Unravel the Dusk

I hate it when a sequel falls flat. I LOVED the first book so much but this one just didn’t do it for me. I don’t know if it was a mood thing or what but I just didn’t care about anything that was happening. Maia’s struggles in this book were the exact same the whole way through. There was no character development and at the end everything was wrapped up so easily. (And quickly?) I love it when a character is struggling with that dark side but that struggle never changed. It never got worse so that I really felt for her and there was never much of a sacrifice.

I also kinda hated that this was mostly a solo adventure for Maia. We hardly saw any other characters and they’re what I loved from the first book. Eden only shows up show more around half way and he literally does nothing except be a love interest which was REALLY disappointing.

I found the plot super rushed and things like the big battle at the end weren’t as long as the boring travel stuff in the middle. There was a battle at the beginning of the book that lasted 2 pages and suddenly we were off to wherever to do another big thing but that didn’t last long either. Why was the travel soooo long but the actual plot points so short? I was never satisfied. Shouldn’t the final battle be longish and exciting? I felt none of that while reading and that’s what disappointed me so much. I was reading just to be finished instead of enjoyment. The conclusion was too perfect but also didn’t really add anything to the story since Maia’s character had no development. Maybe my expectations were too high after the first book.

Also just a random pet peeve but this magic system made no sense. It was unlimited half the time and the other half Maia had none at all. It was confusing.

To end on a positive note, I really do love Elizabeth’s writing style. It’s very pretty without being too flowery which is perfect for me. I’m hoping we see more from her! show less

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.

Lim set an incredibly high standard with the first book of her young adult duology. Spin the Dawn was an incredibly fun, innovative take on familiar tales, wrapped up in a gorgeous Chinese-inspired setting. While Unravel the Dusk is not as strong a a book, it is still an enjoyable, fast read better than many out there.

The premise of the first book is that Maia is a gifted tailor, something women should not be. In a Mulan-like move, when her war-injured brother is ordered to court to sew for the crown, Maia disguises herself as a man and takes his place. Court intrigues ensue, resulting in Maia being sent on a quest to obtain impossible dress materials, all in the company of a very unpleasant show more enchanter. Of course, the enchanter becomes less unpleasant as the quest continues, and her blossoming romance with Edan is one of the delights of the book. That, and reading about sewing from such a magical angle.

And the absence of those two things is a reason why Unravel the Dusk suffers, especially through the Edan-less first half. Without going into spoiler territory, I will say that Maia bears a nasty curse and is in danger of losing herself. The book has lots of action and adventure and reads at a fast clip, but with little sewing, and no Edan around til nearer the end. Things get really good at the climax, though, as the awesome elements come together again. The end delivers some genuine feels.

Again, it's hard to judge a second book in a series when the first is SO GOOD. This one is still a full four-stars-out-of-five read and well worth reading. Everything does come together in the end. show less

listen, i don’t wish a bad movie/show adaptation on any good book, but i seriously think this series has the potential to be a good movie. i thought the world was very pleasantly imaginative and intricate. the author created believable and interesting mythology and gods for the world she wrote and i think that’s genuinely rare. oftentimes, books have cheap knockoffs of real life mythology that don’t even count as a retelling, they’re so 2d and boring. this book really accomplished making a world i really enjoyed.

i was frustrated at times with the pace of this book, but it’s not something i can wholly put against it since i understand the reasons for how things were paced. it was necessary to have the reader understand just how show more affected maia was by the curse and to showcase the sacrifices she was making at the expense of her own soul and sanity (literally). in retrospect, i can appreciate how the author presented the situation, including the slightly annoying indecisiveness of whether to see eden or not for half the book. maia /was/ being indecisive, that’s the point. she was torn between wanting to see him and wanting to spare him the potential of getting roped into her decision. everything is for his sake, so it’s understandable. on that subject, i just really like the chemistry they have. it was obvious from the start that they would be together, but i never once felt that the romance in this was overbearing and took away from the story. mostly because it was so naturally written in my opinion. i just really like how she incorporated it into the story.

in short, i really liked this series and am happy that the author has written an additional book talking about one of the myths the series touched on. i definitely recommend these book.

ps: have you seen the covers for this author’s books??? have u?????? they’re so gorgeous. who drew these? show less

I loved reading about Maia, Edan, Ammi and the whole crew again. I enjoyed that Ammi featured as much as she did here as it would have been easy for her to get lost by the wayside. I also grew to understand and empathize with Lady Sernai just a little more. One thing about her is that she is awesome at her craft even if she is not the most likeable.

To our main characters, there was not as many Maia x Edan interactions as I would have liked and yet I understood completely why that had to be. This book is more about Maia's journey and not both of them. However, that doesn't stop me from being greedy. I think the main drawback I had was that although the battles seemed impossible and all the odds were clearly heavily stacked against our show more heroes, I didn't feel scared for them as I knew everything would turn out good in the end.

All in all, a fitting finale. show less

Dnf'd. I'm usually fine with so-called demons in Asian fantasies, since "demon" is the name given to them in Western cultures, and really not the most accurate. At least when compared to real/Biblical demons. However, in the case of this book, the demons were becoming less and less like the creatures from Asian folklore, and more and more like the very real, very evil spiritual forces that are out there. The main character is pretty much possessed, and readers are in her head. Yes, the demons were being portrayed as evil creatures, not to be trifled with, but... I'm just not comfortable reading about it. Not when it's not being talked about from a Christian perspective. So, though I love Elizabeth Lim's writing, I'm returning this one show more to the library, turning on some worship music, and moving on to other books. show less

After really enjoying the adventure and the magic and the characters in SPIN THE DAWN, this sequel fell so flat for me. The story centered more around one character's transformation than the greater things going on in the world, so somehow, it felt like the plot was less urgent. The problems were smaller. Sure, there was still big stuff going on, but it was not as centralized. It was in the background, away from the reader, and that frustrated me.

Additionally, we spent so much time in Maia's head and worries that we missed out on the development of other characters. I would have loved a POV from Lady Sarnai's perspective that put us right in the middle of the action. I was also disappointed with the way Ewan was reduced to the role of show more the love interest when he had such an interesting backstory in book one. It's okay fro characters to be the love interest and have other hopes and dreams and depth!

All in all, this was a disappointing read. It's FINE and the world building was still great, but the story in SPIN THE DAWN was, to me, so much better.

For a more in-depth review of this book and others, and for more bookish content, pop over to The Literary Phoenix. show less

So I liked this one a lot more than I did the first. There was a lot more at stake here and I enjoyed the fact that the main character, Maia, did not shy away from her duties. I found myself more engrossed with the action scenes and more moved by the emotional ones.

There were some things that caused things to be wrapped up a little too easily/nicely, but overall, this was a great story and a good way to end things.