I was blown away by this book! Novik draws the reader in with a fantastic plot, a chilling evil, and some excellent character development. Uprooted started off a little slow for me (I really don't care for such inept and incompetent characters as Agnieszka was at the beginning), but quickly gained momentum after about the first 10%. I love that both Agnieszka and the Dragon grow and develop as characters, but even with secondary characters, there's more than meets the eye. 
 The Wood was such a unique and frightening evil! The magic in the story was pretty well developed, as well. I liked that Agnieszka had to find her own way to do it - the Dragon's more academic style didn't suit her, and that was just one more way that Novik made these characters so different, but complementary to one another. 
 This book made me want to read Novik's Temeraire series. I wish this one could be developed into a series as well, but it's my understanding that this will remain a standalone. 
 Digital ARC from NetGalley