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Uprooted (Naomi Novik) – Plot Analysis

Note: The following is my attempt to analyze the structure and pacing of Naomi Novik’s excellent fantasy novel Uprooted by breaking it down by chapter and layering it over with the 27-chapter outline. My hope is to show how a particular story structure paradigm manifests itself in an actual piece of fiction, but also to observe how that model gets compressed or expanded within an actual story. As the saying goes, “all models are false, but some are useful.” My hope is for this to become a series that shows how structure arises organically in story but also varies widely by author. I also wish to distill key lessons from my analysis that go beyond simple story structure to unearth deeper insights into the nature of story and pacing.

UPROOTED

Act One

Chapter 1

  • Establish the setting: Agnieszka (Aggie) lives in a valley surrounded by evil woods guarded by a reclusive wizard who takes a girl every 10 years to be his servant (#1 Ordinary World).
  • Conflict: instead of taking Kasia, who everyone expects, the Dragon takes Aggie herself (#2 Inciting Incident). Setting up Kasia as the expected offering is an excellent misdirection that makes the “chosen one” archetype more original.
  • (#3 Immediate Reaction: Fear) Aggie freaks out at her new surroundings, and timidly takes on the task of serving the Dragon.

Chapter 2

  • Aggie settles into her servant’s routine and grows bored (#4 Long-Term Reaction). This leads her to peruse a book which turns out to be magic (#5 Action), resulting her to get caught my the Dragon, who decides to train her in magic (#6 Consequence). The magic drains Aggie to the point of exhaustion, and she realizes that the Dragon is not treating her like the other girls (#7 Pressure).

Chapter 3

  • Prince Marek arrives and tries to rape Aggie, who beats him unconscious. Aggie and the Dragon are forced to cover up her assault by changing Marek’s memory (#8 Pinch). Collaborating in the cover-up serves to balance out their power dynamic. 

Chapter 4

  • A magical training montage that leads to the Dragon going on a trip and leaving Aggie alone to run the tower.
  • Answering the call: Aggie’s town calls for help, and without the Dragon to rely on, Aggie decides to go help them with all the magic she has learned (#9 Push). This scene is an inflection point. Up till now, Aggie has been reluctantly reacting to the plot. But now our hero finally “answers the call”.  

Recap: the first act of the story moves quite briskly, covering all nine plot points within four chapters, which amounts to 62 pages (i.e. 14% of the story’s total length). This is common in fairy tales, which rely on lots of expositional telling that allows the narrator to move quite briskly through the narrative. Notably, the first two chapters cover three and four plot points respectively, while the third and fourth chapters only cover one each. So we can observe that Novik, in an attempt to capture the reader’s attention, starts off the story at a blistering pace, then slows down once she has our attention. This initial compression of story events followed by an evening out will continue into Act Two.

Act Two, Part One

Sequence 1 – Jerzy

Chapter 5

  • Aggie returns to her hometown, reunites with Kasia, and overcomes a series of obstacles (plagued cattle, a corrupted neighbor, and wolves). She and Kasia are saved by the Dragon, who gets bitten my a wolf and infected by the Wood (#10 Fun & Games, Part 1)

Chapter 6

  • Aggie saves the Dragon from the wood’s corruption using Jaga’s Spellbook, which the Dragon isn’t able to use. Their dynamic changes now, because Aggie has become the master and the Dragon her student. They eventually cast a spell together.
  • This chapter develops the Aggie/Dragon relationship, continuing on from chapter 3 to balance out their relationship. The first half of Act Two is divided into three sequences (Jerzy, Kasia, Hanna) and this chapter caps off the end of sequence number one.

Recap: this two chapter mini-sequence serves as a teaser for the larger conflict against the Wood which is about to take place.

Sequence 2 – Kasia

Chapter 7

  • Aggie gets word that Kasia has been kidnapped by the wood, so she travels into the wood by herself to save Kasia.
  • There’s a small reflection on page 98 where Aggie remembers how her village reacted to her cleansing which serves as a short reflection on how she has changed (#11 Old Contrast).

Chapter 8

  • The Dragon purges Aggie of the Wood’s corruption and discusses the theories behind the Wood’s corruption.
  • Kasia appears normal when they arrive, but the spell reveals that she is totally under the Wood’s corruption.

Chapter 9

  • Aggie is traumatized by Kasia’s corruption, so the Dragon empathizes by telling his own story of failing to purge Ludmilla’s husband, and how that led to him self-exiling within the Wood.
  • She hatches a plan to collaborate with the Dragon in casting Luthe’s Summoning to purge Kasia.
  • This scene develops the Dragon’s backstory, intertwining it with that of the Wood, and ultimately leading to their agreement to cast together Luthe’s Summoning (the Chekov’s Gun introduced earlier in chapter two). It also advances the magical twinning/romance subplot from chapter 6. 

Chapter 10

  • They cast Luthe’s Summoning on Kasia and manage to free her from the Wood’s influence.
  • Burning out Kasia’s corruption actually kills the heart-tree that bound her via some sort of magical connection.
  • This is the resolution of Kasia’s sequence

Chapter 11

  • As Kasia recovers, Aggie argues with the Dragon about the injustice of his taking women from the villages (#11 Old Contrast, I think).
  • They try to twin their magic again and the effect of it makes them nearly have sex.

Recap: this quite long sequence (five chapters!) intensifies the central conflict by having the Wood kidnap someone Aggie truly cares about (Kasia). The external conflict forces the Dragon and Aggie closer together, advancing the romantic subplot. This and the Jerzy sequence help to ratchet up the stakes for the sequence that brings up to the midpoint: saving Queen Hanna. One could argue that this is the #11 Fun & Games section or that it’s actually the #13 Buildup to the Midpoint sequence that follows shortly after.

Sequence 3- Queen Hanna

Chapter 12

  • Marek returns with another wizard, the Falcon, under the guise of testing Kasia for corruption.
  • In reality, his actual goal is to save his mother from the wood and the test was just misdirection (#14 Midpoint begins)

Chapter 13

  • Aggie argues with the Dragon and Marek about whether to embark on a dangerous quest to free Queen Hanna
  • They realize they can weaken the Wood and improve their odds by freeing Jerzy just as they freed Kasia
  • They succeed in freeing Jerzy and see the Wood burning (polarity shift towards hope)

Chapter 14

  • They enter into the Wood, following a finding spell cast by the Falcon on Queen Hanna’s ring
  • The Wood picks off the soldiers one-by-one, a reality that the wizards grimly accept
  • They reach Queen Hanna’s heart-tree but are attacked by giant praying mantises

Chapter 15

  • The mantises Pick off the soldiers 1 by 1. While the dragon attempts to free Queen Hanna from the heart tree.
  • The Walker takes the Dragon and places him in the heart tree but Aggie frees both him and Queen Hanna.

Chapter 16

  • They bring the queen out from the wood, but she is completely unresponsive.
  • Marek proposes to take both Kasia and Queen Hannah to the capital for trial.
  • Aggie chooses to go along with them (#15 Reversal)

Recap: this section brings back the fully loaded Chekov’s gun of Marek and his mommy issues and also provides the third and most climactic of the three Wood rescues, although this one proves to be more complicated than Jerzy or Kasia.

Act Two, Part Two

Sequence #4: Palace Intrigue

Chapter 17

  • Aggie travels to Kralia, where the Queen is tested for corruption and presented to the King. Both the Queen and Kasia pass the test but are taken into custody (#16 Consequence)

Chapter 18

  • Aggie is examined by a doubtful council of wizards, who reluctantly put her on the list when she demonstrates her powerful magic
  • Allowed to approach the king, she finds out that the trial (and the appeal to fight the Wood) will be delayed indefinitely (Start of #17 Trials)

Chapter 19

  • Aggie gets invited to some parties and develops a false friend, who she proceeds to shame. She’s frustrated by how fake and superficial the court is, especially considering the real threat of the Wood.
  • Marek explains to her that the king doesn’t want Queen Hanna to live because of politics

Chapter 20

  • Aggie searches for a way to save Kasia, and is offered help by Father Ballo, who takes her to a room full of discarded books
  • They find a book that has been corrupted and under Alosha’s guidance have it cordoned off for purification
  • Solya arrives to tell them that the Queen’s trial has begun

Chapter 21

  • No one is willing to testify definitively to the King that the Queen is free of corruption, but Aggie creates an illusion to show how they rescued the Queen
  • The Queen finally snaps out of it and accuses Rosya of kidnapping her and taking her into the Wood

Recap: these five chapters are mostly a mini-plot involving palace intrigue and serve as downtime before shit hits the fan in the second half of the Kralia arc.

Sequence #5: Shit Got Real

Chapter 22

  • Polyna prepares to march on Rosya, and Aggie realizes something is very wrong. They are attacked by and kill a monster that broke into the castle. The monster turns out to be Father Ballo, who was transformed when he tried to purify the book. They discover that the King has also been killed in the process

Chapter 23 (Calm Before the Storm)

  • Aggie and Alosha purify the book. Polnya sends its army to fight off an escalation by Rosya, with Prince Sigmund at its lead. Aggie realizes that this is exactly what the Wood wants: to turn the humans against one another.

Chapter 24

  • Aggie tries unsuccessfully to convince Marek and Solya that the Wood is the big bad, not the Rosyans
  • They learn that Prince Sigmund has been killed in battle with the Rosyans
  • Aggie protects the royal children from being killed by the Wood and flees the palace with them (Pinch)

Chapter 25

  • They escape, pursued by Marek (Darkest Point), who chases them all the way to the Dragon’s Tower, where she reunites with Sarkan (Power Within)

Recap: The last four chapters (22-25) each escalate the stakes considerably, shifting the polarity of the story further and further in the negative direction, each having to do in some way with the breakdown of the royal family, and along with it, the country itself: Queen Hanna accuses Rosya of kidnapping her (21), the king is killed by Father Ballo’s transformation (22), Prince Sigmund leaves for war leaving foolish Marek in charge (23), Aggie escaping with the children (24), and Aggie being pursued to the Tower (25).

ACT THREE

Sequence #6 The Siege

Chapter 26 (Action)

  • They work with Sarkan and the Baron to fortify the Tower against Marek’s attack

Chapter 27

  • Aggie and Sarkan have sex, and the Dragon displays a moment of vulnerability
  • The attack begins, and eventually Marek manages to beat the Baron’s men back to the Tower itself
  • Aggie realizes that the Wood is in the Queen, and determines to cast the Summoning over her with Sarkan

Chapter 28 (Converge)

  • Aggie and Sarkan begin casting the Summoning, but are forced to retreat when Marek’s men breach the Tower
  • Finishing the Summoning, Aggie gets a glimpse of the Wood Queen’s past
  • The Queen kills Marek when he realizes that she is still corrupted
  • Kasia “kills” the Queen, but the Wood Queen that possessed her remains alive

Recap: this three-chapter section is the battle sequence, which ironically, is not the same as the final battle. But it does serve to wrap up the fate’s of Marek/Solya/Queen Hanna, who are the mini-villains, while introducing the Wood Queen as the big bad.

Sequence #7 The Wood Queen

Chapter 29

  • The battle over, they bring the children out to safety
  • Aggie asks Sarkan to help her pursue the Wood Queen before she can strike back
  • They sail down the Spindle together and eventually end up at the Wood Queen’s heart tree

Chapter 30 (Battle)

  • Aggie cripples the heart tree, and the Wood Queen desperately tries to save it by feeding Aggie to it

Chapter 31 (Climax)

  • Aggie has a vision of how the Wood Queen lost her family and was betrayed by humans, leading to her campaign of revenge
  • Coming out of the tree, Aggie convinces the Wood Queen to join her family in the heart-trees, ending her wrath
  • Note: Aggie doesn’t have a fatal flaw to overcome, but she does help the Wood Queen to accept the necessity of being rooted with her own people, which is a key theme of the story

Chapter 32 (Resolution)

  • Aggie works to repair the damage done by the Wood to both humans and nature (plot)
  • She summarizes what has become of Kasia, Sarkan, Solya and the royal children (characters)
  • Sarkan visits her in her village, and she introduces him to her parents (romance)

Recap: this section is the actual final battle and falling action.

General Thoughts

Probably the most useful information that I’ve gleaned from outlining this book is that Naomi Novik breaks the plot up not as much by chapter as she does by sequence. And that while Act One and Act Three cover lots of plot points quickly, they tend to get dragged out in Act Two, which certain plot points running for 2-4 chapters. The sequences are as follows:

  1. Aggie’s abduction (chapters 1-4, covering the first nine plot points)
  2. Aggie’s first mission (chapter 5-6, covering one plot point only)
  3. Kasia’s kidnapping (chapters 7-11, covering one plot point only)
  4. Queen Hanna’s rescue (chapters 12-16, covering two plot points)
  5. Palace Intrigue (chapters 17-21, covering two plot points)
  6. Shit Gets Real (chapters 22-25, covering four plot points)
  7. The Siege (chapters 26-28, covering two plot points)
  8. The Wood Queen (chapters 29-31, covering two plot points)
  9. Resolution (chapter 32, covering one plot point)

Lesson: divide up your story not so much into Acts but rather into sequences, each which has its own localized inciting incident, rising action, climax, and resolution. Although with sequences, you don’t to want to tie them up so perfectly that they completely resolve (it’s good to have some unresolved plot points that come back later for maximum disruption, ex. Marek’s mom).

The other important lesson to be gleaned from this book is how Novik makes each character unique by exaggerating unique voice through powerful primary emotions, especially in dialogue. Sarkan is always curmudgeonly and haughty, because everyone is beneath him. Kasia is the devoted and self-sacrificial friend, Marek is the impatient and reckless, Solya is a creep. Written like this, it may seem like these characters are one-dimensional, but on paper, what it does is help each character really inhabit a emotional archetype that is distinct from all the others. Novik’s characters broadcast their emotions with a force of a foghorn, and that works.

Aggie is the most complicated voice. It would be easy to characterize her as petulant, since she constantly doesn’t want to do what the others want her to do, but I think the correct term would actually be stubborn. And what makes her unique is that the story is told from her POV, and her descriptions are uniquely couched in nature metaphors that would befit a girl who grew up in a rural valley. It’s actually her voice, and the numerous nature metaphors, that tie the book together.

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