Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Review: Crewel by Gennifer Albin

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Series: Crewel World #1
Pages: 368
Received: Received from publisher through NetGalley

Release Date: October 16, 2012
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Goodreads Synopsis:

Enter a tangled world of secrets and intrigue where a girl is in charge of other’s destinies, but not her own.

Sixteen-year-old Adelice Lewys has always been special. When her parents discover her gift—the ability to weave the very fabric of reality—they train her to hide it. For good reason, they don’t want her to become a Spinster — one of the elite, beautiful, and deadly women who determine what people eat, where they live, how many children they have, and even when they die.

Thrust into the opulent Western Coventry, Adelice will be tried, tested and tempted as she navigates the deadly politics at play behind its walls.  Now caught in a web of lies and forbidden romance, she must unravel the sinister truth behind her own unspeakable power.  Her world is hanging by a thread, and Adelice, alone, can decide to save it — or destroy it.

My Review:

I was definitely intrigued when I heard about this book, the idea of women being in control of everything and everyone really caught my attention. Sadly, I was left a little disappointed with this story. Adelice is a special girl and when her parents realize what she can do they try their best to keep her under the radar, teaching her how to stay in the middle where no one will notice her. But in the end, something happens that brings her into the world of the Coventry.

I was really interested in the mystery behind everything, and the politics at play in this story, but I found that too many other things took over that. The romance part was a big thing, I felt that there were too many "partners" for Adelice and none of them were all that appealing to me. I just felt that each of the men had something that I just couldn't get behind (though I can't really say for certain what that something was). And then Adelice herself was a character I really could not connect with, I felt that there was not much characterization for her during this story and it really took away from everything.

I also found that there was a lot of description throughout the story rather than something happening in the story. I got lost at what was happening a lot of the time and really couldn't keep up with the different events and ideas being introduced. I wanted more information on the politics, that really was what kept me going. I also really liked how you never really knew who to trust, there were so many secrets that slowly unravelled during the story. Albin definitely did a great job with the world building in this book and that's what kept me going. World building is always difficult but I found that Albin described how the Coventry came about in great detail and that always brings a book higher up in my opinion.

The ending really picked up though and I am interested to see what will be next after what happened. I am a little hesitant about continuing on with the series, but I think I will attempt it just because there were parts of this story that really caught my attention. Even though I felt that I was disappointed with the story there was still some great mystery and political intrigue that may actually have me coming back for more.

3 comments:

  1. I can't remember if I have this one on my TBR list or not. I think I do but I don't think it was one that I was really all that eager to read. Great review! It definitely sounds like it could be an interesting read. I don't think I will be starting it anytime soon though. :)

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  2. I've been interested in reading this book but haven't sought it out yet. I like your review because I think I would have the same problems with the story.

    Shannon @ Rex Robot Reviews

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  3. I've read a lot of lack luster reviews of Crewel which makes me sad. I was so looking forward to it!

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