Alexandra Bracken

Leigh Dragoon

After young wizard Wayland North brings rain to a region that's been dry for over ten years, he asks fourteen-year-old Sydelle Mirabel, who is a skilled weaver and has an unusual knack for repairing his magical cloaks, to accompany him on a quest to stop an imminent war within their kingdom. Though Sydelle has dreamt of escaping her home, she finds herself awed and afraid of the ragtag wizard who is unlike the magicians in the tales she's heard. As they rush toward the capital, the pair are pursued by a dark wizard and plagued by unusually wild weather. But the sudden earthquakes and freak snowstorms may not be a coincidence. As Sydelle discovers North's dark secret and learns to master her own mysterious power, it becomes increasingly clear that the fate of the kingdom rests in her fingertips.

Brightly Woven: The Graphic Novel

Sixteen-year-old Sydelle Mirabel, an unusually talented weaver, must master her mysterious power and join a young wizard in stopping an imminent war in her land.

Brightly woven

Monicap

Man. Maybe it's just because I LOOOVE High Fantasy (And haven't really read much High Fantasy since middle school), but all the high fantasy books I've read lately have been super-good!!!

Yeah, I loved this book.

Manda

When rain finally falls, in Alexandra Bracken's debut novel, Brightly Woven, sixteen year old Sydelle Mirabel finds herself sent away with the mysterious wizard, Wayland North. Thus begins a long and tiring journey both physically and mentally exhausting for Sydelle. They travel from city to city and meet person after person on their trip to save the kingdom. Sydelle soon learns that finding comfort in her weaving may mean something more to her as she realizes things are not what they seem with her traveling companion. What is Wayland North hiding and can Sydelle find it within herself to not only save him, but also the kingdom and people she loves? You definitely want to find out for yourself in Alexandra Bracken's new novel, Brightly Woven.

Honestly I can say, that this is one of the best novels I have read so far this year. Alexandra Bracken has created an amazing and fascinating world in Brightly Woven. I love that she starts her readers out in a very small world and as Sydelle and North continue on their travels, their world grows and grows. Bracken skillfully introduces us to this world she's created and masterfully adds in characters and experiences along the way. She's taken a common concept of wizardry and fantasy and made it something completely new and exciting. Her ideas and concepts are refreshing and a nice break from the fluffy and predictable that I've been finding recently in this genre. I was fascinated by the depth and length that her setting possessed. She didn't just place her characters in one place and leave them there. They travel far and wide and ever place they go is new and exciting. She used the ideas of knights, villages, and kingdoms, but she made them something different and exhilarating. I completely without a doubt loved this novel and I sincerely hope that the story of Sydelle and North continues in the future. Alexandra Bracken has written a masterpiece that I expected from a writer on her fourth or fifth novel, not her first. She has amazing talent and is someone to I'll follow for years to come.

Review originally posted on my blog Draw A Blank.


Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Egmont USA. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Brightly Woven

Ashley Wendt

Cute Medieval Fantasy

This was a cute story. Somewhat predictable. I am curious to read the original as I felt like I was constantly missing something, like more character development and more plot. The story seemed a bit rushed.

Diptyalina Barman

laura

Strong book. I loved the world building but i wish it was stronger at points. I loved the characters but it really did feel like the start to a new series and not a stand alone. I enjoyed reading alex first book :)

From the No.1 New York Times bestselling author of THE DARKEST MINDS comes an extraordinary graphic novel about magic, friendship and discovering your power. Extraordinary things don't happen to fourteen-year-old Sydelle Mirabil, a talented weaver who dreams about life outside of her tiny village. But that all changes when a mysterious young wizard named Wayland North appears and asks for Sydelle's help. He's got a shocking secret that could stop a war between kingdoms ... if he can reach the capital with the news in time. As Sydelle and Wayland race against the clock to deliver their message, they must contend with wild weather and a dark wizard who will do anything to stop them. But the sudden earthquakes and freak snowstorms may not be a coincidence. And as Sydelle discovers more about North's past and her own strange abilities, she realises that the fate of the kingdom may rest in her fingertips.

I found this to such a fun take on this story. I thought this graphic novel and it was able to create a more complete story then the book had previously. I really did like the changes as of aging down he hero. I also thought the graphics and art did add a lot to the story. It was a really fun read and loved how it wrapped up the whole story!

First of all, I freaking love this book title. 

Second of all, North is holy. (Drunken North, not so much.)

Third of all, Alexander Bracken's female protagonists are so refreshing and I love them and I love how she manages to write them in a non-annoying way. 

Absolutely adored this book. (And the fact that it's a stand-alone is a plus too.)

Joke Duprez

Overall I think this graphic novel was good, but it could be a lot better too!

The story in itself was really good, but overall it went a bit too quick for me, which often left me confused. There were a few moments where I thought I had accidentaly skipped a page.

The characters were cute, but I sometimes found them a bit too 'grown-up' to be a 14 and 15 year old. Especially Syd acter a lot older then her age. Syd is a total badass though, I loved her!

The drawings are lovely, but I wish I had read this book as a physical copy. Sometimes the drawings were a bit small on my kindle, which made it hard to decipher what was going on in some of them. The text bubbles were also pretty small which made it hard to read them.

So for anyone who wants to read this graphic novel: I recommend reading a physical copy, not the e-book version! You'll be able to enjoy it a lot more that way :)

Lisa ✩ @lifeinlit

What a beautiful graphic novel! I loved the characters, the illustrations, and the overall story was just wonderful. I definitely recommend this to graphic novel fans out there!

Katerina Thorson

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** Thank you to Disney-Hyperion and the author for sending me an ARC of this graphic novel. This was sent to me in exchange for an honest review.

Character - 5.5/10
I wanted to like Sydelle and North so bad...but I know nothing about them. Sydelle is your typical strong-headed sassy female and North is mysterious with a sad past. There is nothing really original about them. I also felt like they didn't change by the end of the graphic novel; and while there is hint of the second book, I still wish we got more character build. Also the bad guy...he was in the graphic novel for maybe 5-6 pages...I still don't understand why he became evil and what really is going on there. 

Atmosphere- 6/10
There was definitely a lot of traveling involved in this small graphic novel and you get to see the outside world and some world build. I just felt like more could have been played up. You got to see many cities but I would have liked more time and explanation in each of them. Also, I really don't understand the magic system. There are those called "magically inclined" and then those that are "wizards" but there is no explanation into the magic system. Yes, you can't use large dialogue in graphic novels, but with a magic system it still needs to be explained some-how. Whether through art or through a little dialogue here and there. If they can do it in the large Marvel universe they can do it here.

Writing/Art Style- 7/10
The art style was gorgeous, everything was so vibrant with colour and colour played a huge role in this graphic novel. I loved the artists style and found it very whimsical. It was stunning. However, there were many times where the words didn't match up with the scene...or more the art didn't convey the words very well. As in the action and words didn't match up at times. I also felt like the flow was very choppy and parts of dialogue that should have been in were missing. It camedown to poor adaption from book to graphic novel.

Plot- 6/10
The issue with adapting a novel into a graphic novel is that you have to leave out a lot of pieces - plot, dialogue, character build, etc. I think it's a very big challenge to make sure everything is captured so there are no plot holes or confusion. Unfortunately, that is what happened with this adaptation. There were many times that I felt like things were left out when they shouldn't have been, or random parts of the plot that did not fit at all. There were moments when I really didn't know what was the climax or what was the push in the story and was very disappointed. I always struggle with novel to graphic novel adaptions for this reason. If you are going to adapt a book into a graphic novel you need to make sure that the key points to the story are there and if not you need to make sure it's conveyed in the art, which it wasn't.

Also there was this entire back story about a potential war, assassinations, goddesses, etc. and we really get no explanation in any way shape or form in this g.n. Which made this entire novel all that more confusing. I mean there were a few flash backs but none that connected to the big issue which was preventing a war. 

Intrigue- 6/10
Do the fact that I felt like there were things missing, I found myself very bored with the graphic novel. Nothing held my attention for very long. Yes the art was beautiful but the story needs to be beautiful as well.

Logic - 5.5/10
This falls the same as the plot, because there was a poor transition from book to graphic novel and that pieces were missing...things just felt wrong. There was once instance in the graphic novel where the parents send Sydelle a letter....but they should have no idea where she is....she NEVER TOLD THEM. Or the beginning, there was NO LOGIC for Sydelle to leave her family and go on this adventure with a strange boy. None what so ever. There was nothing building up to her leaving and yet she just decides to leave, without telling her family. The logic is just not there. So many times I was flipping back saying "what...what is going on?" and I don't like getting that feeling. 

Enjoyment- 6/10
I loved the art work and I loved what they were trying to do with the plot, other than that I was just not impressed. I think the adaptation was done poorly and that there was a lot of important plot information that was left out. I really wanted to love this graphic novel but it just fell flat for me.

**I use the CAWPILE rating system created by BookRoast to do my reviews

Brightly Woven: The Graphic Novel

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