Brightly Woven
by Alexandra Bracken
Release Date: March 23, 2010
Publisher: Egmont USA
Age Group: Young Adult
Pages: 368
Source: Publisher
Interest: Debut Author
Challenge: 2010 Debut Author Challenge
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.
How fun was this book! It has a little bit of everything; magic, adventure, romance and mystery.
Fantasy is my favorite genre, it always has been, so Brightly Woven already had that going for it before I even started. I went into the book expecting to love it. And for the most part I did.
It was beautifully written, simplistic, but engaging. It was easy to get lost in this story, and the writing played a critical role in that. The plot was just as intricate as the woven strands in Sydelle's creations. I didn't even try to guess what was going to happen, because I failed miserably at every attempt. Initially the plot was a little slow moving. Even though we were getting to know the characters and having them start their adventure it still took me a while to be thoroughly engaged. I'm not sure exactly why, I guess it was because I had just meet Sydelle and I didn't really get to learn about her as a person before we were whisked off to a far away land. If that makes any sense at all.
There was a lot of mystery shrouding the characters in this novel. I enjoyed that aspect immensely, but at the same time it kept me from really connecting with one in particular. There was a distance I felt with North and Sydelle that I wished I could have diminished a lot sooner. Although I did love North and Sydelle, I think that my favorite character was Owain. I delighted in his brief appearances in the story. Something about him was so genuine, I can't imagine the novel without him.
This was a fantastic debut and I really hope to see more from Bracken soon! I'd love a continuation of this story, even though it did wrap up nicely.