Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Release Date: October 16, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Source: BEA 2012
Rating: 
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Enter a tangled world of secrets and intrigue where a girl is in charge of other’s destinies, but not her own.
Sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has always been special. When her parents discover her gift—the ability to weave the very fabric of reality—they train her to hide it. For good reason, they don’t want her to become a Spinster — one of the elite, beautiful, and deadly women who determine what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die.
Thrust into the opulent Western Coventry, Adelice will be tried, tested and tempted as she navigates the deadly politics at play behind its walls. Now caught in a web of lies and forbidden romance, she must unravel the sinister truth behind her own unspeakable power. Her world is hanging by a thread, and Adelice, alone, can decide to save it — or destroy it. – Goodreads
Review:
Like many others, I was so eager to dive into Crewel because it sounded unlike anything else in YA. The ability to weave time with matter? Embroider the fabric of life? Yes, please! I was all for learning about a new world, especially with the main character, Adelice, in a position of power as a Spinster. Although I was somewhat confused about what everything meant, I was definitely pulled into the story when Adelice endured a lot in the first few pages. I enjoyed finding out what being a Spinster entailed, finding out who the major players were, and discovering how Adelice fit into the bigger picture. Unfortunately, the book lagged in the middle for me and I think it sort of fell into the contrived plot lines of many other YA dystopian novels.
If you hate love triangles, well, Crewel does have one and I felt pretty blah about it. I feel that Adelice and her main guy rushed too quickly into their feelings. Gennifer Albin didn’t quite develop them and I was definitely left puzzled when they were proclaiming their love for another; it didn’t add up for me.
Adelice herself was fairly likable. I do think she settled too quickly into her new life, and that she didn’t properly mourn for all that she lost, but I did admire her feistiness. I do wish I had been able to better understand her motivations, though, as I felt a lot of that was just told instead of shown.
While perhaps not the read I was hoping it would be, Gennifer Albin’s Crewel offers plenty for other readers to enjoy in its premise.
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About Stephanie
Interesting… I still can’t believe I haven’t read this. I was SO excited for it!
I enjoyed this one, but I too had problems with the world and definitely did not like the love triangle at all. It’s an interesting read though, and the concept is pretty smart!
I hated the love-triangle. It wasn’t believable in my eyes and it went too fast. The unique setting made this book enjoyable for me and I loved to learn more about this original world. Great review! :)
Mel@thedailyprophecy.
Yeah, I was really skeptical of all the love-ness in this book… didn’t buy either of them. I did like her writing style, though…