Brightly Woven
Author: Alexandra Bracken
Series: ---
Publisher: Egmont USA
How Received: publisher ARC
Sydelle Mirabil is living proof that, with a single drop of rain, a life can be changed forever. Tucked away in the farthest reaches of the kingdom, her dusty village has suffered under the weight of a strangely persistent drought. That is, of course, until a wizard wanders into town and brings the rain with him.
In return for this gift, Wayland North is offered any reward he desires—and no one is more surprised than Sydelle when, without any explanation, he chooses her. Taken from her home, Sydelle hardly needs encouragement to find reasons to dislike North. He drinks too much and bathes too little, and if that isn’t enough to drive her to madness, North rarely even uses the magic he takes such pride in possessing. Yet, it’s not long before she realizes there’s something strange about the wizard, who is as fiercely protective of her as he is secretive about a curse that turns his limbs a sinister shade of black and leaves him breathless with agony. Unfortunately, there is never a chance for her to seek answers.
Along with the strangely powerful quakes and storms that trace their path across the kingdom, other wizards begin to take an inexplicable interest in her as well, resulting in a series of deadly duels. Against a backdrop of war and uncertainty, Sydelle is faced with the growing awareness that these events aren’t as random as she had believed—that no curse, not even that of Wayland North, is quite as terrible as the one she herself may carry.
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Erica from The Book Cellar has been on my case for over a year to read Brightly Woven. I've heard her rant on about how good it is, how North is hers, how brilliant the world is, how North is hers, how excellent a writer Alexandra Bracken is, how North is hers...
Well, the only thing I really have to dispute is North being hers. Sorry, Erica, but he's definitley Sydelle's. And if we're making a North clone for you then, well, I'll take two.
Brightly Woven is, without a doubt, one of the best young adult fantasies I've read in a long time - and considering my love of fantasy novels, that's saying something.
One of the best things about it was that the fantasy element wasn't shoved in your face. Don't get me wrong, I love oodles of description - if I didn't, I would hate reading most fantasy. But it wasn't paragraphs of description shoved in between plot points and chapters to describe the world. It was slipped in with casual thoughts or comments, letting you see the world that Bracken created without ever realizing she was describing it to you.
The characters themselves are also wonderful. The villains never felt flat or one dimensional. I loved Sydelle herself - she was feisty and worried and loving and ready to go and everything a good heroine should be. North is completely imperfect and utterly sexy (though I don't think he was ever intended to actually be sexy.) I loved many of the side characters, but my favorite - by far - was Owain. He was simply fun to read about and had some great character quirks. I want to learn more about him.
Overall Rating & Final Thoughts: 10/10. Any fantasy fan - or fan of a great heroine - needs to pick this up as soon as possible.
Author Notes: Alexandra has a Tumblr with lots of fun Brightly Woven things on it - check it out!
Brightly Woven also has it's own fan site - check it out!