Altered

Altered by Gennifer Albin, 390 pages

Altered is the second book in what I assume will be a trilogy centered on 16-year-old Adelice Lewys, a girl who has the ability to create, destroy, and manipulate people, space, and time using the fibers that make up the universe. She's not the only person who can do this, but she is the best, and one of very few who can do so without the help of a loom. Once she figures out (in the first book, Crewel) that the sparkling, beautiful world of Arras isn't what it seems, she busts through the weave into the dessicated shell that is Earth, which is where we find her in Altered.

Just like all middle books in a trilogy, Altered moves the story forward but doesn't really have many resolutions. More intrigue, more questions, fewer answers. This is a typical YA dystopian novel: girl with awesome powers fighting The Man, yet unsure if she can trust the rebels, and, oh yeah, she's stuck in a love triangle. Yeah, there are a few things that make this different (the triangle involves two brothers, there's a time-warp element (but not in the fun, Rocky Horror way), and, oh yeah, the whole fiber-arts thing), but really, it's just another dystopian YA series. Adelice is kinda meh; I'd put her somewhere around the midpoint of the Katniss-Bella Scale, possibly leaning toward the Bella end. Oh, and the names in this book DRIVE. ME. NUTS. There's a guy named Erik, which is normal enough, but I've kind of had it with odd spellings and exotic names for no good reason. (Seriously, part of this is set in post-WWII America, and nobody cares that there are people named Jost and Jax and Deniel and Falon running around?)

Anywho... if you're crazy about fiber arts and just can't get enough of love triangles set against an action-packed background, go ahead and read this. Otherwise, stick with the Hunger Games and Divergent.