Merida is the spit fire girl who refused to bend to an old rule that would have her marry instead of rule. Now she is is tasked with one of the hardest tasks, to change her family. Ever since Brave, the family has fallen to complacency and now have stopped changing and progressing. The book is infused with magic and grit but it lacked the spark that Merida first brought to Brave. The intriguing plot and theme of change being a good thing was prevalent, it seemed everything that had happened in Brave never occurred. Which made this book feel strained against who the original Merida was. The triplets where the most developed characters and it was interesting to read how they differed in characteristics and personality. Merida's parents on the other hand seem less developed and not as fleshed out.

Loved Bravely so much! I had enjoyed Disney's Merida so was looking forward to this sequel in book format and had to request it the minute I saw it. Here's a list of what I loved about this book:

- Maggie Stiefvater wrote it!!
- Amazing cover
- Magic and bets and tricksters
- The book is divided per season
- There are myths and history imbedded into the story
- Bad guy who is more misunderstood than bad

Really hoping they'll make a second movie out of this!!

Thank you to NetGalley and the author for a book in exchange for a review.

I loved the Disney movie Brave and when this book was available on NetGalley I knew that I had to read BraveIy. I loved reading this book, it took me a while because I was reading it on my kindle but I loved reading this book. I loved seeing Merida and her family in this book and reading about the development of Merida was amazing and I loved the story. The plot was well-paced and the prose was beautifully written and easy to read. This book kept me wanting to read more with its fast pace and entertaining plot. and the ending was good but bittersweet and left me wanting more from the story but it is also a solid standalone book.

Overall I would recommend this book to fans of Disney Movies, the Twisted Tales series, and fairy tale retellings. I will be buying this book to reread in the future. This was one of the most interesting reads this year.

What a fun continuation of Merida’s story! I loved the story of Merida and watching Brave so when I saw this book I was excited to read it. Thankfully, it was as entertaining as I hoped it would be.

While the description says it takes place several years after the Brave took place, it feels like it’s been quite a while as the triplets are nearly grown and Merida has spent a lot of time traveling before returning home, where she meets Feradach and Cailleach. The two Gods have an ongoing battle between destruction and creation and Merida finds herself, and everyone she loves, stuck in the middle. In the movie, the twins couldn’t be told apart but within this story they all had very different personalities which I liked. The dynamics between Merida and her parents felt true to their previous interactions but they didn’t feel like a central part of the story. I also liked the addition of Merida’s adopted sister, Leezie. The stakes felt higher and I was all in with this journey. There were a few unexpected twists and overall, I found this to be a really enjoyable read.

~Bravely Review~
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3/5
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I love maggie stiefvater and brave so i thought this would a fun one to read! thanks netgalley for giving me early access!
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Pros:
+love the idea of cailleach and feradach
+classic chaos of a bargain
+archery<3
+learning more about the triplets
+i think feradach and their power is super cool
+”the stolen village” chapter was super interesting
+change is a good thing
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Cons:
-i think this is supposed to be after the movie? not sure when this takes place
-don’t think i’m the target audience for this book tbh
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i didn’t hâte or love this book. i think people younger than me would enjoy it a lot more.

This one took me a while to get into, but I liked it by the end. I was surprised by how violent it was in parts, considering it's a Disney book, but I appreciated how it didn't shy away from showing how violence begets violence and how war has such negative effects. In all honesty, I think I would have liked the book more if it were a standalone story rather than one tied to Brave, because I kept comparing the book and movie, particularly how characters behaved in each. Overall, it was a good read, but I probably would not pick it up again.

I tried reading this book twice. First on my kindle when I got it as an e-ARC and later on as an audiobook. I got over half way through and realized that I am just not interested. For some reason, the premise of the plot did not grab me. The initial bargain that is struck in the beginning of the book was not very clear to me (or the heroine for that matter). I honestly could not stay focused on the story and finally lost interest. It is a DNF for me at this point. I am not sure what age this book is billed for, but it reads very young, more middle grade than YA. The cover however is stunning. Very disappointed.

A good book for younger readers, however I was irked by poor kindle formatting in this edition and wasn't a fan of the omniscient type storyteller writing. I do usually love Stiefvater's YA books, but this one wasn't for me.

I cannot imagine a better choice for an author to continue Merida’s story than the brilliant Maggie Stiefvater. Hilarious at points, edge-of-your-seat suspense at others, this whimsical fairytale-like adventure is everything I hoped it would be. All in all, a definite recommend. 4.5 rounded down.

A fun twist to the Brave story as we see the after effects of what happened in the movie! Merida is still brave and true but there's more at stake than her mother being turned into a bear this time! Can she overcome the giant task ahead of her in time to save her home?

I love the movie Brave and this book takes place about a year after. I love Maggie Stiefvater's writing and enjoyed her spin on Merida and the Brave world. Merida is approached by a God and challenged to help save Dunbroch by making changes and keeping it from disaster. I listened to the audiobook and the accents were fabulous and kept me engrossed in the story. I felt I was part of the story and in Scotland along with Merida trying to save Dunbroch and her family.

Really enjoyed this one! Bravely continues the story of my favorite Disney Princess and is set several years after the events in Brave. After Merida goes on a grand adventure she returns home but soon learns that her entirely family is in danger from a God who seeks to destroy places where growth has stagnated and unfortunately for Merida and her family, DunBroch is in his sights. Merida makes a deal between herself, Ferradach (the God of Destruction) and the Cailleach (God of Creation) that if she can prove in a year that her family has changed her beloved home will be spared. I felt like the author perfectly captured Merida's spirit here and the folklore aspect was really interesting. There were a few slow spots but there was also adventure and unexpected romance but not the mushy gushy but the more nuanced kind which is great because Merida is kick ass and I'm betting most people want her to remain so. Nothing grinds my gears more than a heroine whose entire personality changes because of a love interest. Glad that didn't happen here. Anyway, I think Brave fans will like.

Merida longs for adventure and change. Feradach shows up and plans on destroying DunBrach, but Cailleach intervenes and Merida is given a year to convince her family to change. It is set after the Disney movie. I was super excited to see Cailleach. I have seen so many stories about her and I love her role as Queen of Winter. It was nice to see her included. I am not familiar with Feradach except as a long lost king of Ireland, but the book does address that also. You can tell that Maggie Stiefvater is familiar with Celtic Mythology.

At the beginning I planned to write about how the story was predictable, but still very enjoyable. But I got to the end of the book and predictability went out the window. I did not see that coming and I read thousands of books every year. I highly recommend this book to both Disney fans, but also lovers of mythology or Celtic culture. It will definitely be a book I visit again and again!

5 stars

Bravely, by Maggie Stiefvater, is a follow-up YA novel to the 2012 Pixar movie Brave. It follows Merida, who discovers that Feradach, a god of destruction tasked with rooting out stagnation, is planning on destroying her home kingdom. She bargains for a year to get her family to change to try and avoid this death sentence. Meanwhile, the family is trying to avoid conscription or attack by a human warlord-type person. The remainder of the book is divided into a series of trips in which Merida is hypothetically serving as an ambassador for her kingdom, but is really trying to bring about character growth in whichever of her family members is accompanying her.

It was okay. I liked Brave well enough, but it was never my favorite Disney Princess movie, so I wasn't terribly invested going in. Stiefvater's writing is usually pretty hit-or-miss for me, so I knew there was a chance I would be disappointed, and indeed I was.

I will say that the characters are all wonderful. Stiefvater does a really good job giving each of Merida's family members distinct personalities and individual struggles. The triplets all get to be separate characters, which was interesting to see, and I particularly enjoyed Elinor's backstory, as well as the introduction of Leezie, a head-in-the-clouds servant who has become a part of Merida's family to the extent that she calls her her sister.

I'm not sure how I feel about the world-building. On the one hand, I had absolutely no idea what was going on with the human wars at any point in the book. There was absolutely not enough background for me to understand it, and it also felt like a completely unnecessary plot=line regardless; I don't think it added to the story. On the other hand, it's a very atmospheric book, and I really enjoyed the setting in medieval Scotland, the different distinct kingdoms that Merida visits, and the overall treatment of magic in the story.

I think my main issue with this was the plot structure. It almost felt like a short story collection more than a single novel, since it was basically divided into three disconnected journeys. It just didn't feel lie a cohesive book, and there wasn't enough of a continuous storyline to make me feel that invested. This is especially disappointing because Maggie Stiefvater is usually so good a plot, but this part of the book just really was not working for me.

One thing I will say is that I think the outrage surrounding Merida having some semblance of a romance in this book is absolutely absurd. I'm demisexual, and I do get very attached to ace-coded characters, but I have never considered Merida to be one of those characters. Like, not wanting to get married in your mid-teens to one of three very bad options is absolutely not the same thing as ace-aro-coding, so acting like Merida is a canonically acearo character that Maggie Stiefvater is desecrating is completely absurd.

Overall, Bravely was fairly enjoyable. If you're a Maggie Stiefvater superfan or a fan of the movie, then definitely give it a shot. If you like Brave, you'll like this; I just don't think I was enough of a fan of the movie to get invested enough in the book to overlook the plot structure issues. I'm giving Bravely 3.5/5 stars.

4/5 stars

I received an ARC of this book, and I am voluntarily leaving a review.

When I first heard the announcement about this book, my mind was blown. Brave, a Disney movie I love, was getting a sequel in book form by an author, Maggie Stiefvater, whose books I love? I knew I needed a copy of this!

I was so curious how Stiefvater would continue Merida's story. Not only did she write an amazing book, but I think she captured Merida in a way that made her feel even more relatable and realistic than before.

This story picks up a few years after Brave took place. Merida ends up making a bargain with two gods in order to save her family. On top of this, dangerous people come to DunBroch with bad intentions. Merida, spurred by her family's inaction, decides to go on three journeys to save her family from ruin.

This was a delight to read! My favorite thing about it was Merida's relationship with her family. Her love for them drives the story, and it was nice to learn more about the family members without much of a role in the movie. I especially liked the scenes with the triplets!

I also loved the lore, the setting, and following along with Merida on her journeys! I fell in love with DunBroch by the end of it all!

There were a few times when the book felt a little slow, but it was still an amazing story! If I could give the ending alone a rating, it would definitely get 5 stars! I was so attached to all of the characters by the end.

I would recommend this to fans of the original movie! I kinda wish Maggie would write another book for the DunBroch family to follow this one!

Content: clean, some violence

3.5/5⭐️ to Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater. Thanks to Disney Books for an egalley to review! If you love Disney and light fantasy, particularly for teen/pre-teen readers I'd definitely recommend this one! This follows Merida a couple of years after the ending of the movie Brave as she goes on a magical quest to save her family & kingdom from ruin. Although not particularly unique in and of itself, I liked the spin this book took on the magical quest genre - both with Merida being our protagonist and with the introduction of Feradach and Cailleach as the inciting characters and the reason for Merida's journey. There were two main aspects I really liked about this book beyond the characters, who were all great: the variety of places & people Merida visits over the story, and the focus on character change. I did find the book a bit slow at times, but when Merida would spend time in different towns my interest was peaked and it demonstrated how there are negatives and positives to living in different places. When I talk about character change in the book, in order to save her family Merida needs to prove she & the rest of her family are capable of change (for the better). Not only was it interesting to see various characters work on themselves or discover new things about themselves, but I just liked the overall message about not becoming stagnant in your own life and to consider how you could improve yourself. Was this the best book I've read so far this year? No? But is it worth reading for younger fantasy and Disney fans? I think so!!

I am going to be honest and say that I didn't like Brave. I know, I know. You can tell me I suck, but I just thought that movie was going to be something different not...bears. Lame.
Well, with that in mind, it took me a while to get into this. However, I requested it via NetGalley because Maggie wrote it. She is so good and I trusted her. Ultimately, this story is what I thought Brave was going to be AND it was a re-telling of Sir Gwain and the Green Knight AND the audio version is read by the incomparable and flawless Fiona Hardingham, so by the time I made it past the midway point, it rolled downhill and it was really good.
In Maggie I trust.
Now. Disney, she's written this book for you, isn't it time you make the Scorpio Races film?

3.75 stars rounded up to 4 stars

Many thanks to NetGalley and Disney Press for an early copy. All opinions are my own.

Brave has always been one of my favorite Disney movies. When I heard that Maggie Stiefvater was coming out with a sequel to the movie, I was super excited to read it. Let me start off by saying I did enjoy the book. The whimsical-ness of the first book was certainly still there. I loved the magic and how everyone kind of changed. What I didn’t like was Merida’s characterization. It seems like she went on this huge journey and then all of that was forgotten by the end because she still didn’t change. Maybe that’s just me.

I do really enjoy Maggie’s writing, so I’ll definitely be reading more of her books in the future. I do think younger YA readers would really enjoy Bravely more so than older YA readers.

Following the storyline of the movie Brave, our dear princess Merida decides to go on a trip to help expand her horizons. When she returns home to DunBroch, she is met with the same old, dreary lifestyle and day-to-day longing for more adventure. Merida isn't the only one who has noticed this stagnation in DunBroch. Feradach, a god that is meant to seek out and destroy stagnation, ends up crossing paths with Merida and strikes a deal to hold off destroying DunBroch for one year...on one condition; that Merida gets the inhabitants of DunBroch to noticeably change.

I was a huge fan of the Brave movie, so when I heard about this book I knew I had to read it.

It definitely lived up to many of my expectations. Merida was the same fiery girl that we loved in the movie and is still hell-bent on doing things her way. But she was slightly more matured too, which was really nice to see. The two gods in the book were also an amazing addition to the story. I had been expecting them to just be present once or twice, but both had fully realized positions in the story.
I know this is technically classified as a YA and it definitely has those elements. But parts of it read almost NA sometimes, so it is definitely a book that many people will enjoy.
This was a story that was full of the lore and culture of Scotland, which was written so beautifully. It also focused on all the things that can come about with change: the good, the bad, and the ugly.
The one thing I didn't like, which seems to be common between reviewers, is how open ended the ending was. I felt like it could have been drawn a bit tighter and still left a bit for people to imagine. Another issue I had was the pacing. I found myself picking this book up very periodically and for short amounts of time because between spikes in adventure/action there was very low and slow lulls. I like a more consistent pace with my books.

Thanks to NetGalley and Disney Publishing Worldwide for the eARC in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

This installation of the Brave Story takes place 10 years in the future where Merida is now 20 and has come to peace with her mother and siblings. The triplets are still terrors but somewhat under control. That is until Federdach, the god of ruin wants to grow again, and to grow, he must destroy. So Merida must get her family to change so they can grow. This is a wonderfully written story done in only a way Stiefvator can do it. It reminds me a bit of the moody Shiver series and how atmospheric and full of depth that was.

The story is so descriptive that you can see and feel the fabric of a dress and smell the aroma of the food. I normally prefer dialogue to description, but this one nails it in both places. This is an excellent retelling - well, not exactly a retelling, but an expansion of the Brave story.