Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Reading Level: Ages 12 and up
Hardcover: 368 pages
Release Date: October 16, 2012
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Genre: Dystopian

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Amazon Summary:

What a tangled world she weaves...

For generations, Spinsters have been called by Arras’s Manipulation Services to work the looms and determine what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die. Gifted with the rare ability to weave time with matter, Adelice is exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in Arras, being chosen as a Spinster is everything a girl could want. It means privilege, eternal beauty, and being something other than a secretary. It also means the power to embroider the very fabric of life. But once you become a Spinster, there is no turning back. Now caught in a web of lies and intrigue, Adelice must decide who to trust: her kind mentor, Enora; the handsome and mysterious valet Jost; or the charismatic Guild ambassador Cormac Patton. They each have secrets, but Adelice is about to unravel the deadliest one of all, a sinister truth that could destroy reality as she knows it.

In a powerful and original debut about a world where the Guild decides everything, one extraordinary girl dares to defy the power of men and the boundaries of love.

My Review:

Crewel had a very original and creative theme, I'll give it that. The idea of every life, every building, and every weather pattern being controlled by strings on a loom was very intriguing and was the main reason I picked up this book in the first place. When I read reviews on Crewel, it seemed to me that you either love it or hate it. Unfortunately, I fell within the boundaries of the latter.

The protagonist, Adelice or Ad for short, annoyed me ceaselessly. At first she was timid and shy, which may not be my favorite type of character, but I still hold no grudges against it. Throughout the novel, there wasn't a gradual growing of character. It was like one second she was cautious and intimidated and the next she was brash and heedlessly ignored advice from people who only wanted to help her. She was impulsive and never planned things out at all. And when her dad dies and her sister is taken away? She doesn't mourn or cry like any other average teenage girl would do. She just accepts it as fact and moves on with her life. I mean, really?

The romance? Don't even get me started on that. As soon as she meets Jost, head valet in the Coventry, she immediately feels sparks and an intense connection with the guy. You don't even know him, and you're falling in love with him? Stupid Insta-love, please shoot me now. To make matters worse, she meets the second love interest, Erik, who is the assistant of a particularly evil spinster, and starts falling for him too. Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against love triangles. In fact, I usually crave them but this love triangle was unnecessary and totally ruined the book for me.

From the first 10% of the book, I was bored and had to force myself to keep reading. I kept on repeating to myself, Maybe it'll get better. Maybe it'll get better. I was right for a little while, but then the action just dropped again. The last 20% of the book got a little more interesting but towards the end, all I felt was confusion and the distinct feeling of, What the heck just happened?

I really hate writing bad reviews on books but sometimes you just have too. The concept was really fascinating but the way that the story was told just didn't suit my fancy. I don't doubt that plenty of readers will love the dystopian world that Gennifer creates, I just wasn't one of them.

Originality- 5/5

Heroine- 1.5/5
Romance- 1/5
Action- 2/5
Comedy- 2/5
Overall- 2/5

 

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