Crewel (review)

When her ability to manipulate the weave of time inevitably attracts the attention of the Guild, Adelice Lewys is stolen away from her family and appointed to be a Spinster, one of the thousands of women who work the fabric of the cosmos to ensure that the people of Arras are suitably fed and clothed—and obedient. Swept up into a world of high fashion, ritzy parties, and cunning politicians, Adelice is aware her new status as an elite is a farce: the men of the Guild hold the true power, dictating what the Spinsters create, and her fellow women are too occupied with internal rivalries to seek more. When Adelice meets the head Spinster, she realizes she must choose between becoming a Guild pet or starting a revolution. Though the notion of a rebellious girl fighting against a tyrannical regime in a dystopian future is a familiar one, Albin layers her story with philosophical and ethical ponderings that will appeal to the thinking teen. The manufactured aspect of Arras is conceptually similar to the world in Fisher's Incarceron (BCCB 2/10), offering an interrogation of relationships between reality, truth, and power. The additional exploration of gender roles is particularly compelling, and the portrayals of the Spinsters' complicity in their own oppression and their passive acts of defiance cast an interesting light on the way in which a rebellion forms. Dystopia fans will find all the intrigue, romance, and drama they have come to expect from the genre as well as a few lingering questions.