Uprooted

Uprooted (2016) is a fantasy novel inspired by Polish folktales and written by New York Times bestselling American fantasy author Naomi Novik, best known for her Temeraire series. In Uprooted, a young woman named Agnieszka lives in a small village in a valley on the edge of the deadly Wood. It is the task of the Dragon, a powerful wizard in a nearby tower, to keep the Wood at bay. As payment, the Dragon chooses one young woman every 10 years to become his servant. Everyone in Agnieszka’s village is certain that the Dragon will choose beautiful Kasia this year, but he chooses Agnieszka instead. As Agnieszka comes to terms with her strange new life, she discovers her own power just in time to help the Dragon in his battle against the Wood, thrusting them into a complex crisis that may destroy their entire kingdom. Uprooted combines elements of classic fairy tales with a coming-of-age story to explore themes of The Corrupting Influence of Power, Overcoming Envy to Reach Self-Acceptance, and What One Will Risk for Love.

This study guide refers to the 2016 paperback edition published by Del Rey.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, death, animal death, sexual content, illness, self-harm, death by suicide, and rape.

Plot Summary

Agnieszka lives in the town of Dvernik, which sits in a valley on the edge of the Wood, a dangerous place of monsters and magic. For 100 years the wizard called the Dragon has lived in the tower above the valley, guarding against the Wood. In return, every 10 years he takes a girl from the valley villages to be his servant. This year, everyone believes that the Dragon will take Kasia, Agnieszka’s closest friend. However, when the Dragon arrives at the harvest festival, he chooses Agnieszka instead.

Agnieszka cooks the Dragon’s meals and delivers them to his library. Soon, he begins casting spells on her, making her weak. She does not understand his motivations. One day, she takes a book from the library, but when she tries to read it, the Dragon furiously stops her without explaining why.

Weeks later, Prince Marek of Polnya (the kingdom that the valley is part of) arrives. He sneaks into Agnieszka’s room intending to assault her, but she knocks him unconscious. The Dragon uses magic to alter Marek’s memory of the event. He then explains that he is not using magic on her but teaching it to her: He sensed her magic and was duty-bound to teach her. He adds that Marek wants him to save Marek’s mother, Queen Hanna, who ran away with a prince from the neighboring kingdom of Rosya 20 years ago and disappeared into the Wood. The Dragon insists it is not possible.

Marek leaves and Agnieszka continues her magic lessons. Then a messenger arrives, asking the Dragon for help in a neighboring province. After he leaves, Dvernik also calls for aid. With the Dragon gone, Agnieszka takes potions from his laboratory and goes to help Dvernik in his place. Kasia tells her that the corruption of the Wood has spread to a farmer, Jerzy, and his cattle. Agnieszka uses a fire-heart potion to kill the cattle. She tries to heal Jerzy, but the Wood infection is too strong. Suddenly, wolves from the Wood attack her. The Dragon arrives and saves her, but a wolf’s claws infect him.

Agnieszka takes the Dragon to the tower and heals him using a spell she found in an old journal in his library. The journal belonged to a witch called Old Jaga, but it has never worked for him, and he believed it to be nonsense. For weeks, they continue the magic lessons.

Later, Kasia’s mother arrives at the tower. Monsters from the Wood called walkers have taken Kasia. Agnieszka ignores the Dragon’s warnings and goes into the Wood to save her friend. She finds Kasia bound to a heart-tree, the primary source of the Wood’s power. Using a spell from Jaga’s journal, she frees Kasia and takes her to the Tower, where the Dragon purges a minor infection from Agnieszka. However, the same method will not work on Kasia, who is too corrupted to save. The Dragon locks her in an ancient king’s tomb beneath the tower and allows Agnieszka to research healing methods. She asks to try the spellbook she accidentally read months before that made the Dragon so angry. The spellbook, Luthe’s Summoning, is a powerful truth spell.

The Dragon and Agnieszka cast Luthe’s Summoning together. The spell reveals things as they truly are, including the deep corruption within Kasia and the way to save her. They purge Kasia, though her skin has become hard and impenetrable. Following this success, Agnieszka and the Dragon experiment with more magic, growing closer and kissing once.

Then Prince Marek arrives with soldiers and another wizard, the Falcon. Marek demands that the Dragon go with him to the Wood to save his mother. The group travels into the Wood, where they save the queen from an enormous heart-tree. The Queen, though unharmed, is unresponsive. Marek takes her and Kasia to Polnya’s capital city, Kralia, as they must stand trial for corruption. If they cannot convince the king they are clean, they will be executed. Agnieszka accompanies them.

In Kralia, Agnieszka undergoes a test to become an officially recognized witch, though the court wizards dismiss her. One wizard, Alosha, is a powerful woman who makes magical weapons. Meanwhile, the king delays the corruption trial. For political reasons, he wants to wait for the public to lose interest so that he can quietly execute the prisoners. Marek is determined to keep his mother alive and forces the king’s hand. Agnieszka helps him prove that the queen and Kasia are clean. Then the queen speaks for the first time, accusing their rival kingdom, Rosya, of feeding her to the Wood intentionally.

The kingdom prepares to attack Rosya. Agnieszka fears something is wrong, but her warning comes too late; a monster from a corrupted book kills the king. Then Marek’s brother, Crown Prince Sigmund, dies in a Rosyan trap, and soldiers try to murder his children as well. Agnieszka fears that the Wood may still be in control of the queen. She takes the children and Kasia back to the tower.

Agnieszka and the Dragon reconnect as Marek lays siege to the tower. They fight against Marek, the Falcon, and their men. Agnieszka sees the queen among them and knows for certain that she is infected. Marek’s forces break through, and Agnieszka and her allies retreat to the king’s tomb beneath the tower, where she and the Dragon perform Luthe’s Summoning. It reveals that the queen’s body is an empty husk controlled by the Wood-queen, the power of the Wood. Centuries ago, humans tried to kill the Wood-queen, who grew the Wood to exact her vengeance. The Wood-queen kills Marek before abandoning Queen Hanna’s body and escaping to the Wood.

Kasia, the Falcon, and the soldiers take Sigmund’s children to their grandparents while Agnieszka and the Dragon travel into the Wood to defeat the Wood-queen. They find a grove of heart-trees and the Wood-queen’s body. In the ensuing fight, Agnieszka learns that the Wood-queen belonged to a group of tree-people who tried to ally with humans and were betrayed. To escape death, the tree-people turned themselves into the heart-trees. The Wood-queen killed the humans, planting trees in their bodies and corrupting the Wood with misery and hatred. When she tried to become a tree as well, she found she had forgotten how to grow. Agnieszka helps her become a heart-tree, ending her evil.

Afterward, the Dragon leaves to help rebuild Kralia, while Kasia becomes the new king’s captain of the guard. Agnieszka stays in the valley, making peace with the walkers and cleansing the Wood. Months later, the Dragon returns to the tower to stay.