{Review} Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Title: Crewel
Author: Gennifer Albin
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Series: Crewel World, #1
Release Date: October 16th, 2012
Pages: 368 (Hardcover)
Source: NetGalley
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

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.

Thoughts: Actual rating might be 2.5 or 2.75. Or just 2 stars, I honestly don't even know.

After seeing the positive reviews of this book on Goodreads start pouring in, I can't deny that my excitement grew, so I crossed my fingers and requested this title. I was giddy when I was approved, and couldn't wait to start. Besides the number of positive reviews, the concept also intrigued me a lot. A dystopian world that has a lot of time-weavers? Sign me up! I haven't had a dystopian novel wow me since What's Left of Me by Kat Zhang, and I was hoping this one would change that.

Unfortunately, I ended up going from this:

To this:

So we have Adelice, a girl who can weave time with matter, and who's hiding her powers from the Guild, because a girl like her would be chosen to be a Spinster. Being a Spinster is anything a girl could want, but Adelice knows the truth about it, that she'd have to control people's lives and follow whatever the Guild wants her to do, sometimes including removing/cutting certain people. Adelice has tried to hide her powers, but she slipped during a testing and now the Guild is coming for her.

What I liked about this book was the originality of the concept, and the whole Spinster-Creweler thing. As for the story, the beginning parts were okay. I liked Adelice, but I kind of have a love-hate relationship with her. At times she seems strong and sarcastic, but at other times she makes me want to pull my hair out due to her Mary-Sue-ness constantly showing.

It took me roughly fifteen days to finish this book, because it didn't do a good job in pulling me in and keeping me interested. The plot was hard to follow and the characters weren't all that likable.

Don't even get me started on the romance. -_- The two love interests are Josten and Erik, both extremely gorgeous and blue-eyed. One's a servant with a tortured past and the other seems to be the boytoy of one of the villains. Of course, Adelice ends up kissing them both and torn and all but it's clear that Jost is the main love interest. I hate love triangles, and the one in this book is no exception. It really annoyed me.

Also, spoiler time. It's not that big of a spoiler, but it's best if you turn away if you haven't read this book. Near the end, Adelice says this, and I quote: "I never realized how similar your eyes are," I tell them, and Erik's gaze widens a bit as he finally understands. "But it's that and the way you kiss that tells me you're brothers." ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? And she said that out loud, mind you. To their faces. Am I the only one that finds this quote infuriating? Ugh, I swear, if I wasn't reading this on my phone, I would've thrown it at a wall. (End of spoilers)

Anyways, the ending was a hot mess. I didn't even know what the hell was going on anymore, and I kind of gave up then and thought "Oh whatever, let's just get this over with."

I don't really have much else to say about this book. In short, the concept was interesting, the time-weaving thing was pretty creative, but the characters were unlikable and besides the concept, this pretty much reads like your average YA dystomance. 

So . . . yeah, that's pretty much it. I'd still recommend you this book, though, because maybe it's just a matter of taste. My interest in dystopians have been pretty low lately.

Thank you to NetGalley and Macmillan for sending me this galley.