Of course there are other emotions at play here, too. And yet, despite that anger driving many of these characters and the plot, Novik manages to overlay that anger with a sense of beauty and hopefulness hope through the fierce determination of her character Agnieskza. When Agnieszka interacts with people from her village in the middle-to-latter portion of the novel, they emanate an air of anger bordering on hatred to her. The other wizards introduced later in the novel seem to feel anger towards each other, while the Dragon condescends to interact with them with a great deal of spite. The prince, Marek, who visits the Dragon and later implores Agnieszka and the Dragon for their help, shows disdain and anger towards the Dragon. Anger seems to be the only emotion, or a version of it such as disdain, the Dragon exhibits for much of the narrative.

One thing that struck me throughout the novel is a pervading sense of anger it fueled much of the character interaction and pulled much of the plot along.

On the other hand, the Dragon was a man who showed little patience for Agnieska through many of their interactions, but who wielded great power. Novik did a marvelous job of building empathy and sympathy for her through nearly every twist and turn of the plot. Superficially, that could make for an annoying character, but I was enthralled with Nishka and her plight. She constantly challenges his authority, seeks alternate methods for practicing the magical arts and generally acts in a defiant manner. Much to her surprise (but not to any genre reader, I suppose especially because the tale is told through Agnieszka’s first person voice) Agnieszka is chosen and brought to the wizard’s tower.Īgnieszka is not the most agreeable of the Dragon’s students. Nieshka thinks her best friend Kasia will be chosen by the Dragon as the time approaches for his ten-year visit. Very little is known about what occurs between the two during that time save the woman leaves the tower a practitioner of magic herself and seemingly is no longer connected to her home-village. Every decade or so, the Dragon comes down from his tower and hand-picks a young girl from the village to come live with him for a decade.

Agnieszka lives in a small village protected by the wizard known as the Dragon.

Uprooted novik