Book Review: Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Posted 10/20/2012 by alicemarvels in Dystopian

Overview

Genre: Dystopian

Author: Gennifer Albin

Year: 2012

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)

Release Date: October 16th 2012

Page Count: 368

Synopsis: 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.

PROS:

imaginative worldbuilding; rage-making dystopian society; wonderful cast of characters

CONS:

love triangle was too distracting from the AWESOME plot

BOTTOM LINE

A thrilling and original dystopian debut.

Gennifer Albin’s debut Crewel is a unique sci-fi/dystopian story that somehow, as late as it comes to this post-Hunger Games YA dystopian trend, manages to be fresh, interesting, and visually arresting. There are a few books that could stand out from the pack like this, especially at this point in time, but Crewel manages to shine.

I really don’t want to say TOO much about the plot because it is quite enjoyable to have it revealed gradually and skillfully by Albin, but to briefly summarize: Adelice tries to fail her test, the one that would identify her as a Spinster, and mean her removal from her parents and her sister Amie, but she slips up during the test, manipulating the weave of time and matter around her. The Guild discovers her ability and whisks her away to the Coventry to train as a spinster. Everything in Arras is perfectly controlled and manipulated by the Guild and the Spinsters to maximize society’s health and productivity. But as Adelice finds out, there is a lot the public doesn’t know about this seemingly perfect arrangement.

Crewel shares a bit of DNA with other dystopian YA’s including The Giver, The Hunger Games, Matched, and Divergent, but it carves out its own original path from these stories, making it a thrilling and original dystopian debut.

Why Crewel Rocks:

Reality Bending Worldbuilding

: I will weave you into oblivion.

I love when a sci-fi/dystopian thinks WAY outside the box. Gennifer Albin gets serious props for developing what could have been a WTF?! crazy idea into a convincing and thoroughly absorbing world that fascinates and stumps. You will be questioning, wondering where this world is going and how it works. Be patient. Albin has answers for you, and she delivers them in her own rhrythm through flashbacks and Adelice’s investigations.

The ending is fantastic—and despite the fact that it’s pretty much a monster cliffy that will have you immediately salivating for book two, it’s deeply satisfying.

Vibrant Villains (and Friends)

: All I want is your undying loyalty and total submission to my power—is that too much to ask?

Nothing breaks up a really good dystopian plot like a cardboard villain. In Crewel, the villains are well-drawn and frightening because they’re unbalanced, cruel, and morally flexible, but very calculated and intelligent about it. They know how to push Adelice’s buttons, and how to manipulate even the most powerful Spinsters into submission.

Likewise, Adelice’s newfound friends at the Coventry are fiercely loyal, caring, and willing to help her, despite the fact that they are neck deep in their own Guild related problems.

Fashionable Fascism

: Dystopia is so darned PRETTY

YA dystopias love to torment a girl by tearing her from her family and threatening her, then ply her with beautification and glamour.

In the same way Katniss experiences a fancy stylist-led makeover and the rich food and accomodations of the Capitol (you know, before the kids-killing-kids Hunger Games begins), Adelice experiences that frustrating dystopian cocktail of death threats, danger, and stifling control mixed with fancy dresses, makeovers, parties, and posh living arrangements. The Spinsters are promised a life of glamour and riches, and are given renewal patches which keep them young forever. Every girl in Arras wants to be a Spinster, and few question the life.

From the beginning Adelice can see this rich, beautiful privilege for what it really is—a gilded cage. As the Guild expects, most sixteen year old girls are too dazzled to see the bars.

Arras: A Feminist’s Nightmare

: The sweet life = makeup and answering phones

For a dystopian society to really get you steamed and invested enough to yearn for its downfall, it could starve its population, kill innocent citizens, control every aspect of their lives, and engage in unnecessary violence. Arras does all that, sure. Maybe I’m desensitized by YA dystopian cruelty at this point, but what really got even more under my skin about Arras and the Guild is the way women are treated. At sixteen, they’re either taken off to be asexual Spinsters for the rest of their lives, or they stay home, get married, gleefully slather on makeup and go work as secretaries (where their bosses are allowed to call them “pet”!!). There is no tolerance for falling in love on your own, or having any agency in your life whatsoever. I was breathing fire…..which is exactly what I was meant to do.

Criticism:

The ONLY negative thing I will say about Crewel is that the love triangle didn’t blow me away, because I don’t really feel invested in either side of it. I think building up attraction and intimacy with both guys did each of those relationships a disservice by spreading the emotional investment too thin, and it just gets lost in the larger context of the story. There is this whole fascinating world revealing itself bit by bit to us, and breaking that up to invest in not one, but two romances was too much. I think this book would have been damn near perfect with just one romantic interest.

That criticism aside, this book is a fabulous addition to any dystopian/sci-fi shelf, and is a thoroughly enjoyable read.