Review: Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Title: Crewel

Author: Gennifer Albin

Reviewed by: Cassie

The Fairies Say: Dazzling and delightful!

Summary (from Goodreads.com)

Incapable. Awkward. Artless.

That's what the other grils 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.

Okay, Crewel left me kind of speechless. 

I went like this..

And then...

Yeah.

Crewel begins with Adelice picking up her sister from her academy. And they go home. No one in her family knows she messed up and accidentally wove. Her sister is disappointed her big sis won't be a glamorous Spinster, but her parents are secretly relieved. They even bought her a fancy white cake that's probably worth half a week's rations. And she only has an hour until it all comes crashing down.

Adelice is pretty cool. I mean, she has this wicked power. She's really sarcastic, but not in the "look at me, such a smart-mouth. laugh and praise me". It's more a "let me give you a verbal finger. I dare you to slap me."

So that really made me admire her. The sarcasm just flew from her mouth and I was like, YOU GO GIRL!

She's sorta got the quiet power thing goin'. There are super strong, kick-butt heroines who have no impulse control. Then there are weak, whiney, or stupid heroines. I like to think she's in the middle, leaning towards strong.

The characters are really well-written. The guys could've been more seductive *cough* interesting, but hey that's just me.

Otherwise, the villains/evil wenches are nicely done. The only issue I had was that Adelice didn't really have a friend . . . And hey, I am down with that. It's just that she seriously could've friended a maid for all I care. She felt too cold from this, to me.

And the best part of the book is the world!!! Gennifer Albin gets a huge, fat A+ for her world. It was amazing. Questionable, but amazing.

And we also are left craving for the next book.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

xoxo

Cassie