Crewel (Gennifer Albin)

Title: Crewel

Author: Gennifer Albin

Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux

Length: 360

Rating: 4.5/5

Sixteen year old Adelice is caught in a tangled web of the world, literally. Her parents tried to hide her secret talent for weaving the physical fabric of reality, but she is discovered and taken to join the elite, beautiful women who control everything in the world. Adelice is soon caught in a web of lies, political intrigue and forbidden romance and must decide if it is worth controlling the world when you’re not allowed to control your own destiny.

This science fiction/dystopia mix was a incredible fast read because the pace of the book just goes and goes and there is no stopping! I found it a little hard to picture the world as a series of intertwined strings that can be moved and rewoven, but really liked the concept overall.

Other things I liked: the names in the book were all so creative! Also, author Gennifer Albin lives in Kansas City, and I saw her at another author event the back in November. It was pretty great. Finally, what an awesome title.

As with most dystopias, Adelice struggles with control, trust, and the pressure to do her duty. How frustrating to have the power to control the world, but with someone always controlling you! I was a little disappointed that Adelice’s hardest decisions always forced her to her breaking point, almost cheapening the decision, really giving her only one viable option. It’s hard to explain without giving away the plot, so let me know if you’ve read this one and agree or disagree!

The Diviners (Libba Bray)

Title: The Diviners

Author: Libba Bray

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company

Length: 578

Rating: 3.5/5

It’s 1926 and seventeen year old Evie O’Neill is sent to live with her uncle Will in New York after a parlor trick in Ohio goes wrong. Evie is used to hiding her supernatural talent (until she gets to drunk on illegal booze, hence the trouble in Ohio). But after a girl is murdered and branded with a cryptic symbol, the police involve Will, and Evie finds that her talent might be the only way to solve the evil that has awakened with each new murder.

I love Libba Bray. Her stories always have the craziest twists, and she does a great job of blending genres together. The Diviners was a mix between historical fiction, the supernatural, and steampunk.

Sometimes it felt as if the book was doing too much to involve all these elements though. There were so many storylines and characters to keep track of with secondary characters all hiding weird secrets and secret talents like Evie’s. The book almost seemed a prequel or just a set-up to another book, which should have been called The Diviners, because the reader learns little about what the Diviners actually are in this book. I loved the detail, but the book is so long, and way too much to reread to remember all the detail before a sequel comes out. So my main complaint is that perhaps the editor should have been a little more heavy handed to make it an easier read (and then reread, because I’m definitely interested in the sequel).

However much wading through the storylines I had to do, I loved the scenes painted of the Roaring Twenties. The language and the setting in this book were amazing, and Bray clearly did her research to paint an accurate (but also supernatural) picture of New York in the 1920s. Who knew being a flapper could be so dangerous! Worth a read if you’ve got a little time on your hands!

Origin (Jessica Khoury)

Title: Origin

Author: Jessica Khoury

Publisher: Razorbill

Length: 394

Rating: 4/5

Pia has been secretly raised by a group of scientists hidden in the Amazon rain forest to be the first of an immortal race. She longs to join the scientists and fulfill her destiny, but she’s also curious about the outside world that’s been hidden from her. On the night of her seventeenth birthday, she sneaks out of the compound and meets Eio, a native who will change Pia’s life forever.

In a new wave of YA fiction (this Publisher’s Weekly article calls them mash-ups), this book is a hybrid of a couple different things.  It’s almost a dystopian that could be, as the scientists try to create a perfect race of people. They call Pia perfect as often as they can, and the Pia we meet at the beginning of the novel is a bit annoying because of it. She’s the gem of the scientist’s compound, and has been spoiled and taught to think highly of herself. Pia thinks she knows everything because she’s endlessly studied science and math, and that’s what the scientists value.

But then her curiosity gets the better of her and she ventures into the unknown. She realizes how little she really knows about the world around her, and suddenly, curiosity (and an attractive local boy) humbles her, and she becomes a much more likable character. Like the main characters of many YA dystopians, Pia must decide whether to be a perfect and safe bird in a class cage, or to give up everything for freedom and a chance to fly.

I liked the moral questions this novel brought up. What is right? The perfection of science or imperfect arts? Should you be who you want to be, or what everyone needs you to be? Origin takes the coming of age story to a whole different level, and it’s one you’ll most likely enjoy.