Uprooted by Naomi Novik

“He darted a look at the uncovered basket behind me, saw what I was eating, and glared at me. "That's appalling," he said.
"They're wonderful!" I said. "They're all coming ripe."
"All the better to turn you into a tree," he said.
"I don't want to be a tree yet," I said.” 

Agnieszka loves her valley home, her quiet village, the forests and the bright shining river. But the corrupted Wood stands on the border, full of malevolent power, and its shadow lies over her life.

Her people rely on the cold, driven wizard known only as the Dragon to keep its powers at bay. But he demands a terrible price for his help: one young woman handed over to serve him for ten years, a fate almost as terrible as falling to the Wood.

The next choosing is fast approaching, and Agnieszka is afraid. She knows—everyone knows—that the Dragon will take Kasia: beautiful, graceful, brave Kasia, all the things Agnieszka isn’t, and her dearest friend in the world. And there is no way to save her.

But Agnieszka fears the wrong things. For when the Dragon comes, it is not Kasia he will choose.

I loved this book so much I bought a copy as a friends birthday present, just so I knew she would read it too!

I couldn't fault the book at all, the characters were exactly what they should be and the plot had me reading with my arms hugging my knees in suspense. 

{This next sentence has mild spoilers: I did initially think that Agnieszka and Kasia were in love, so the paragraph where Agneieszka and the dragon first make out took me by surprise at first, until you saw her feelings grow a more on paper}

At the end I think underneath all the fantasy and magic there was actually a good moral - if you hold on to hate, regret and revenge it will ruin and disfigure you, it's much better to learn to let it go and be at peace.

Across the Nightingale Floor (Tales of the Otori #1) by Lian Hearn

“I learned embroidery," Kaede said, "But you can't kill anyone with a needle."
"You can," Shizuka said offhandedly. "I'll show you one day.” 

In his black-walled fortress at Inuyama, the warlord Iida Sadamu surveys his famous nightingale floor. Constructed with exquisite skill, it sings at the tread of each human foot. No assassin can cross it unheard.

The youth Takeo has been brought up in a remote mountain village among the Hidden, a reclusive and spiritual people who have taught him only the ways of peace. But unbeknownst to him, his father was a celebrated assassin and a member of the Tribe, an ancient network of families with extraordinary, preternatural skills. When Takeo's village is pillaged, he is rescued and adopted by the mysterious Lord Otori Shigeru. Under the tutelage of Shigeru, he learns that he too possesses the skills of the Tribe. And, with this knowledge, he embarks on a journey that will lead him across the famed nightingale floor—and to his own unimaginable destiny...

Not something I would usually pick up to read - the back cover blurb doesn't do the book justice. 

I was worried at first that I would get too confused by all the different names, and wouldn't be able to keep track of who was who, but it wasn't as issue. The characters were beautifully written.

I read a few reviews before I started so I already knew it was set in fictional times, I wasn't bothered at all that it didn't follow a true-to-life order.  

I loved it and will definitely keep reading to finish the trilogy and see how it ends.