fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #5998 ]

[ SECRET POST #5998 ]

⌈ Secret Post #5998 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

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Fucking Naomi Novik's Uprooted. I have never in my life thrown a book out of disgust and disappointment until I read that book.

Oh man, I was thinking about buying that one. What is bad about it?

Okay to be fair, I have never seen anyone else have an issue with it, but I literally threw the book across the room and yelled. Spoilers and it was years ago so my memory is vague but -

This girl gets "chosen" by this Lord who protects the valley and she goes and learns magic from him or whatever and the whole thing is set up as her being young and naïve and he is hundreds of years old or something. At some point she falls in love with him but he pretty firmly turns her down, he even puts up magical barriers on his room (or floor of the tower?) and she just blatantly breaks through all his barriers and jumps into bed with him. It was incredibly creepy non-con but not at all portrayed that way. I guess they eventually fall in love and it's supposed to be all very romantic but it just really turned me off reading any of her stories.

I'm a different anon than the above, but oh my god I also hated whatever the fuck 'relationship' that book pulled out its ass.

I read it because a friend lended it to me and we were talking about how there was more romantic build-up between the protagonist and her friend (it hit so many tropes: essentially childhood friends, describing how beautiful she was so she'd probably be 'picked' instead, risks her life to save her from a near-death scenario, overall more intimate build up between them throughout the latter half, protag could have had a supernatural girlfriend but alas), that I had completely forgotten about that the end game couple was suppose to be between the protag and the asshole wizard until the last part of the book.
Which is a real shame because other than shit choices for 'romance', the story and world building of magic alongside it was actually interesting. It's one of those annoying books where you can actually see the glaring potential of the story; but got a shit version of it instead.

I'm the anon from down-thread, and I completely agree with this comment. Just NO romantic build-up whatsoever. I'm currently on book two of her Scholomance series and am having a similar gripe with it. I guess there's a bit of build up between the central pairing, but the narrative basically just tells you periodically that there's an attraction there, without ever really doing anything to make you feel it (IMO).

the protag and the asshole wizard

Okay, were you frustrated that the asshole wizard (Sarkan I think?) didn't have more character growth than he did? Or was that just me? Because I don't mind abrupt, insensitive asshole characters, but if they aren't meant to be antagonists, then I want them to develop over time, and I felt like he barely did at all.

the story and world building of magic alongside it was actually interesting.

Yes, this! I find her story and worldbuilding extremely interesting, pretty much right from the jump. I often have trouble getting engrossed by plot unless I love the characters, but Novik's stories always pull me in right away--even though I often end up being pretty meh on the characters and the dynamics between them. It's weird.

Oh definitely - I probably would have given a slight pass on the assholery if he had been a non-romantic student and teacher relationship with the protag; since it could have come off more as endearing grouch who sees a potential in his student - but instead all of a sudden they're just together??? Like that???? You're right there was just close to zero growth for the character and relationship.

Okay yeah I think this is the one thing that bugged me about the Scholomance books is the relationship... non-building?

Like, especially book three which I won't comment on because you're only on two, but the world building and the plot itself is amazing and if she had just left like... anything to do with relationships out of it (outside of friendships/alliances/whathaveyou) I wouldn't have noticed because they seem so weirdly... pastede on yay.

Are you me? Because everyone seems to love this book but me. I hate the romance dynamic with a passion. He’s an asshole who calls her stupid and ugly, and early at one point throws her on a bed to threaten her.

To the person who’s wondering about the book, if you want more spoilers, just go and read the top one star reviews on goodreads.

I've been begged to read this book by my best friend, who is more conscientious about everything you said is wrong with this book than the average "hates media for alleged problematic reason" person and who I trust would never recommend me anything like that (at least not without warning because we do like awful fucked up things on occasion but we always acknowledge them for what they are). I also trust Naomi Novik more than the average person to know what she's doing, so...

huh, I think I'll put this book higher on my list now.

Nooo I hate those kinds of plots. Taking this one off the list.

It’s nice that she found a way to upcycle that Sheila/Venger fic.

Personally I read Uprooted a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. I also do not perceive the sex scene in it as rape, at all. I wish I had a copy of the book on hand so I could reread that section to see if the other anon's comment makes me view it differently, but I doubt it. IIRC I got a minor whiff of dubcon from the scene at most, and I'm usually pretty sensitive to that stuff.

I will say, though, that personally I find the "romantic" plotlines in Novik's novels extremely unromantic. Jarringly unromantic, even. Every time something spicy happens between the characters, it always feels like it comes completely out of nowhere to me. I'll be reading along, thinking, "At some point I'm pretty sure the author is going to start developing an attraction and an increased intimacy between these two," and then suddenly they're just making out, and I'm like, "Wait, what? Did I miss like fifteen steps of relationship development here?"

However, I also tend to feel this way about a lot of her fanfic as well, so I think if you enjoy her fanfic and don't have any major gripes with it, then her original fiction has a good shot of working for you.

I actually remember quite enjoying her fic which is why I gave her books a try in the first place and haven't enjoyed any of them. A real disappointment. And I definitely agree with you on the romance.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ SECRET POST #5998 ]

Re: Based on #1

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Spoilers

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Please take ayrt with a grain of salt

And I meant AIRT, not AYRT

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DA