In the nation of Balmoore, young women may develop a unique skill as they reach puberty, a special talent reflecting her personality and imbuing magic into her hair. These girls are known as silkwitches, and their hair provides the raw material for Weavers to create magesilk, a valuable substance that puts a little magic into anything that incorporates it; however, the laws state that silkwitches may only marry a Weaver to prevent their precious hair from falling into the wrong hands, and if a silkwitch fails to secure a Weaver husband before her twenty-first birthday, she will be sent to the mysterious cloisters on Isle d’Eylau never to emerge again.
Lovett Tamerlane gained the ability to open any door (locked or unlocked) in her early teens, but with a much higher quantity of silkwitches than Weaver grooms, her modest background, lack of connections, and use of her Wit to steal for her clients mean her days of freedom may quickly end. When Eliot Lear, son of one of the most prominent Weaver families, offers her the pick of Weaver husbands in exchange for entering a marriage competition to unravel the secret of his sister’s death, she jumps at it. After all, what does she really have to lose? Besides, Lovett desperately longs to win at something at the cost of all else.
Lydia Gregovic’s The Weaver Bride creates a slow burn of fantasy and mystery. While there are hints of standard YA tropes, Lovett refuses to be confined to a standard plot and stomps all over them readily. The other silkwitches in the Vainglory also dance around stereotypes and break them throughout the novel. Above all, Gregovic’s storytelling weaves a spell that sucks readers in and keeps them guessing until the last word.
Lovett is an amazing protagonist because she may be the first clearly defined female anti-hero I’ve read in a YA context. She’s unabashedly self-serving, willing to betray anyone, and longs to win the Vainglory solely to win rather than any affection for the husband she’d acquire. While her relationship with Eliot develops into something gentler than employer and employee, don’t be fooled into thinking this is a YA rendition of My Fair Lady. No amount of elocution and dance lessons can change Lovett’s fundamental nature.
The other nine girls competing in the Vainglory receive distinct personalities thanks to the revelation of their Wits, but the first ones eliminated mostly fade from the story without a backward glance. (If Lovett doesn’t care much about them, why should we?) Alliances are made and secrets brought to light over the course of the competition. Some of the girls may be more interested in the previous year’s events than winning, but who are they and what do they hope to gain?
I loved The Weaver Bride enough that I read through a second time to catch the nuances and hints I missed on my first pass. I knew the story was different, but the final pages stunned me in a way I haven’t experienced with a book for years. If you want a story with magic, competitions, and a group of young women who really want to stab each other in the back, check this book out. The subtle commentary on women’s roles and breaking the patriarchy are just an added bonus…
5 Mysterious Underground Labyrinths out of 5
Publisher: Random House Children’s Books | Delacorte Press
Author: Lydia Gregovic
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