Agnieszka and her peers have grown up with the possibility that they'll be taken by the Dragon, lord of their lands and master wizard, to serve him in his castle for ten years. Agnieszka is sure that her best friend, Kasia, will be the one taken, so when Agnieszka is taken instead, she is shocked and unprepared. But she's even less prepared for the actual reason the Dragon takes girls every ten years, or the truth behind the Wood, which has threatened her people for generations. 
 This is a lovely book, deeply rooted (heh) in folk tales, with just enough Eastern European flavor to keep it from being predictable. While not much more complex than a traditional folk tale, it has enough going on that it never gets boring. It's also one of the few books I've read in recent memory that beats the protagonists down to nearly hopeless odds before allowing them their victory; I honestly can't think of a book I've read recently that doesn't allow the reader at least some glimmer of hope right up to the end. Novik clearly has a grasp on Tolkien's ideas of dyscatastrophe and eucatastrophe, and it makes for an engaging story. 
 The only real issue I had with it was a writing style quirk; Novik overuses the "was/were ____ing" construction to the point where it's sometimes actively distracting. 
 Otherwise, Novik has outdone even His Majesty's Dragon with this novel, and I'll definitely be following her career from here on out.