Crewel is probably the book that I've been most looking forward to reading this year - and it did not disappoint. 
 In the land of Arras, the position of Spinster is one of the most coveted roles by young girls everywhere. But not for Adelice Lewys. Since she was five years old her parents have been training her to be incapable, awkward and artless. 
 But even with their careful instruction, the Guild discover Adelice's potential and come for her to take her away. In amongst the fancy outfits and balls, the life of a Spinster isn't all it appears. They have the power to control the weather and create landscape but "ripping" or removing people and places is also a task that falls to them. 
 This book is... so much more than I expected. The world created is incredible. The fabric of the entire land is controlled and maintained on looms. Golden threads control time and with just a snip entire towns could be ripped from existence. I found it fascinating and to be entirely honest I'm still trying to wrap my head about how incredible the world crafting is. 
 The segregation of the population was an interesting idea - at sixteen, people are required to get courtship appointments. Purity standards are enforced for all citizens prior to marriage which must occur before the age of eighteen. Parents are assigned how many children they are able to have, when they can have them and what gender their children will be. Citizens with female children live in separate parts of town than those with male children... and because of this Adelice is naive to the world as a whole. It was great that the reader can learn about the world as Adelice herself learns how everything works. 
 Adelice is my kind of character. She's feisty and caring, intelligent but at the same time she isn't smart enough to keep her head down. She reminded me a lot of characters like Tris from Divergent and to a lesser extent, Katniss from the Hunger Games. I really liked how she developed throughout the novel. 
 The other characters were just as interesting as Adelice. Sleazy old politicians with a thirst for power and young women, confused aestheticians, rival Spinsters and love interests - there is a wide range of supporting characters and they all have interesting back stories. The way they interact Adelice was great to read but this being a first person narrator we didn't get to see much of how they interact with each other. For those whose back-stories we got to see I couldn't believe how cruel some of their pasts were... it was brilliant. 
 The only downside to this novel was there is so much world building and build-up that I was a little let down by the amount of action. But I can't wait to read the next book in the series now that everything has been set up and see just how everything unfolds.