Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken

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 (alexandrabracken.com).

I really enjoyed reading this book! My favorite things from the book: The magic, the creative world created, and North. North is just awesome. He's a great knight-in-shining amour. I really liked the plot, even if it wasn't super complex. I couldn't guess some of the plot, which I like. Who likes a completely predictable plot? This is a really creative story, very much worthy of checking out.

Alexandra Bracken is a debut author and I am anxious for another book (sequel or not), although I don't think there's one in the works. Brightly Woven has an opening for a sequel but her web site says there's no sequel on the way. I hope this book gets popular enough so that there will demand for one. There are questions that I want answered and I would love to follow Sydelle's story some more.

Overall: 4/5