Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux

Released on October 16, 2012

Source: Publisher

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Read an Excerpt

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. (From FSG)

This book was quite a surprise for me. I didn’t really know what it would be about when I started reading it, even after reading the synopsis I still wasn’t sure what it was about. I was very confused at the beginning but intrigued nonetheless. The story was already moving at a good pace from the start but I didn’t understand what a Spinster was, or the loom and what the whole purpose of it was. Even though I was confused and eagerly waiting for some answers to pop up in the story I couldn’t put it down. Maybe it was just me and since I’m lacking some brain cells after having a baby that’s why it took me so long to figure it out. Once Gennifer started answering some questions in the novel and explaining about the new world and society these people lived in, I was fascinated. I started to understand that the girls weave time and how everything around them is built and how important they are, I was in awe as the pictures finally started forming in my head. The descriptions made it seem magical, colorful and beautiful. So yeah, as you can tell I loved the dystopian world building Gennifer created, it was pretty original and unexpected. I kept wanting more from Adelice, and hoping she would reach into her talent and experiment a little.

  We get two love interests in the novel, but I honestly didn’t have a problem with taking sides on this one since one of them seemed kind of shady to me through the whole novel and I had trust issues with that one. There were lots of villains which made the novel exciting since you never know who’s going to strike next. It was fun to be at the edge of your seat waiting for the next blow.  I was happy to see that the main character Adelice was not a naïve young girl, but a very clever and strong character who actually thought things through before acting and used her brain. The ending was crushing though, I had been waiting for it to happen because I just knew it would get to that point and I was happy to know it did, but it left on a cliffhanger that has become expected on almost every series now. It will be killing me wanting to know what the heck is going to happen next. I’ll definitely be picking up the sequel to find out.

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