Book Recap: Crewel by Gennifer Albin (ARC)

Cover Inspection:
I really think it's pretty, and
it just how I imagined how the threads of life look like.

SUMMARY (book description based on GoodReads):

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.

BOOK REPORT CARD:

Cover	3.0
Plot	3.0
Writing	3.5
Characters	3.0
Ending	2.5
Overall Rating	3.0 Very Good! (89% to 92%) * highest rating possible is 4.0

LOCATION/SETTING:

The story is set in a dystopian world, where women are obligated to be beautiful, groomed, and obedient. Girls are expected to remain pure and natural so that their "weaving" abilities aren't lost. The world is characterized by segregation of the sexes and totalitarianism. Everyone is being controlled by the Guild.

MAIN CHARACTER:

This is the story of Adelice - Headstrong, defiant, and sarcastic. She's strangely brave to a fault. She's also exceptionally talented in "weaving". For this reason, people are wary of her.

WHAT THE BOOK IS ABOUT:

It's really hard to summarize this book without giving anything away. So I'll just say this, Adelice was taken from her family to become a spinster, a girl who weaves life.

Which leads me to this: what is a spinster? They basically weave the fabric that makes up the world. If the Guild finds out about that a girl has a weaving ability, they will take the girl away from her family to work for them. And so what is weaving? It's the power to control life by manipulating threads of the world. A single thread represents a person, and ripping it out means a person disappears.

LOVE:

This is the first line of the first chapter:

I can count the days until summer draws to a close and autumn seeps into the leaves, painting them ginger and scarlet.

From the first page, it is apparent that the writing is lovely. This kind of writing went on for the rest of the book. There is a gorgeous play of words here.

Because the plot is complex, I really had no idea where the story was headed. It was unpredictable. It was hard to pick the characters with good intentions from those with bad intentions. I didn't know who to trust. This, along with the suspenseful story, kept me glued to the book until the past page. The pacing was steady for most of the book, but it became insanely fast near the end. It was a bit rushed, but I really didn't mind because that's when everything finally made sense. The story unraveled beautifully. 

Yes, there is a love story. It's part of the story, and some elements hinges on it, but it's really not central to the plot. The romance is slow and simmering. It feels real as it didn't manifest until about halfway through the book. There were merely hints at the beginning, but it became abundant at the end.

NO LOVE:

I had a hard time getting into the story. This plot is quite complex, and it takes some time to immerse yourself completely in the story. It takes a while for the reader to be familiar with the ins and outs of the story.

FAVORITE CHARACTER:

I liked Adelice. She is a fiesty one! She doesn't take no for an answer. The Guild wants to control her, but she wouldn't let them. She's too intelligent for that.

MUSINGS:

I really thought this was just another dystopian story, but there's really much more to it than that. On the one hand, it speaks of a woman's power to create, and on the other hand, it's about societal control of women. The girls may have the power to "weave," but the Guild decides who to "rip." Also, purity, lesbianism, feminism are issues that were tackled in the book tangentially. So basically, this book is about women: a woman in love, a woman in power, a woman denied, a woman scorned, and a woman whose heart was broken. All in all, Crewel is not just one of those books where fluff is the story line, it's one of those stories that make you ponder on things that actually matter.

DOODLES:

No trailer yet.

AUTHOR'S WEBSITE:

Gennifer Albin

SIMILAR READS:

The Selection (The Selection #1) by Kiera Cass
Matched (Matched #1) by Ally Condie

CONTENT REVIEW:

profanity: mild
violence: moderate
sexual content: mild
mature themes: mild
age recommendation: 13+