Book · 2015
Uprooted
by Naomi Novik
A village girl handed over to a reclusive wizard as tribute turns out to be the only one who can fight the corrupted Wood eating her valley.
What does Reddit think of Uprooted?
Uprooted is Naomi Novik's crossover hit, and the numbers show it: 614 mentions across seven years, 292 in r/suggestmeabook, 268 in r/Fantasy, and 54 in r/printSF. It almost never stands alone. Recommendation threads pair it with Spinning Silver so reliably the two read as a matched set, and the longer lists work it in next to Susanna Clarke, Neil Gaiman, and Lev Grossman's Magicians books. One recurring argument is genre labeling: a top comment insists Novik 'doesn't write romantasy' while explaining exactly why romantasy readers gravitate to her anyway. The Wood itself gets singled out for its horror, one reader calling it 'one of the scariest books I've ever read' over how alien the monsters are. Mentions peaked at 130 in 2019, cooled through the early 2020s, bottomed at 43 in 2024, then rose to 66 in 2025. It's a durable book that keeps circling back.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · fairy-tale tribute turned power struggle
- · a corrupting sentient forest
- · mentor-student magic with real friction
- · Slavic folklore reworked (Baba Jaga)
- · horror bleeding into epic fantasy
Common praise
- + The Wood's horror sticks with readers who don't normally read horror; one commenter calls it 'one of the scariest books I've ever read' for how alien the monsters are.
- + It gets bundled with Spinning Silver so often the two are basically a matched set in r/Fantasy rec threads.
- + Readers push back on calling Novik 'romantasy' even while explaining why romantasy readers love her.
Common criticism
- − Some r/Fantasy commenters resist calling it romantasy at all, even while conceding it's exactly what pulls romantasy readers into fantasy.
- − It rarely gets discussed on its own; most quotes bury it inside multi-book lists next to Spinning Silver, Clarke, and Gaiman rather than as a standalone pick.
- − Mentions dropped to 43 in 2024, the lowest count since tracking began, before climbing back to 66 in 2025.
Who it's for
Grab this if Spinning Silver already worked for you; the two get recommended in the same breath so often they might as well share a spine. You don't need a romantasy habit to get pulled in, despite what the genre discourse implies. If Susanna Clarke or Sofia Samatar are already on your shelf, the folklore-heavy magic will feel like familiar ground. Readers who want their fantasy with real teeth get them here: the Wood is the kind of monster that unsettles people who don't normally scare easily.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for Uprooted?
Top-upvoted quotes across the subreddits where this book is mentioned. Click through to read the full thread.
“I hear Naomi Novik is popular among romantasy readers, and she doesn’t write romantasy. Spinning Silver and Uprooted in particular.
“Naomi Novik's *Uprooted*, for sure.
“You *must* read Susanna Clarke. Any Susanna Clarke. After that? Hope Mirlees' *Lud-in-the-Mist*, most Neil Gaiman, Naomi Novik's *Spinning Silver* and *Uprooted*, Sofia Samatar's *The Winged Histories*, Nghi Vo's Singing Hills cycle, Lev Grossman's *Magicians* series. Then possibly get into fanta…
“I would suggest reading "Uprooted" by Naomi Novik, or her "a deadly education" series. They have magical elements and romance. Honestly all of her books have similar themes but all of them are really enjoyable
“Uprooted by Naomi Novik. It and Spinning Silver have been amazing surprises I found while getting rid of books.
“Uprooted by Naomi Novik The Raven and the Reindeer, Bryony and Roses, Summer in Orcus, Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher (most of her stuff is great) Six Gun Snow White by Catherynne M Valente Echo North by Joanna Ruth Mayer Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro & Cornelia Funke (I loved the movie …
“Uprooted by Naomi Novik has the main character learn Baba Jaga's magic.
“The terrifying spooky spookiness of Naomi noviks uprooted. It's honestly one of the scariest books I've ever read just because of how original the horror/monsters are described, I love it. She shows us just enough to know what would be the wrong/right action in this world, but at the same time shows…
Convinced? Pick up Uprooted
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with Uprooted — counted from the comments, not curated.
Spinning Silver
Naomi Novik
A moneylender's daughter boasts she can turn silver into gold, and the winter king of the Staryk takes her up on it, then takes her as his wife.
The Song of Achilles
Madeline Miller
Patroclus follows Achilles into the Trojan War, narrating the years it takes to watch the boy he loves become the killer a prophecy always promised.
Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Susanna Clarke
Two rival English magicians revive magic itself, and neither can predict what the fairy they bargained with actually wants.
Circe
Madeline Miller
An exiled witch on a deserted island turns men into pigs and spends three thousand years deciding what she actually wants.
Piranesi
Susanna Clarke
A man alone in an endless house of statues and tides slowly realizes he isn't who the House says he is.
The Fifth Season
N. K. Jemisin
A woman searches a dying continent for the daughter her husband stole, while the world ends again on schedule.
Uprooted — frequently asked
Is Uprooted the same kind of book as Spinning Silver?+
Close enough that Reddit treats them as a pair. They show up together constantly in r/Fantasy recommendation threads (↑233, ↑167), both drawing on Slavic folklore and both centering a young woman pulled into a wizard's orbit. Read either first; commenters rarely rank one clearly above the other, they just say 'both.'
Is Uprooted romantasy?+
Depends who you ask. One top comment (↑233) insists Naomi Novik 'doesn't write romantasy' while acknowledging romantasy readers love her anyway. The book has a slow-building, tension-heavy relationship at its center, but the plot runs on the corrupted Wood, not the romance, which is the distinction defenders keep making.
How scary is Uprooted?+
Scarier than most fantasy readers expect going in. One commenter (↑86) called it 'one of the scariest books I've ever read,' crediting how original the Wood's monsters are and how little the book explains them upfront. It isn't marketed as horror, so the tone catches some readers off guard.
Is Uprooted still popular in 2025?+
Yes, relative to its own history. Mentions bottomed out at 43 in 2024 after averaging over 100 a year through 2019 to 2023, then climbed back to 66 in 2025. With 614 total mentions and 462 unique commenters across seven years, it hasn't faded from either r/Fantasy or r/suggestmeabook.