(Cover picture courtesy of Xpresso Reads.)

Life. Possibility. Choice.
All taken from Adelice by the Guild—until she took them back.

But amid the splendid ruins of Earth, Adelice discovers how dangerous freedom can be. Hunted by soulless Remnants sent by Cormac Patton and the Guild, Adelice finds a world that’s far from deserted. Although allies are easy to find on Earth, knowing who to trust isn’t. Because everyone has secrets, especially those Adelice loves most. Secrets they would kill to protect. Secrets that will redefine each of them. Torn between two brothers and two worlds, Adelice must choose what to fight for.

In this thrilling sequel to Crewel, Adelice is about to learn how tangled up her past and future really are. Her parents ran to protect her, but nothing can save her from her destiny, and once she uncovers the truth, it will change everything.

Usually I expect the second books in trilogy to be boring.  Slow, sometimes with more character development and sometimes not.  Usually they’re just set up books for the final book.  Usually.

Altered is anything but usual.  With a book as awesome as Crewel I knew it would be hard for Gennifer Albin to write a follow up that could top it, but she did.  Altered is a lot different from Crewel in part because Adelice is finally able to make decisions for herself.  She isn’t constantly being monitored by other Spinsters or having Cormac leering down at her at every turn.  It takes her a while to discover that steel within herself, but when she’s able to make her own decisions she does mess up occasionally and learns from her experiences.  Adelice knows she isn’t perfect and tries to be a better person for her experiences.

The plot dragged a bit in the middle, but there was never really a time when I felt like I was about to go to sleep.  There was always some new twist or turn, some new knowledge about the origins or Arras or another interesting character being introduced that made me want to keep reading.  And the twist at the end?  Wow, I can’t wait to read Unraveled because of that.  The first part of the plot twist was not entirely unexpected but the second part dealing with choices certainly was.  I won’t give anything away, but I have a feeling we’ll be seeing some more dysfunctional family dynamics in the third book.

The thing I liked most (other than the character development) was Gennifer Albin’s world-building.  In Crewel we were introduced to the basics of Arras’ creation but in Altered we actually go into a lot more detail and learn about the surprising origins of the project and its leaders.  Trust me, the scientist behind the project is not who you’d really expect but it’s a pleasant surprise.  We also get to learn that not only women are born with the ability to weave, but men called Tailors can alter the world around them.  They can’t create like Spinsters but they have some very interesting abilities and many of them have been persecuted for their talents.

So overall?  This is an awesome second book.  I can hardly wait until Unraveled, coming this October!

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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