BOOK REVIEW :: crewel by gennifer albin

Title: Crewel
Author: Gennifer Albin
Series: Crewel World #1

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Published: October 4th 2012

Pages:  360 

Book: For Review*

Format: Finished Copy

Genre: Young Adult (YA), Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance, 

Summary: 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.
-blurb from Goodreads

“Enter a world of secrets and intrigue where a girl with talent will thrive or be destroyed.” 

Adelice is a Spinster.

But only her parents know.

For some it is the life they have always wanted, to have a gift to weave time on an actual loom, but for Adelice, it means being separated from all her loved ones never to see them again.

For her, it is a curse.

Her parents taught her how to evade people’s suspicions on her test day by acting ‘’normal’’ and it worked...but she couldn’t hide it forever...and then they came for her.

*gapes in shock and amazement*

WOW.

This book literally blew me away.

My expectations were high and when it came I dived straight into it and couldn't untangle myself from the threads binding me into Arras until I had read the last word. 

To be a Spinster is a coveted position but a dangerous one, do what you’re told and you’re set up for life, step out of line and you’ll wish you never existed.

Adelice was the perfect storyteller and I cannot praise enough the way with words that Gennifer Albin has, the way she describes events is spellbinding and really captures the moment, and she created the perfect main character. Adelice was so real. While all the other Spinsters around her were ‘oohing and aaahing’ over cosmetics and wardrobes all she could think about was her family, or rather - lack of. She was stubborn and a bit of a hot head, bold, witty and one heck of a strong, determined girl, but at the same time she is a naive, scared young girl under the hard outer shell she has created for herself and her flawed character made her even more likeable.

Gennifer Albin’s writing style is just amazing. With every sentence a whole new image springs into your head, dazzling and sparkling and you feel as if it is real. Arras felt like a home to me as I read this book, and when you start it, you don’t want to stop.

The ending was amazing. I absolutely cannot wait to read the next book. I like to think I can always predict book endings but this one completely blew my breath away, it was exciting, anticipating, breath taking.

I only really had one criticism – not even that really – it was to do with the love triangle. Yes, I hear you sigh, I did too, but that was before I read the book. To be honest it wasn't actually that bad. The characters were both individually different but I found that I didn't think there was any need for a love- triangle. If Albin had kept both of them in the story, but made only one of them Adelice’s love interest it would have worked fine. Adelice, the plot and the writing were enough to keep me satisfied!

Crewel was everything I had expected: the characters were strong in their own way, the plot was creative and the writing style was spellbinding. With unique, realistic characters, secrets hidden amongst a web of lies, and one talented but scared young girl about to plunge head first into a tangled mess of destruction, revelation and surprises, what’s to stop her whole world being torn into threads before her?

*thanks to Luisa Plaja for sending me this book in exchange for an honest review.