.

I'm not exactly sure what to expect next. I don't want to be too hopeful about anything cause I have a feeling this book might end on a sad or bittersweet note with how everything's been going so far. I'm both eager and reluctant to finish the story lol
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Yeah, the court was interesting. I felt bad for Agnieszka when she discovered Alicja was just being a jerk to her.

The wood is pretty fascinating, wait till you see the rest.

Marek -.-

Yeah, the court was interesting. I felt bad for Agnieszka when she discovered Alicja was just being a jerk to her.

The wood is pretty fascinating, wait till you see the rest.

Marek -.-

I'm finally making some progress! I'm so behind lol. But this is so soothing! I've only made it to chapter 9 so far and not much has happened really. Just that The Dragon is a grumpy man and I chuckle at how Agnieszka manages his grumpiness. Also I'm not sure if anyone here watches Stranger Things but that thing that happened to Kasia, vaguely reminded me of the upside down haha

Finished the book this week.
I loved the book, but the first part was much more better. The second part was a bit messy and disappointed me a little.
I thought it's going to be a 5-star read, but actually it's only 4 :(
I enjoyed the writing style and the characters, the idea is also great.
(view spoiler)[
The final part about trees actually not being bad, but just protecting themselves was a pretty unexpected twist and I loved it. Though the queen part was predictable.
I also loved how Agnieszka met all the difficulties she was into. So easy (looked like easy, I do know that it was hard for her to deal with being chosen by Dragon and not being perfect, dealing with the court was even harder) in her own clumsy but charming way. It was so fascinating!
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I've finished! Here's my review!

My Review

I agree Elena. I was enjoying the first part a lot but the last six/seven chapters dragged for me. I mentioned in my review that it felt like a never-ending boss battle 😂

(view spoiler)[
I was surprised by the ending. I was not expecting the tree people. I kind of wish we would've learned about them earlier. I wanted to know more about them then the little glimpse we got.

Despite how slow the ending was I'm glad with how everything wrapped up. I'm happy that Agnieszka is doing her own thing and living her best life. I'm glad Sarkan came back to be with her though. I was worried we'd get no resolution with them.

I wouldn't mind a sequel following someone else in the story, like the crown prince after he grows up or Kasia. What do you guys think?
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mina wrote: "chapter 19 [spoilers removed]

I finished it and it's beautiful. I thought because it's descriptive it'll take me more time to finish it, however I would end up enchanted by the story every time I ..."

Yeah, I don't get why people on here say it's YA when it's not. Naomi Novik herself has said it wasn't written as a YA book. I've worked at a bookstore for the last four years and it's never been shelved in the YA department. This is something that's a serious issue for female writers who write fantasy. For some reason their books always get mislabeled as YA when they're not.

I'm not sure if any of you have read A Darker Shade of Magic, but that book has the same problem. It's not YA yet people claim it is. Even though the author writes her YA books under Victoria Schwab and her adult books under V.E. Schwab. So annoying 🙄

Sorry for the mini rant. This is just a topic I'm really passionate about lol. If you're interested in learning more here's a short article that gets to the point https://bookriot.com/sexist-problem-i...

@Raquel @mina I also don't get why people say that it's YA (some scenes are definitely not a YA). But I guess maybe because of the MC's age?

@Raquel I loved your review! May I add you to my friendlist?
(view spoiler)[
I'm also glad that Dragon came back to Agnieszka in the end. That thing made my day.
I'd like a sequel about Agnieszka and Sarkan story after they met, maybe more advantures?
I'd also love to read more about new crown prince and his sister.
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@Elena Thank you and definitely! Got you added 😊

I've read A Darker shade of Magic and noup, definitely not YA and it even doesn't give that vibe. But like Elena said, it's probably because of the protagonist's age.

Raquel I read you review, great job 😁 Now I feel a little bad I didn't write a review with more of.. anything basically because I just said I liked it and what I liked exactly and The End.

Also, you said you would want to read more fairy tale like books and I have one, well a series, to recommend because I LOVED it. The Bear and the Nightingale. I would recommend reading it in a colder weather because the story is set in Russia in winter. BUT I have to warn you, it is slow in the beginning, I saw people complaining about that and I was mentally preparing myself for that when I read it, but I ended up really enjoying that part even if it was slow.

Thanks mina 😊 I've had The Bear and the Nightingale on my to-read list for a while but have completely forgotten about it. I'll have to bump it up my list! I'll try giving it a read during the winter like you suggested. I'd like to get the vibe of the book.

@Raquel great! Thanks :)

@mina Oh! I've also read The Bear and the Nightingale (actually I read it in summer, I dk why but I tend to read books with winter settings in summer). And have the next 2 books in the series (ready to go, just not much time to start :D).

@Elena I read the first two books last January and I could better imagine the cold weather because that's what I had here too. However, I waited too long to read the third book and I think I read it in summer and it felt a bit off for me 😂 But I still loved the book.