BRIGHTLY WOVEN is a rollicking good read that will appeal most to fans of Stephenie Meyer and Bree Despain's straightforward writing styles. It provides hearty doses of adventure, magic, romance, and danger, and yet never fully comes together as it could've at a higher level.
Sydelle and North are an amusing pair to follow if you're not too bothered by the generic flatness of their interactions. I like that Sydelle is not a weak girl: she's more than willing to give the sometimes-irresponsible North what he deserves. Sydelle is hands down the strongest part of this novel, and I loved reading about her as she discovered what she is capable of.
However, I felt as if the other parts of the story did not connect as well as I would've liked it to. BRIGHTLY WOVEN is a mixture of so many fantastic things, but it was inadequately put together. I never felt any true fear of or anger towards the villainous wizard, nor was I able to fully invest myself in the outcome of the pre-war tensions. Sydelle and North were cute, but they didn't make an indelible impression on me, and the supporting characters were sadly underdeveloped and one-dimensional.
As far as young adult fantasy goes, BRIGHTLY WOVEN shows itself to be the work of a young author. It's no masterpiece, but all of its desirable elements will serve to recommend it to most readers, and most will be able to enjoy at least something about this book.
Sydelle and North are an amusing pair to follow if you're not too bothered by the generic flatness of their interactions. I like that Sydelle is not a weak girl: she's more than willing to give the sometimes-irresponsible North what he deserves. Sydelle is hands down the strongest part of this novel, and I loved reading about her as she discovered what she is capable of.
However, I felt as if the other parts of the story did not connect as well as I would've liked it to. BRIGHTLY WOVEN is a mixture of so many fantastic things, but it was inadequately put together. I never felt any true fear of or anger towards the villainous wizard, nor was I able to fully invest myself in the outcome of the pre-war tensions. Sydelle and North were cute, but they didn't make an indelible impression on me, and the supporting characters were sadly underdeveloped and one-dimensional.
As far as young adult fantasy goes, BRIGHTLY WOVEN shows itself to be the work of a young author. It's no masterpiece, but all of its desirable elements will serve to recommend it to most readers, and most will be able to enjoy at least something about this book.
Ten years. A long time to go without rain, but the citizens in Sydelle's small country town are used to it by now. Until one ordinary day when Wayland North wanders into the sleepy community and brings rain with him.
Sydelle soon finds herself drawn to the self-proclaimed wizard and when her town is raided the night after North's arrival, Sydelle soon finds herself the wizard's unwilling "assistant" and suddenly on the adventure of a lifetime. Even though Sydelle longed to leave her village, she questions why North, a great and powerful wizard would choose a simple weaver from a small country village that the rest of the country has all but forgotten about. North also behaves strangely towards her. He is surprisingly overprotective for someone who is practically a stranger, and Sydelle has the funny feeling North is hiding something from her...
Brightly Woven was a good read. Was it an award-winner? Probably not. The shining stars for me in Brightly Woven were the characters. Alexandra Bracken has a gift when it comes to breathing life into her characters. I truly related with Sydelle, all along she knew it was not just chance that North chose to bring her along with him on his journey, and her inquisitive nature and cunning led her to the truth North was hiding from her. Sydelle in particular was a character with depth, something that I think is truly hard to accomplish as a writer.
My qualms lay with the plot line of Brightly Woven. Since it is written in first person, most of the time the story follows Sydelle, and because she is the victim (for lack of a better term) in the story when she is spirited away from her home, we as readers are left in the dark for a significant portion of the book. I felt like the first two thirds of Brightly Woven dragged on and on. There was no clear direction to the plot and there were a few points where I wondered what Bracken was getting at. Then all of a sudden action started happening. The last third of the book was nothing but action, drama, and excitement. Not that excitement is a bad thing, quite the contrary, but this excitement hit you over the head with a 2 x 4. It was like I'd taken a paddle boat out on a quiet lake that suddenly became raging rapids for which I was unprepared.
Overall, Brightly Woven was a fun classic story (maiden and magician go on fantastic journey), that while a little fuzzy plot-wise, was made up for with intriguing and lovable characters.
Sydelle soon finds herself drawn to the self-proclaimed wizard and when her town is raided the night after North's arrival, Sydelle soon finds herself the wizard's unwilling "assistant" and suddenly on the adventure of a lifetime. Even though Sydelle longed to leave her village, she questions why North, a great and powerful wizard would choose a simple weaver from a small country village that the rest of the country has all but forgotten about. North also behaves strangely towards her. He is surprisingly overprotective for someone who is practically a stranger, and Sydelle has the funny feeling North is hiding something from her...
Brightly Woven was a good read. Was it an award-winner? Probably not. The shining stars for me in Brightly Woven were the characters. Alexandra Bracken has a gift when it comes to breathing life into her characters. I truly related with Sydelle, all along she knew it was not just chance that North chose to bring her along with him on his journey, and her inquisitive nature and cunning led her to the truth North was hiding from her. Sydelle in particular was a character with depth, something that I think is truly hard to accomplish as a writer.
My qualms lay with the plot line of Brightly Woven. Since it is written in first person, most of the time the story follows Sydelle, and because she is the victim (for lack of a better term) in the story when she is spirited away from her home, we as readers are left in the dark for a significant portion of the book. I felt like the first two thirds of Brightly Woven dragged on and on. There was no clear direction to the plot and there were a few points where I wondered what Bracken was getting at. Then all of a sudden action started happening. The last third of the book was nothing but action, drama, and excitement. Not that excitement is a bad thing, quite the contrary, but this excitement hit you over the head with a 2 x 4. It was like I'd taken a paddle boat out on a quiet lake that suddenly became raging rapids for which I was unprepared.
Overall, Brightly Woven was a fun classic story (maiden and magician go on fantastic journey), that while a little fuzzy plot-wise, was made up for with intriguing and lovable characters.
A nicely told story despite its weaknesses, it has its flaws but overall was a pretty good book. It especially picked up towards the end. Since it's such a fast read, it isn't a bad use of time, though if asked I probably wouldn't recommend it. There are too many far better titles out there. But, still, it's decent enough that I did finish it and didn't consider it a waste of my time.
This is a debut novel by Braken. I have been wanting to read this for some time and it was a great story; a wonderful fantasy story filled with magic, adventure, and romance.
Sydelle is the daughter of the village elder in a village that has been in a drought for 10 years. Wayland North is the wizard who shows up and breaks the drought, asking for Sydelle to accompany him as payment. Wayland has information that could stop an upcoming war but he needs Sydelle's knowledge of the land to find his way cross country to deliver the information. Along the way Sydelle will learn the dark secrets that drive Wayland's violently variable personality and she will learn that she is very special in ways she never imagined.
Sydelle is a very likable heroine. She is thoughtful and caring, yet tough enough to take action when needed and survive what she has to. I love the way her weaving is somewhat magical, yet in a subtle way. Wayland I had a bit more trouble with. In the beginning of the book his personality changes so fast that I keep looking to make sure I wasn't missing some pages in the book or something. I know he was supposed to have a touchy personality, but I thought that the way this was done was a bit hard to follow and too broken up.
The side characters are okay, but none of them really stood out as something special.
I enjoyed the magic woven into the story and liked how different items enabled the wizards to do different types of magic. I would have like a little more detail about the magic system so that I could understand it better.
The world created is an interesting one and the prospect of war hanging over the nation adds wonderful suspense to the story. Some of the mage battles between Wayland and the evil wizard are truly spectacular to read about. There isn't a lot here that we haven't seen in other fantasy books of a similar type. The storyline is basically girl is forced to hang out with a boy to save the world/country from some disastrous event and ends up falling in love with him.
The romance between Sydelle and Wayland is very sweet, it grows gradually over time and they each have to give and take some to make things work out. I thought it was very well done.
The book wraps up nicely. I would be interested in reading more about Sydelle and Wayland in the future, but haven't heard anything more about future installments in this series.
Overall this was a great read. I love fantasy stories with a strong heroine that are full of adventure, magic, and a little romance. While this book didn't have a whole lot of really creative elements to it, it did have a well-developed world and magic system with a strong and likable heroine. The relationship between Sydelle and Wayland is sweet and fun to read about. I did think the beginning of the book was a bit inconsistent and choppy with respect to Wayland's character, but that evened out as the story went on. Fans of Tamora Pierce or Kristin Cashore should check this book out. Fans of fantasy with a touch of romance will also find a lot here to love.
Sydelle is the daughter of the village elder in a village that has been in a drought for 10 years. Wayland North is the wizard who shows up and breaks the drought, asking for Sydelle to accompany him as payment. Wayland has information that could stop an upcoming war but he needs Sydelle's knowledge of the land to find his way cross country to deliver the information. Along the way Sydelle will learn the dark secrets that drive Wayland's violently variable personality and she will learn that she is very special in ways she never imagined.
Sydelle is a very likable heroine. She is thoughtful and caring, yet tough enough to take action when needed and survive what she has to. I love the way her weaving is somewhat magical, yet in a subtle way. Wayland I had a bit more trouble with. In the beginning of the book his personality changes so fast that I keep looking to make sure I wasn't missing some pages in the book or something. I know he was supposed to have a touchy personality, but I thought that the way this was done was a bit hard to follow and too broken up.
The side characters are okay, but none of them really stood out as something special.
I enjoyed the magic woven into the story and liked how different items enabled the wizards to do different types of magic. I would have like a little more detail about the magic system so that I could understand it better.
The world created is an interesting one and the prospect of war hanging over the nation adds wonderful suspense to the story. Some of the mage battles between Wayland and the evil wizard are truly spectacular to read about. There isn't a lot here that we haven't seen in other fantasy books of a similar type. The storyline is basically girl is forced to hang out with a boy to save the world/country from some disastrous event and ends up falling in love with him.
The romance between Sydelle and Wayland is very sweet, it grows gradually over time and they each have to give and take some to make things work out. I thought it was very well done.
The book wraps up nicely. I would be interested in reading more about Sydelle and Wayland in the future, but haven't heard anything more about future installments in this series.
Overall this was a great read. I love fantasy stories with a strong heroine that are full of adventure, magic, and a little romance. While this book didn't have a whole lot of really creative elements to it, it did have a well-developed world and magic system with a strong and likable heroine. The relationship between Sydelle and Wayland is sweet and fun to read about. I did think the beginning of the book was a bit inconsistent and choppy with respect to Wayland's character, but that evened out as the story went on. Fans of Tamora Pierce or Kristin Cashore should check this book out. Fans of fantasy with a touch of romance will also find a lot here to love.
Reviewed by Jennifer Rummel for TeensReadToo.com
One moment, Sydelle and her friend, Henry, are hanging out on the rocks and then next, it's raining. Their village hasn't seen rain in ten years. Shortly after, they spot a wizard. They all head into the village, not knowing just how much their future is about to change.
Wayland North, the wizard, takes the credit for bringing the rain. The chief, Sydelle's father, offers him a reward. He's stunned when he finds out the wizard wants his daughter.
Wayland believes he can stop the upcoming war with Sydelle's help. Together, they set out across the country to deliver their information.
Sydelle can't help hating the wizard who took her away from her friends and family. In time, she grows to understand him more and appreciates him. They must overcome obstacles: rogue wizard attacks, a new queen trying to find her place, and two country leaders determined to go to war for all the wrong reasons.
Sydelle wants to help stop the war so they can get on with their lives, but then she overhears Wayland talking about her and she can't believe her ears. Suddenly, her world's turned upside down and she doesn't know who to trust or what to do next.
This is an awesome debut and a great way to explode onto the YA scene. I love the high fantasy romance with tensions between countries and a probable war on the horizon.
One moment, Sydelle and her friend, Henry, are hanging out on the rocks and then next, it's raining. Their village hasn't seen rain in ten years. Shortly after, they spot a wizard. They all head into the village, not knowing just how much their future is about to change.
Wayland North, the wizard, takes the credit for bringing the rain. The chief, Sydelle's father, offers him a reward. He's stunned when he finds out the wizard wants his daughter.
Wayland believes he can stop the upcoming war with Sydelle's help. Together, they set out across the country to deliver their information.
Sydelle can't help hating the wizard who took her away from her friends and family. In time, she grows to understand him more and appreciates him. They must overcome obstacles: rogue wizard attacks, a new queen trying to find her place, and two country leaders determined to go to war for all the wrong reasons.
Sydelle wants to help stop the war so they can get on with their lives, but then she overhears Wayland talking about her and she can't believe her ears. Suddenly, her world's turned upside down and she doesn't know who to trust or what to do next.
This is an awesome debut and a great way to explode onto the YA scene. I love the high fantasy romance with tensions between countries and a probable war on the horizon.
