I was really, really excited about this book when I first heard about it (several months before it was published). Post-apocalyptic setting! Dystopias! FIBER ARTS! I built this book up so much in my head that I think I was a little disappointed with it by the time I actually read it--and that's not fair to the book, since this was a good story, and very well written.
There were lots of things about this book that I loved: for one, the world-building is really well done, and Albin actually goes places some of the other YA dystopias I've read haven't. Arras is a charmed world that's held together by Spinsters, women with the ability to weave and change the fabric of reality. The mysterious Guild rules over this country, and in an effort to control the women who control the world, have established some of the strictest gender-laws I've encountered outside of historical fiction. The characterization is also good: Adelice is fiercely against the establishment, but it makes sense given her history with the Guild. And while there are a few moments where she seems painfully naive, that also makes sense once you stop to think about how sheltered her life has been up to this point (see the aforementioned gender laws, one of which includes gender segregation until the age of 16).
Now for the less-exciting: the plot felt pretty similar to lots of other books in this genre I've read recently (the beginning, especially, was highly reminiscent of the first part of The Hunger Games, when Katniss arrives in the Capitol). I also though the foreshadowing was a little much, but that might just be an English Major getting too fussy. I was pretty happy with the ending, and now that I feel like we've gotten past the necessary setup, we can get into the more original part of the story. I'm looking forward to reading book two!
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