I really enjoyed this book. It was well paced and the characters were fully formed. I would enjoy reading other work by this author in the future.

Maggie Stiefvater's Bravely was a joyous return to one of my favorite Disney princesses, Merida. Her story of Merida's year-long adventure to save her family and home had me flipping the pages furiously to see how this story would end. I've really enjoyed Disney's novelizations of their previous films: Twisted Tales and the Villains series, especially.
Stiefvater recreated a Scotland rife with rich traditions and magic that made me want to keep returning to go on more adventures with Merida and her family. I do wish there was a little more development of her three brothers since their stories and character arcs are important to the resolution. Since we did not get much about the boys in the movie, I was hoping for more development here where the author has more space to build each brother when Merida makes her various trips.
There are plenty of twists and turns throughout to keep readers engaged whether they are returning to a much beloved princess or meeting Merida and the DunBroch family for the first time. Many of the new characters, specifically the two ancient gods, are wonderful and encircle the reader in this mystical world.
This librarian hopes for more from the world of Brave!

This story is about a girl and 2 gods.
There was enough of the Disney personalities in this to truly feel like a sequel to Brave, while still being an entirely Maggie book.
It inspired me to research Scottish history and mythology as well.
I enjoyed getting to know the triplets, as well as Elinor's history.
Overall, a great read!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an early copy to review.

Bravely is a thoughtful fairytale about ruin and renewal. It is also a follow-up to the Pixar movie Brave. For me, these two things did not go together. It could be because I watched the movie only hours before I started reading the book, but I could tell that the tone was very different. The main tone I thought of when returning to the book each time was quiet dread. Stiefvater had to add layers to the characters in order to have anything to work with since in the movie the characters only have as many layers as their role requires. While necessary and more nuanced, it changed the characters from how we knew them in the movie and so, again, it felt weird as a follow-up.

I would say that Stiefvater’s book interacts with the history and culture of Scotland more than Brave did, so if you’re looking to feel more of the realism of the era than I would recommend Bravely. I also like the fairytale structure of the story and the exploration of change as those themes did fit the movie, although in a drastically different tone.

Merida is visited by two gods, one of ruin and one of renewal. In order to save her family and kingdom she has to get every member of her family to change by the end of the year or the god of ruin will do what he does and destroy the place to bring renewal and balance. Throughout the story Merida has to come to terms with the change she is bringing to her family. Even though the change will save their lives Merida likes to keep things the way they are. In addition, the god of ruin shows her the change he brings by his power and Merida has to reconcile her feelings about ruin (on the large scale and on the individual level) and the positive results it ultimately has on the places and people it impacts.

The novel is didactic in the way that many fairytales are. It reminded me of Steifvater’s novel All the Crooked Saints. Although I did not enjoy Bravely, the thing that kept me reading was the thoughtful aspect of it. A story exploring the positive impacts of ruin during COVID era is certainly interesting. I would describe it as a pagan approach to the question why does God allow bad things to happen, although without the danger that one incurs from saying all things happen for a reason during a period of tragedy. As Merida struggles to understand ruin the reader must as well. I wonder how a reader who didn’t have that viewpoint already would react. If I was reading this as a teen I’m sure I would find it to be incredibly profound, but I feel like I’ve already been on Merida’s journey and it was more confirming than eye-opening.

*Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Bravely does justice both to Disney magic and to Stiefvater magic — which is nothing but an incredible feat. Those who wish to return to Merida will be pleased, and those looking for a story with Stiefvater’s signature magic will not be disappointed. This lush Scottish tale makes even a god of destruction sympathetic. A lovely read I’ll be sure to recommend.

Bravely is the perfect companion piece for the Pixar movie, starring an older but not always wiser Merida. Stiefvater does an amazing job capturing the spirit of these beloved characters and weaving them into a gorgeous narrative about the inevitability of change.