Review: Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Crewel by Gennifer Albin
Hardcover, 368 pages
Published October 16th 2012 by Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Goodreads|Amazon

Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That’s what the other girls whisper behind her back. But sixteen year-old Adelice Lewys has a secret: she wants to fail.

Gifted with the ability to weave time with matter, she’s exactly what the Guild is looking for, and in the world of 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 if controlling what people eat, where they live and how many children they have is the price of having it all, Adelice isn’t interested.

Not that her feelings matter, because she slipped and wove a moment at testing, and they’re coming for her—tonight.

Now she has one hour to eat her mom’s overcooked pot roast. One hour to listen to her sister’s academy gossip and laugh at her Dad’s stupid jokes. One hour to pretend everything’s okay. And one hour to escape.

Because once you become a Spinster, there’s no turning back.

So I had mixed feelings on this book. The beginning was a little slow for me. There was a little bit of excitement at the beginning but it was pretty much slow until about half way through. The last half of the book I liked, even though it was still a little slow in some parts. I’ll also say right off the bat that I will be picking up the second one when it comes out.

This was definitely a different book. I have never picked up anything like this before and I liked that aspect of it. I liked the book more once she actually started doing some weaving. This book had the typical love triangle and I would definitely put this in the insta-love category which I don’t particularly like. There were some twists that I was definitely not expecting and I usually like it when a book does that.

The women have no place in this book except for “womanly” jobs, i.e. secretary, teacher, cooking, having babies. “Old world thinking” is the best way I can think of to describe it. Girls and boys are also segregated in this world.

Let’s talk about the characters.

Adelice is the main character and she seems very naïve, but that seems to be normal for this world since girls and boys are separated. I feel sorry for her throughout most of the story but I don’t want to give away any spoilers so you will have to read that for yourself.

Cormac is a disgusting (as in perverted), power hungry, and definitely thinks women shouldn’t have power.

Erik love interest #1. I’m still a little confused about him. That happens at the end of the book though.

Jost is love interest #2. I am leaning toward liking him a little more but I’m not sure about that either.

 Pyrana is a bitch.

Enora I really liked.

I noticed on Goodreads that this had mixed reviews. I really can pinpoint a group of people that I think would like this. Anyway, like I said, I will be looking out for the second book. I’m interested to see where the author takes this.

My Rating:

*This book was provided by the publisher & NetGalley in return for an honest review.