Brightly Woven by by Alexandra Bracken

Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

Publisher: EgmontUSA

Publish Date: March 23, 2010

Hardcover, 368 pages

My Review:

Why did I read this?  I read it through the 1-ARC Tours website.  The cover and the premise caught  my eye.  I really like fantasy books and this one seemed perfect.

What did I think?

Alexandra Bracken does a marvelous job of weaving this story and getting the reader's interest.  I loved reading this because the story unfolded before my eyes.  I learned more and more about the kingdom and the characters by turning each page.  Sydelle and Wayland came to life before my eyes.  I delighted in the charater of Sydelle.  A girl who knew what she wanted to do and would do it at all costs.  Along the way while finding her strength and chasing her destiny, she finds love as well.  I loved that storyline as well as the main one of adventure.

I know I have read some reviews that have had a problem with the romance between Sydelle and North, but I really didn't.  While reading the book I fully understood how it happened.  But that goes to show how different people read a book different ways.

Brightly Woven is a great book for those who love a fantasy world in their books. Magic, mayhem and love all come through in Brightly Woven with a great story.  I was completely absorbed into the story of Brightly Woven and entertained through the entire book.


My Rating:  4.25/5.0

About the Book:
Wicked Girls is a fictionalized account of the Salem witch trials based on the real historical characters, told from the perspective of three young wo...more 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.

About the Author (from goodreads.com):
Alexandra Bracken wrote Brightly Woven as a birthday present for a friend, and the story grew and flourished during a year of unpredictable, wild weather. A native of Arizona, she is a recent graduate of the College of William and Mary, where she majored in History and English. She now lives in New York City.

Her Blog



FTC Information: I received this book through 1-ARC Tours for review.  I have Amazon links on my review pages but I do not make any money from these because of NC laws.  I put them solely for people to check out the books on a retail site.