Search - Brightly Woven

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.

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.

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.