Drawing inspiration from Beauty and the Beast, the beast in Uprooted is a powerful magician, the heroine a super-powerful witch in her own right, and they are not only love interests, but equals in many ways! Agnieszka is a fantastically complex character who submits to no one and does her share of traditionally male assigned fairy-tale rescuing. Add in a strong sisterly friendship that carries through the narrative, an awesome female sword-forging POC, physicality that is consensual (and the stopping of it when it isn’t), and a villain who is magical, female, and entirely creepy, yet also a complicated character and you’ll get the feminist fantasy I didn’t know I was looking for!
