BRIGHTLY WOVEN: THE GRAPHIC NOVEL is an engaging adaptation of a YA fantasy book into graphic novel format. Sydelle is a young weaver in a small town when a wizard arrives chased by an army. The young wizard has a cloak in need of mending, as his cloaks help him to work his magic. Sydelle helps him, and when the army arrives sooner than expected, he enlists her help to escape them and get to the capital, where he hopes to stop the impending war. He has evidence about who actually poisoned the king, and it is not the neighboring kingdom people expect.

As they travel together, Sydelle has strange dreams of her weaving and magic at night while running from the army and a rogue wizard. This other wizard practices dark magic and is trying to prevent them from getting their information to the queen in time. They must work together to get there in time and have any chance of stopping war.

What I loved: The story was really engaging, and I loved the way the magic is portrayed in the images. Along these lines, the illustrations were phenomenal, really bringing the story to life, capturing emotions, and the use of color was brilliant- with muted tones when emotions call for it and bright ones elsewhere. The amount of text was perfect to keep the book moving quickly, with mostly dialogue that was clearly attributed. This was a graphic novel that was easy to read- and definitely readable in an afternoon, which is great because it was hard to put down.

The plot and novel move quickly here, and we get the key information presented throughout, though the format cannot delve as deeply into history and world-building as would probably exist in the full novel. Regardless, there is definitely enough information to understand what is going on and who all the players are. The story itself is really great too, with fun characters and lots of adventure.

What left me wanting more: The only thing I would want is more. While the story is adequate, it would have been fun to delve deeper into the world, magic, and the events that unfold (though I know this would have made the novel too long). There are also a few places that felt like abrupt switches, and characters that were not fully developed but important enough to appear and be named. It's just a great story and intriguing world, and I wanted more of it!

Final verdict: With fantastic illustrations, great characters, and a world of magic, BRIGHTLY WOVEN is an enthralling graphic novel adaptation that happily consumes an afternoon. This has definitely inspired me to check out the full novel, and I would highly recommend for fans of fantasy adventure, magical worlds, and strong graphic novels.