TITLE: Brightly Woven
AUTHOR: Alexandra Bracken
GENRE: YA Fantasy
PUBLISHED: 2010, Egmont; Hardcover – 354 pages
After a decade of drought, the rains finally come on the day Sydelle Mirabil finds herself being whisked away from her village and everyone she loves. Although she has spent years longing to see what lies beyond the borders of her hometown, she never expected to leave with an infuriating, enigmatic wizard who seems as adept at keeping secrets as he is at casting spells. But war is looming on the horizon, a war that will surely leave Sydelle with no home to return to at all if she doesn’t help Wayland North succeed in his quest to prevent it. As they journey to the capitol, she works to unravel her companion’s many mysteries, as well as the reasons why he insisted on bringing her with him. What does he want from her? And what is her connection to the magic that he wields?
Okay, I liked this book. I wasn’t crazy about it, and it wasn’t what I’d call a life-changing experience, but I did like it. I’m currently reading another book by Alexandra Bracken (The Darkest Minds) and it’s pretty evident that the author and her writing have grown by leaps and bounds since the publication of Brightly Woven, which was her debut novel. As far as high fantasy goes, I’d have to say that this one lacks the level of world building required to really make it memorable as far as high fantasy goes; I also thought the characters could have been more developed, although that didn’t make them less likeable to me. I guess what I’m saying that this one could’ve been MORE, and I wished it would be more, but I wasn’t left feeling dissatisfied either.
My favorite thing about Brightly Woven was its magic system, which I thought was pretty unique and had an interesting connection to religion. Wizards have become much more rare in recent decades, but they are accepted in society — at least in Sydelle and North’s native Palmarta, where wizards are thought to wield power given to them by the goddess Astraea. Magic, according to Astraea’s teachings, is a gift that must be used to protect the people. The wizards in Palmarta are capable of feats that ordinary humans can’t accomplish, which is a double-edged sword. Many are willing to use their power for good, but there are plenty who see their talents as a reason why they are superior to everyone else. I’m always interested in the dynamic of a society where some have magic and the majority don’t. It was intriguing that wizards in Palmarta acquired status and privileges through competitive rankings.
I’m somewhere in the middle about Sydelle, the main character and narrator. She very rarely annoyed me, but she very rarely impressed me either. I didn’t become genuinely interested in her at all until the big reveal, which I have to say was another very intriguing aspect of the world’s magic, and which caught me somewhat by surprise. I mean, I knew there had to be something special about her, but I wasn’t expecting that. I loved the moment when Sydelle embraced who she was and what she was capable of. It was her most powerful, defining moment and I wish it could have come a bit earlier in the book, or that similar instances could have occurred before that. She wasn’t a sedentary heroine, always waiting around for something to happen… so that wasn’t my problem with her. In fact, she makes plenty of decisions on her own and I appreciated that she had her own idea of how to get things done. I didn’t feel like I knew her any better by the end of the book, though. I wish she was a bit more fleshed out.
As for Sydelle’s relationship with North, rogue wizard extraordinaire, I was kind of weirded out at times. I enjoy Wayland North very much as a character, he’s definitely a fun puzzle to work out, but for some reason it felt like he woke up one day and realized, holy crap I think I’m in love with Sydelle! And it just went downhill from there. Every time he called her his, “beautiful, beautiful darling” I kind of cringed a little. (It was awkward, okay?) It just seemed off. I couldn’t tell if he was joking, or if he was serious, but either way it wasn’t working for me. Actually I was more charmed by North’s sidekick Owain than North himself, which really isn’t what should have happened… haha.
RATING: 3/5
Brightly Woven was neither unpleasant nor mind-blowing for me; it was one of those books that remain resolutely in the middle of the spectrum. That being said, I don’t regret reading it and I thought it had some truly interesting and unique ideas, especially when it came to the use of magic and how that magic functioned. Deeper world building and characters with more dimension would’ve been the one extra step this novel needed to become a more complete experience, I think. But I do really like the author’s writing style and so far it seems she’s only gotten better with the publication of her second novel, The Darkest Minds (reading it right now!), so I want to throw that out there for anyone wondering if they should read her other books!