Crewel

Title: Crewel

Author: Gennifer Albin

Rating: 4 stars

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.

Review: Starting this book, I thought that it was dystopian, but as I continued on it began to appear to be more like a fantasy book. Crewel is dystopian/futuristic, but it seems so fantastical that it's difficult to tell for sure until the end. The concept of weaving the very world around us and being able to manipulate strands of time is amazing. Society has regressed back to the lack of complete equality for women: women can only are only meant to be pretty and silent, and may only be employed as secretaries along with similar jobs. 

       Adelice's parents absolutely did not want Adelice to be a Spinster, but they were careful to never say they were against the government. Life as a Spinster is pretty great if you comply to the rules, and the reason Adelice didn't comply was because her parents told that it was bad and did all they could to not have her retrieved. The reason why her parents were so against the Spinsters was never explained, and that is their actions because of this belief are the reason for almost everything that happens in the book. 


     The ending threw me for a loop, and I can't wait for the second book!

Crewel will be published in October of 2012.