I love the story of Merida. She is one of my favorite Disney characters, so a book was well warranted. They couldn't. have picked a better author. she seamlessly blends this backstory with what we already knew. Highly recommended to anyone who loved the movie or wants to read it before watching the movie.

Maggie Stiefvater whisks readers away to long ago Scotland in Bravely, a novel continuation of the Pixar movie Brave. As a longtime fan of Brave, I was both ecstatic and apprehensive about a novel continuation. The same conundrums that put fear in the hearts of readers as their favorite books are adapted into films persists when beloved films are continued in book form. But I had nothing to fear– Bravely perfectly encapsulates the characters, setting, and heart of Brave while providing a gorgeous and thought provoking new storyline.
There are two kinds of people: those that seek out magic, and those that magic seeks out. Merida has always believed herself to be the latter. But when a late night knock draws her into the night, she stumbles into a life changing bargain.
One princess. Two gods. Three voyages. Four seasons.
Merida finds herself face to face, or rather face to ankle, with the god of ruin. Witty banter, classic Merida arguing, and one goddess of renewal later, Merida strikes a bargain to save DunBroch: she’ll change the castle, and everyone in it, to avoid ruin. Within twenty-four hours, she finds herself striking another bargain with a potentially dangerous clan that could, maybe, possibly help her with the changes she has in store. Or, it could invite ruin in faster.
Stiefvater’s gorgeous writing and expert storytelling set the stage for this epic YA novel that is incredibly engrossing. The philosophical concepts of death and renewal, change, and the bittersweet quality of growing up are all thought provoking individually, but packaged together create a beautiful tapestry of a story that stays with the reader long after the final page is turned.
Though every aspect of this book is wonderful, the character development is a large part of what makes it so un-put-down-able. As Merida tries to encourage change within each of her family members, readers have the opportunity to know those characters more deeply than the original film inspiration material provided. The humor and heart that lace the dialogue between Merida and Fergus, her father, is especially endearing. Merida’s interactions with her family are delightful, perfectly capturing sibling relationships and how they change over time. The difficult transition from childhood to adulthood, and teaching your parents to see you as an adult, was so well done. Merida’s love for her family shines through each interaction she has with them, even when she’s frustrated beyond measure. This makes every moment spent with Merida engaging.
Stiefvater weaves magical realism into the plot so beautifully that every moment feels organic, whether Merida is riding her horse and practicing archery or conversing with a god. Considering every word in a novel is a deliberate choice with the author guiding the reader specifically, any moment in a novel that feels organic shows the mastery of the writer. Bravely would be an ideal text to examine in a class for how to incorporate just the right amount of magical realism.
Every moment of this novel was a treat to read. I can’t recommend it enough. It will be staying with me, and I need everyone to go read it immediately so I have someone to discuss it with.
Bravely would be a next great read for fans of V.E. Schwab’s The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.
Bravely will be available May 3, 2022. Thank you to author Maggie Stiefvater, NetGalley, and Disney Publishing Worldwide for an advanced copy such that I could write this review.

I really loved the movie and wanted to love the book, but it felt very much like the movie all over again. Meet redheaded girl, girl is almost forced i to marriage, girl goes on a long journey, girl comes home. I couldnt really get into the story

Can Merida change her fate once again?

Merida has only been home for a short while after traveling, but she is already itching for another adventure. When she hears a knocking sound, she goes outside to investigate and finds a man outside, but he's not a man at all. He is Feradach, the god of ruin, and he plans to destroy DunBroch and everyone who lives there. Merida pleads with him, hoping to change DunBroch's fate, and she is granted a chance to do so by the Cailleach, an ancient god of creation. Merida is given one year to change everyone in her family in order to save DunBroch. EVERYONE must change, or Merida will be unsuccessful in saving her kingdom. Merida visits neighbouring kingdoms to experience how they live and inspire change in her family. Can Merida change the fate of DunBroch, or will she lose everything and everyone she has ever loved?
I have been so excited to read Bravely, and it was well worth the wait! I was instantly captivated by the story and I was rooting for Merida every second of the way. The author did an amazing job of describing the beautiful DunBroch and the characters were perfectly written. This felt like a true sequel to Brave and I could actually picture it being a movie! The narrator of the audiobook portrayed Merida and the other characters perfectly. I was pleased to read that Merida hadn't lost any of her sass, sarcasm, or general badassery. I would recommend this novel to anyone who loves Disney or YA fantasy novels!

Loved this story of Merida! The family dynamics were delightful, entertaining, and as real families are, a struggle at times. It was such a pleasure to go on this adventure with Merida and her various friends and family members. The gods were entertaining and fun to get to know, as well. I would say that this story was more aimed at middle-grade than at a YA audience, but I loved it all the same.

This was so entertaining! A YA novel set after Disney’s Brave movie written by one of my favorite authors was an easy YES for me!

I loved how this story unfolded, the ancient deities, the bargains, the adventures, this book was incredibly immersive!

This felt like highibg a favorite story. It was heartwarming, a little sad at times, adventurous, and full of strength! It left me with a lot of the same feelings i have after reading some of my favorite YA novels.

Merida has a year to save her family and along the way she learns more about herself, about love, about loyalty and family! I adored that this family felt so real, just like in any family hurt exists and coincides with love. Merida has to figure out how to navigate those familial bonds and allow the members of her family to be who they are while she also grows into who she is!

Bravely was an amazing read! Maggie Stiefvater wrote a story that truly portrayed the story of Merida in a whole new way! At first, I was nervous this book would be the retelling of the movie "Brave". I was sadly mistaken when I fell in love. From the first chapter, you are taken on an adventure through the world of brave. You fall in love with the characters all over again and truly get to know each character even further than we did in the movie. I would recommend this book to any fan of the movie "Brave" or Disney in general.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for providing an eARC of this title in exchange for my honest review.

“Later, as the snow began to fall on the shortest night of the year, as Merida went to the kitchen to get some fresh bread, as she stood there, looking in the fire and remembering, she heard a knock.” ― Maggie Stiefvater

This book made me cry in a very specific fairytale way. This is one of those books that I went into not knowing what to expect, but then it slapped me in the face with a lesson that I desperately needed to hear. I really enjoyed the expansion of characters that we know and love from the movie, like Queen Elinor, King Fergus, and the triplets (Hubert, Hamish, and Harris) and the wonderful new characters (and gods *eye emoji*) that we got to know along the journey. The ending? Ripped my poor little heart out. OW.

I would recommend this to any fans of the movie, Celtic mythology, and The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue.

I love a "what happens after" story, particularly when it is by an incredible author and about a story that I truly love. This book offers such a magical adventure and journey with some of the most wonderful characters I love to read about and follow in their lives. The world that Maggie Stiefvater creates is incredible and it is so full of magnificent writing and lush descriptions that it truly comes alive as it springs off of every page. I cannot recommend this enough for both fans and those unaware of the story of Merida alike. This is a grand tale and should not be missed!

I received this book in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley.

I have never seen the movie. I went in blind and didn’t know quite what to expect. And even with pretty solidly low expectations, it still exceeded them all. There were times when I simply could not put this book down. Reality could wait until the fantasy finished. The main character was very brave and hot headed. The plot kept me on the edge of my seat. The setting was a character itself and I enjoyed every minute of it. The only thing I would take a point away for was the ver6 lengthy descriptions. I wanted all of the actions and carefully snipped descriptions, but I still loved reading it. I now really want to see the movie and make connections there. Additionally, I cannot wait to read more books by this author.

Leave it to Maggie Stiefvater to be handed the story of brave and whip it into something even more wonderful and magical. This is a fantastic novelization retelling of a story plenty of people are more familiar with today than they were 20 years ago. I was hooked from the very start and finished this book in one sitting., I would love to see the author so this with other stories as well.

I really liked this story. Great positive messages for young readers and just so many good lessons. Will for sure be buying a physical copy!

I don't usually read these Disney sequel type books but I love Maggie Stiefvater and everything she writes so I was pretty excited for this!

I loved this. The writing, the story, the scenery. It's all amazing.

This was a good story. If you are a fan of Disney, specifically Brave, you’ll probably enjoy this story of Merida and her year to save everything she holds dear.
Merida of DunBroch wants a change. She does love her family and kingdom but she’s become frustrated with the mundane daily life she’s living. Every single day is just like the day before. She wants purpose and adventure and a bit of a challenge would be great as well! Little does she know she’s about to get more that she could have bargained for.
When Feradach arrives, a supernatural being who’s tasked with rooting out rot and stagnation on Christmas Eve he has the intent to demolish the kingdom and everyone in it. However, the Cailleach, an old being of creation, gives Merida a choice. Convince her family to change within the year or else there will be eternal consequences.
In order to see this through, and under watchful eyes of the gods, Merida has to set off on three different journeys to kingdoms near and far in an attempt to inspire revolution within her family. She has just one year to see everything through.
This was cute. It brings back characters and lands that are beloved by fans. This is definitely one that fans should read.

Love these Disney retelling and Maggie Stiefvater brings an extra dose of magic!

I did find this to be a bit of a slow burn, but overall entertaining. Excited for the next retelling!

Bravely is a book that takes place right after the movie Brave does. It follows merida who has one chance to save everyone she loves. This was one of my most anticpaited reads for the year because a) based on a disney movie I love and b) it's written by an author I love! So of course I had to get an arc of it and read it! I finished this book this morning and it was so good! I would admit that I almost put this book down because I had felt like it was slow and nothing was happening but that's because it's setting up the world we already know and getting to catch up with our characters that we already know! So if this book didn't picked up the pace halfway through I would never finished it, but overall I enjoyed this book. The writing was beautiful! The world building was amazing maggie stiefvater could not go wrong with any books! Also I felt like it was a very open ending for more to come (hopefully)! Overall rating 4/5 stars! #Bravely #bravelybook #maggiestiefvater #disneybooks #letstalkya #rockstarbooktours #giveaway #maggiestiefvaterbooks #merida #meridaofdunbroch #princessmerida #pixarbrave #bravemovie #disneyprincess #yabookstagram #yalit #youngadult #bookstagram #bibliophile #bookish #bookworm #igbooks #igreads

I was given an AR copy of this book by Disney via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I'd give it four stars. I like the plot where you have two Gods fighting to do their jobs and Merida fighting to keep her family and home. I think there could've been a bit more action and development/storyline with the villain in this storyline.

I wish that there was more hinting at what was going on with Harris instead of just kind of throwing it out there. Instead of made him look difficult and sullen for most of the book for no reason.

And over all I wish there was more potential for Merida and love finally. I love that the potential is still out there with the open ended finale though I wish it could've happen here. I'm not sure how another book could come out of this story line.

Overall, it's a good continuation of the original plot. Without ruining that storyline. If you like Brave I'd recommend the read

Many thanks to Netgalley and Disney Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest reveiw.

I love Merida!!! She is my favorite Princess of all time!! I was so excited to receive this book and I had high hopes for it. It didn't disappoint. I love her strength and confidence and had to track her down at my visit to the Disney parks.

I loved Brave so to read the continuation of that made my heart happy. This book is split into parts. The story spans the course of a year and the entire landscape of Scotland. Merida has just a year to prove to the gods that DunBroch and her family are not stagnant and are capable of change, and she finds that change has to come from within as well as from without. I loved how the author perfectly fit the myths and legends into this story.

Why the 4 star? I was sucked in until the end and then it seemed to fall short for me. Still an awesome book and probably my favorite this year.

When Brave came out I instantly fell in love with Merida, mainly her strength and confidence. When I had just finished reading The Raven Boys I got so excited to see a new book by the same author centered around Brave. I instantly knew I had to read it. Bravely adds so much to Merida and her story and takes you on new adventures alongside our favorite sassy princess. Maggie added so much depth and development to her story that it was a true joy to read.

Bravely by Maggie Stiefvater, 367 pages. Disney Press, 2022. $20.
Language: PG (1 swear, 0 “f” + 1 British swear); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: MS, HS - OPTIONAL
AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE
The Cailleach, goddess of creation, and Feradach, a god of ruin, have opposing intentions for DunBroch. Unwittingly, Princess Merida gets tangled up in the middle, thanks to her sometimes un-princess-like choices and a little bit of trickery. Now she has a bargain with Feradach that will determine whether creation or ruin succeeds in directing the future of her clan, her castle, and her kingdom.
Stiefvater sets this book several years after the movie, though the exact amount of time that has passed is ambiguous. Merida is still headstrong and needs to do things her way, but I didn’t enjoy reading this book as much as I wanted to – maybe because most of the characters felt too flat, maybe because I didn’t like Merida’s attitude, maybe because I felt like some of the characters were changed too much from the movie, and probably a combination of those things. I did love reading about the god of ruin: how he tries to show Merida the necessary role of ruin in our lives and the miracle of change even if it doesn’t first appear to be a miracle.
Merida, her family, her kingdom, and those they visit in the book are all Scottish. The mature content rating is for mentions of alcohol, and the violence rating is for death and battle scenes.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen