I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing style, but I am just not interested in the world of Brave. I think this is a great book if you loved the movie Brave and want a continuation to the story. Ms. Stiefvater's writing style works really well for the historical and paranormal world of Brave. The character Melinda is true to her movie self, and she has great interactions with her family.

I very much enjoyed this!

Brave is one of those Disney movies that I feel is incredibly underrated, so I was thoroughly intrigued by this book, especially knowing that this was written by none other than Maggie Stiefvater!

Overall, I had an enjoyable experience. I loved the author's writing and how atmospheric this book was. It made me want to cozy up right next to a fireplace while drinking a cup of hot chocolate.

However, I did have a couple of issues with the story itself. For a book that's all about character growth, the obstacles that were thrown in our characters' way were easily overcome. I didn't see them "deserve" the development they got. Maggie Stiefvater did a fantastic job at portraying the characters we have grown to love in the movie, but I do wish she had made them work harder to get where they got in the end.

Also, I felt like the pacing was a little off. I was expecting a story filled with adventures, but I ended up a little disappointed by how uneventful they were.

That being said, I still believe fans of Brave will thoroughly enjoy this one!

I don't know if it's just because I kept subconsciously comparing the characters, style, and worldbuilding to the movie, but something in this just fell flat for me. I wasn't excited about reading it, though overall it was a decent story, and well-written in the distinct, echoing style all of Stiefvater's novels.

***Thank you to NetGalley and to the publishers for allowing me to access this book in digital form.***

“Around DunBroch, Merida was considered hot-tempered. She felt this was unfair and only because she was a girl, as she had three redheaded triplet brothers who were far more likely to pop off in anger than she was, and they never got called hot-tempered. What she was, she felt, was quick-witted. She didn’t take a lot of time to put her reactions together. Sure, sometimes that reaction was a blunt reply, but sometimes, that was what was deserved. For instance, sometimes you were a stranger in the night and what was needed was a fireplace shovel to the back of the knee and then a pursuit. In the back of her head, she heard a tiny voice that sounded a lot like her mother’s saying, Merida, princesses do not chase strangers barefoot through the night! Merida narrowed her eyes. She gave chase.”

This was a whole new story set in the future and I loved every minute of it. I waited in the longest hold list at my public library just to immediately buy the ebook with the audiobook. Worth it. Seriously, worth every penny. This audiobook is magical. Magic, magic, magic. I love Maggie Stiefvater’s way of writing, especially the way she writes young romance. It builds slowly but solid. It’s slow coming but then all consuming. And that twist!! I both loved and hated it. I’m still thinking about it and how unexpected it was for me, yet made complete sense. It hurt.

Back to the story, this is a story about two gods and a girl. And what a story it was. I adored the family and how much they changed. Leezy, a new character, was the much needed sister Merida always needed. The triplets growing into young teens with such different personalities. The concept of time and change and growth. Along with destruction and ruin. This book had it all and it was such a treat to listen to it. The two Gods, Cailleach and Feradach along with Merida and her secret quest made this book so interesting and full of action.

This takes place about a year after the movie and DunBroch has fallen into stagnation. The castle and its residents are going to be destroyed by Feradach the god of destruction before Merida strikes up a bargain with the Cailleach. If she can change her family in a year she will save them from destruction, but can she change them all. I greatly enjoyed this book, it gave everyone especially the triplets more of a personality and backstory, and added in Leezie who was an interesting character. Maggie Stiefvater did a good job keeping Merida as the same character that the movie created.

I...enjoyed this book, I enjoyed it, but I didn't love it. I loved the Brave the movie and maybe I put to much into what this book was going to be and let my expectations get the best of me. That being said, what I enjoyed of it at first: the writing was fantastic. While sometimes it read a little MG to me, it was refreshing from the YA books I've been reading.

The story and plot where great, I enjoyed the characters and their story arcs that where more fleshed out and able to follow along with them. Something I wasn't a fan of was the ending. Merida was a strong and independent female. While I love a good romance, I don't think she needed it. She was fantastic on her own.

That being said, I enjoyed the book but didn't love it. I would give it a solid 3.5 stars.

This was a fun twist on the Disney classic. Brave is honestly one of my least favorite Disney Princess movies, but this book manages to steal my heart anyway.

I gave this a four out of five stars. I really enjoyed this retelling. I really like the characters. I love Maggie’s writing, she’s the main reason I requested this. I have enjoyed everything that I’ve read from her so far!

I just could not get into this book and ended up skipping to the end. I usually enjoy Stiefvater, but in this case, the characters felt too different from those established by the movie and it took me out of the experience. Had the girl not been named Merida and had the back story to Brave, I may have really enjoyed this book. Stiefvatar writes well, she creates great dialogue and action, I just could not get past characterization and did not finish.

I think this is a hard book for me to review because overall I did not enjoy the writing style at all. It felt overly wordy and personally not in the enjoyable way. It was a hard to push through I almost DNF'd this. Granted too it might be that it's intended for a younger audience but l've read other middle grade books and this one just felt different.

I think I might have over hyped this up in my head too much from the cover and the idea of a Brave part 2 type of story. I found my mind wandering and not caring and for a book I thought would be a fun easy read coming from a Disney story did not find that. I love the movie Brave and adore Merida but this story seems to have lost that magic. Maybe if I had never watched or known anything about the movie version of Merida I could enjoy this story more. It was hard to connect with the characters too I think again the writing style had me detached. Overall this book I think just isn't for me. Maybe for a younger audience or someone who enjoys the authors writing style they would enjoy this.

This was everything I was hoping for and more. An absolutely fantastic continuation of Merida’s story.

Loved this! I really like that it takes place after the events of the Disney movie. I loved the deep dive into Merida’s world as she’s my fave!

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the advanced reader copy. This is my honest review.

I am not sure why I never picked up any of Maggie Stiefvater’s books before (like The Raven Boys), but better now than never, right? I loved Bravely from the very first line to the end. It is hard to decide my favorite character though it might be easy to fall back on the protagonist, but I cannot pick one here. This is one read that both older and younger readers can enjoy together, and I am guessing can (and might) be easily transformed to the screen in some adaptation at some point.

Thanks to NetGalley for the digital review copy of this book.

I really loved the movie Brave, it's one of my favorite Disney movies, so I had really high hopes for this book. However I feel like this book fell a bit short for me. I liked the idea of the story, that Merida had a year to try and save her family. I just felt like the execution was a bit off. Part of that was the romance in the story, I just wasn't a fan. While I liked the love interest character, I really just love the idea of Merida being uninterested in romantic relationships. I feel like as a character, Merida prioritizes just about everything before romance, and that's one of the things I love about her.. I love a romance, but not every story needs one, and I really felt like this one didn't. I think it would have been better if the time was instead spent on building her relationships with her family instead. I've hear a lot of really great things about Maggie Stiefvater as an author, but based off of this book alone, I wasn't super impressed. I think the story just felt a bit rushed, and off. I do think this is worth a read, it is an entertaining book, it just wasn't the super rich story that I was expecting from a story that is centered on Merida.

I've always been such a big fan of Maggie Stiefvater's writing style since Shiver and Scorpio Races and when I heard she was creating a cannon Disney book, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. The book takes place about a year after the events of the Disney movie Brave, where headstrong Merida chases a god into the woods. Once she found out what the gods had in store for her beloved family home, she became determined to stop it, making a bargain between the god of new beginnings and the god of ruin. Merida has 1 year to invoke change in her family in order to save them. I really liked this one. Just positive messages and a good story

If there is one Disney movie I wanted to see a follow up story for, it is Brave. Who doesn't love the strength, independence, and fierceness of Merida? This book does not disappoint with a good storyline and strong characters. I would recommend it to anyone who wants more to the story of Merida.

Teens who watched Brave when they were kids will adore how this novel continues the story and ages it up so that it's still perfect for them.

I'm really enjoying a deeper dive into Merida's world. Getting to know the triplets individually, thinking about our roles in the world and how much we are responsible for continuing to make it better. I'm still reading it, but have already started recommending it to my YA reading Disney fans.

This was such a fun continuation of Brave! I loved seeing so many of our favourite characters back. Merida cant sit still long and this was a really fun adventure to read about. Highly recommend for Brave fans!

If you're a fan of the film 'Brave', you will enjoy Maggie Stiefvater's 'Bravely'. As a sequel to the film, 'Bravely' gives readers more to explore with Merida's lore and is an all-around great read!