Uprooted by Naomi Novik

 

Every ten years he comes.  The Dragon is a wizard who lives near the village, there to hold back the Wood.  The Wood that is home to strange and frightening things like Walkers that are seven feet tall and will steal children.  Anyone caught overnight in the Wood emerges changed forever, corrupted into something different and deadly.  So the village allows the Dragon to choose a servant girl every ten years, a girl that will never come home to the village after her decade of servitude.

Everyone is sure that this year Kasia will be the Dragon's choice.  She is smart, kind and beautiful.  But instead he chooses her best friend, Agnieszka when he senses that she has magic in her.  Agnieszka and everyone else is shocked.  She was the last one anyone would have suspected would be chosen.  She is messy and scatterbrained but she is his choice.

At first the Dragon is not sure if he made the right choice.  Agnieszka burns his meals, goes around in peasant clothes instead of the fine wardrobe he provides and worse, doesn't seem to be able to do the simplest spells.  Worse, she dares to speak her mind and talk back to him.  But slowly, Agnieszka starts to find her own magic, a more organic magic that can't always be found in books but must be sensed. 

When Kasia's mother comes to the tower with the news that the Walkers have taken Kasia, Agnieszka begs the Dragon to help her rescue her.  He doesn't believe it is possible but agrees and they manage to retrieve Kasia from the heart tree she has been captured in.  But it has left its mark on her and the rule is to kill anyone with a Wood mark.  But Agnieszka spends weeks fighting the Wood's corruption and she and the Dragon finally managed to free Kasia of the corruption.

That brings more trouble.  Twenty years ago the Queen was captured  Now the Prince and court want the Dragon to free her.  Once he and Agnieszka do that, it's expected that they remove the corruption.  Can that be done?  

This was my first book by Naomi Novik and I've discovered another great fantasy writer.  This is a retelling of Polish fairy tales and is at times romantic and others so tense the reader will grit their teeth while reading.  It won a Nebula Award and was a Hugo Award finalist.  Agnieszka is a spunky girl who discovers her strength and the fact that she can have the things she has dreamed of.  This book is recommended for fantasy readers.