Review: Brightly Woven by Alex Bracken

Brightly Woven by Alex Bracken

Publication Date: March 2010

Published by Egmont Books

368 Pages, Hardcover

Book received from publisher for honest review

Summary from Goodreads:

"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."

My review: *****+ = 5+ Stars

Sometimes I don't like writing reviews for books I really like because I feel I can't do it justice. This is one of those time.

Brightly Woven an original, entertaining, action packed adventure that I didn't want to end. It is a spectacular piece of YA literature. The first half of the book was excellent and I enjoyed every bit of it. Around the half way point, the book got even better. The pace picked up(it wasn't slow before, just got a bit quicker) and my mind really started racing about all of the possibilities. Multiple times I found myself reading sentences and paragraphs ahead, and I had to slow down and go back so I didn't miss anything.

I am not a spoilery reviewer so I won't go into detail about the book. I will mention that I loved the characters, even the bad ones. They were all very well written. I can also admit that North is now tied with Jace, from The Mortal Instruments Series, as my favorite male character. He is attractive, charming, caring, has a sense of humor, pretty much everything I love.

I'll leave this as it is. Just know that I LOVED this book. I want to read it again, right now. As soon as I finished it I brought it to my mom and said, "Here, you have to read this one next."

As far as the cover goes, I'm not its biggest fan. I will say that it is unique so it matches the book in that effect, but I also feel it doesn't do the book justice.

I recommend this to everyone. Go read it. Now.

*Also I can't believe Alex Bracken originally wrote this as a birthday present, my bday is Oct. 20th, just so you know! ;)

Sherry<3