Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

Genre: YA Fantasy

Publication Date: March 2010

One Word Review: Enjoyable

Author Website: www.alexandrabracken.com

First Line: “The day the rains finally came was like any other, with blistering air coating the canyon in a heavy stillness.”

GoodReads Synopsis: 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.

Kathy’s Review: I was so excited when I won this book in a contest hosted over at Angieville. The book description sounded just like the kind of story that I enjoy, and I was not disappointed. I really enjoyed the world that Bracken created, including all the fun characters and a new twist on magic and wizards. I also enjoyed the fact that I didn’t know where the story was going, there were some interesting twists along the way and I ended up enjoying the story very much. Sydelle was a very likable heroine. I thought she was easy to relate to and I enjoyed following her journey. She is not one to sit by and let others have all the fun, she jumps in and can take care of herself. I also enjoyed North’s character, and thought he and Syd had good chemistry together. I did think the love-triangle was a little weak and really didn’t play a huge part in the story. I thought the writing was well done and would recommend the book to anyone who enjoys a good adventure, romance, magic and fun.

I’m curious if this is going to be a series, I felt like everything was wrapped up nicely and the book could really stand on its own. I do like the characters though and would be happy if it turned out to be a trilogy or something.

Book Source: A big thanks to Angie for hosting her fun contest, Alexandra for sending me the book (along with some fun bookmarks), and of course the random-number generator for choosing my name!!

Bookworm Rating: 3.8

Who is your favorite magician?