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A review by squirrelsohno
Crewel by Gennifer Albin
3.0
CREWEL... Where do I start with CREWEL? Well, I can start almost anywhere, but since it's late, I'm having trouble remembering a lot of what went down, and my bed is calling, I'll make this one quick.
My expectations were high when this came out, and after reviews began to come in, after I heard comparisons and remarks, they slowly fell, and fell some more, and again, until eventually I left this book on the backburner and only returned to it recently when I remembered I bought it on my Kindle months ago while desperately seeking something to read.
GENERIC DYSTOPIAN WORLD NUMBER INFINITY
At times, CREWEL made me distinctly remember scenes from THE HUNGER GAMES. That is not a good sign. Beyond the intricacies of weaving and the looms, it just felt stale. We follow Adelice, a young woman who has the power to see and weave on the loom of life - she can create, she can change, she can move, she can kill, and therefore, she's special. When she screws up trying to hide her abilities, she's taken away to a life of being controlled while being pampered and sexually harassed in a tower of women and sexual harassment, where she shuns other girls who like makeup and is immediately attacked for reasons beyond her control.
For a book about a girl breaking out from the control of men, it's awfully...sexist?
I didn't like Adelice. She spends 90% of the book doing stupid things just because she's stubborn, knowing all along that they won't work. I didn't like her two love interests whose names escape me. I didn't like our villains, uber-sexist Cormac and stereotypical mean girls Maela and... the other one.
Wow, this book is pretty forgettable? Yet I do remember being impressed with the plot and imagination. Yes, there was that...
WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE
After years of dystopians being the go-to genre on the YA market, CREWEL just felt like another addition to the bunch with little to set it apart from the pack, and that was disappointing. Likewise, it also seemed very reminiscent of the 1998 science fiction film 'Dark City', where a man wakes up realizing that these mysterious men control his world, changing the lives of people, taking people away from families, killing them, building new buildings with just a thought, all during the space of a few minutes where the city sleeps and no one is the wiser, except for our hero who has their powers. It's awesome. Go watch it.
It has all the pre-requisites for dystopians. A love triangle? Check. Pretty dresses the heroine shuns? Check. Kissing when you should be running? Check. A shadowy government with no real motivations to be seen? Check.
VERDICT: Although inventive in its world building, CREWEL feels most of the time like just another entry into the dystopian market - the world just wants our poor heroine to suffer for no real reason other than she's special. Next!
♥♥♥ - THREE HEARTS
(2.5/5)
My expectations were high when this came out, and after reviews began to come in, after I heard comparisons and remarks, they slowly fell, and fell some more, and again, until eventually I left this book on the backburner and only returned to it recently when I remembered I bought it on my Kindle months ago while desperately seeking something to read.
GENERIC DYSTOPIAN WORLD NUMBER INFINITY
At times, CREWEL made me distinctly remember scenes from THE HUNGER GAMES. That is not a good sign. Beyond the intricacies of weaving and the looms, it just felt stale. We follow Adelice, a young woman who has the power to see and weave on the loom of life - she can create, she can change, she can move, she can kill, and therefore, she's special. When she screws up trying to hide her abilities, she's taken away to a life of being controlled while being pampered and sexually harassed in a tower of women and sexual harassment, where she shuns other girls who like makeup and is immediately attacked for reasons beyond her control.
For a book about a girl breaking out from the control of men, it's awfully...sexist?
I didn't like Adelice. She spends 90% of the book doing stupid things just because she's stubborn, knowing all along that they won't work. I didn't like her two love interests whose names escape me. I didn't like our villains, uber-sexist Cormac and stereotypical mean girls Maela and... the other one.
Wow, this book is pretty forgettable? Yet I do remember being impressed with the plot and imagination. Yes, there was that...
WHERE HAVE I SEEN THIS ONE BEFORE
After years of dystopians being the go-to genre on the YA market, CREWEL just felt like another addition to the bunch with little to set it apart from the pack, and that was disappointing. Likewise, it also seemed very reminiscent of the 1998 science fiction film 'Dark City', where a man wakes up realizing that these mysterious men control his world, changing the lives of people, taking people away from families, killing them, building new buildings with just a thought, all during the space of a few minutes where the city sleeps and no one is the wiser, except for our hero who has their powers. It's awesome. Go watch it.
It has all the pre-requisites for dystopians. A love triangle? Check. Pretty dresses the heroine shuns? Check. Kissing when you should be running? Check. A shadowy government with no real motivations to be seen? Check.
VERDICT: Although inventive in its world building, CREWEL feels most of the time like just another entry into the dystopian market - the world just wants our poor heroine to suffer for no real reason other than she's special. Next!
♥♥♥ - THREE HEARTS
(2.5/5)