Aneeqah's Reviews > Crewel

You can find this review, and more, at my YA blog My Not So Real Life!

Crewel is a debut like no other. So much buzz shrouded this book way before it was published, telling the story of an author striking gold during NaNoWriMo. When I found that publishers were actually competing over the rights to this book big time, I thought this book would be utterly amazing. While it does have its fantastic qualities, there was one major thing that prevented me from fully enjoying it.

The world Albin has created is stunning. There’s really no doubt in my mind that it’s superbly original. Yes, there were a few uncanny resemblances to other books, but in general, the entire concept of this book is fresh and new, which is something so difficult to achieve in YA today. I mean, weaving time? I love the fact that there’s a physical being to time, and that there are some people that can actually change it, by weaving. It’s something I’ve never read about, never even remotely heard about before, and it was extremely refreshing to read something new in dystopia.

The plot of Crewel is one of those that doesn’t let you go. While there are a few slower moments occasionally, the suspense and intrigue are always there, which moves the story along quite nicely. And whenever things started to calm down, something else would be brought to light that would turn things around in a new direction. I was pretty much hooked throughout the entire story, always asking questions and wondering what was going to happen next. It easily held my interest, and I gobbled this book up from page one.

However, one major flaw in this book for me was our protagonist. Adelice does have her good qualities, but in reality, she made so many stupid decisions, that I couldn’t warm up to her at all. She just kept making dumb decisions, and at times, went with the flow too much. If she’s supposed to be a rebel, then I expected her to make cunning decisions and question everything, but instead, she lets a ton of things happen without ever doing anything. Occasionally when she actually did something, it was dumb. I understand slipping up a little in a high pressure situation, but some of the annoying things Adelice did made me want to face palm myself. It was at the point of ridiculousness numerous times.

Overall, Crewel was a fantastic and stunning debut, in regards to originality and the addictive plot. Even though there were plenty of moments where I wanted to slap Adelice throughout the novel, I’m definitely looking forward to the sequel, after that cliff hanger ending. I’d definitely recommend this one to dystopian fans looking for something different in the genre.