The “girl” in the prologue’s introductory sentence is, of course, Merida. The prologue begins with: “This is the story of two gods and a girl.” It continues in folk-tale fashion, outlining the origins of two gods – one of creation, the other of destruction – and their relationship to Merida’s home of DunBroch, and in present day, to Merida herself. Intrigue imbedded in a captivating and thought-provoking Scottish fairytaleīravely is intrigue embedded in a captivating and thought-provoking Scottish fairytale which nabs the reader from the start. But in her efforts to save those she loves from ruin, has Merida lost sight of the Clan member grown most stagnant of all – herself? Under the watchful eyes of the gods, Merida leads a series of epic journeys to kingdoms near and far in an attempt to inspire change within her family. Only the intervention of the Cailleach, an ancient entity of creation, gives Merida a shred of hope: convince her family to change within the year – or suffer the eternal consequences. Merida longs for adventure, purpose, and challenge.īut the fiery Princess never expects her disquiet to manifest by way of Feradach, an uncanny supernatural being tasked with rooting out rot and stagnation, who appears in DunBroch on Christmas Eve with the intent to demolish the realm – and everyone within. But she's frustrated by its sluggishness each day, the same. She loves her family-jovial King Fergus, proper Queen Elinor, the mischievous triplets- and her peaceful kingdom.

It obviously just needed Stiefvater in the mix. I was disappointed that Disney Pixar’s Brave missed the mark for me (I felt it did not quite have that heart-thumping magic that Disney Pixar so often gets right), but this disappointment is cured by Bravely – a thrilling adventure that the characters, setting and potential of the original Merida story had from the very beginning. It has all the elements that make up an enticing traditional Disney story – a strong princess, an emotional and philosophical dilemma, a beautiful setting, etc – and much, much more.

Bravely by New York Times Best-Selling author Maggie Stiefvater is everything I hoped Brave would be.

Brave 2 release date 2022