While I still prefer the first book just a smidge more than this sequel, I did like finding out how Maia’s tale continued and inevitably reached its conclusion. Much like the first book, there is a very whimsical feel to this story (albeit maybe a little bit heavier than its predecessor) and I was completely here for it. Elizabeth Lim certainly knows her way around telling a story that feels like a fairytale but also follows characters whose struggles (magical or otherwise) feel relatable in some way.

A fantastic follow up to the lush first book of Spin The Dawn. I thought this filled in so many answers that were posed in book 1. I love a beautiful sequel, and that was this one.

This certainly didn’t dissapoint. As a follow up it was just as good but even better! Immersive descriptive and so unique

This series feels like the author started telling one story and switched to something else 3/4 of the way through (all though perhaps that is criticism that should have been reserved for the first book).

I was engrossed by the sequel and finale to The Blood of Stars duology by Elizabeth Lim. This book also got me out of my reading slump having been too busy over the past few months. Lim writes with the craft of a tailor, like her character Maia.

It was wonderful to have a refreshing character like Maia and learn more about her world and the people who have helped her throughout her journey. New and old characters were added to this finale which made it exciting.

Unravel the Dusk is novel that concludes the story well, and I enjoyed Maia's character arc. Her descent into her powers and fighting with her inner self, while trying to maintain her humanity was something I admired about her. Furthermore I liked Maia's strength and tenacity to help her people and accomplish what she set out for.

The storylines between the past and present were what struck me as unique as the point of this duopoly was also the focus between Chinese mythology, namely the Cowherd and Weaver Girl a love story that was recreated in the form of Maia Tamarin and Edan.

I enjoyed the way the author tied everything together and ended the story well. A satisfying ending and conclusion to The Blood of Stars duology and a real treat to fans of Chinese mythology.

Unravel the Dusk was the second novel to Spin the Dawn. In the first book, Maia disguises herself as a man to become an imperial tailor. Then, she goes on an journey with Edam to get materials for Lady Sarnai’s wedding dress. In this sequel, it feels like a completely different story.

There are very few scenes of Maia as a tailor. Instead, the novel spends most of the plot about Maia’s transformation of a demon. Maia was the most disappointing character in the novel. After her dangerous journey in the last novel, I had expected Maia to be more mature and to make wise decisions. Instead of confronting her problems, she wanted to run away from them and everyone that loves her. When her friends offered to help her, she pushes them away. Therefore, most of her actions were immature and childish.

Overall, this novel is about war, political intrigue, and fate. Except for Maia, I liked all the other characters. The story had very little plot and was very repetitive. Thus, the story seemed to keep going in circles. The ending was also a little disappointing because it felt so anti-climatic and predictable. Therefore, Unravel the Dusk fell heavily flat against its predecessor Spin the Dawn. Still, I recommend this for fans of Shadow of the Fox, The Flame in the Midst, and Jade Fire Like Gold!

I enjoyed the book, and it was very different from the first book (less a fun, adventure story). The worldbuilding, especially the geography and the whole invading a country with between cities was a bit of a mess. Edan became very flat from the first book and didn’t really have his own character. I lied how Lady Sarnai was more developed as a character and given a good story arc. I wish the romance which by the end was made central to everything was given more depth to it so that I as a reader felt invested in it. I would give it 3.5 stars and still deciding on rounding up or down. Also, the whole demon island thing was solved too quickly. Still, I finished it happy to have read it. Ok, rounding down for now. Also, it felt a little less unusual and more standard than the first one. (And it may just be me, but the changing dresses for power thing reminded me of FF X-2 and that is not something that needed repeating).

Much like the first book, I very much enjoyed Unravel the Dusk!

Like in the first book, I felt that characterization was very well played out. The protagonist was very likable to me, which can be one of my pet peeves when reading. The growth that she goes through and the obstacles she overcomes felt so human to me and it was an absolutely enjoyable journey to go on.

Additionally, I really loved the world building in this book. The magic system is just so interesting and unlike anything that I've read before. It was very well thought out and worked in tandem with the plot to make this book a thrilling experience.

The ending was absolutely satisfying and left me excited to read more of Lim's work in the future as well as the other books in her repertoire outside of this duology!

Even though I didn't love this one as much as I did the first book. It was a great wrap up to this duology and it was nice to see Maia again and continue following her on her journey.

<i>ARC acquired by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.</i>

<b>“Without Baba’s training, I could never have become the emperor’s tailor. But it was Mama’s faith in me that gave me the heart to even try.”</b>

Maia Tamerin has fulfilled her dream of becoming the emperial tailor. But at what cost? This was a successful conclusion to the Blood of Stars duology. It was one of my most anticipated reads of 2020. While I don’t think it was as good as the first installment, I still really enjoyed Maia’s continued journey. This book was extremely fast paced right from the start. Lady Sarnai goes missing three days before the wedding and Maia is charged with the task of tracking her down. At the same time, Maia’s body is beginning to change because of the price she must pay to Bandur for Edan’s freedom.

Our two main characters are separated for the majority of this book. So, it reads a little different than the first one. Edan’s whereabouts are unknown, therefore the protection of A’landi has fallen on Maia’s shoulders. Maia eventually harnesses the power of Amana’s dresses to save her kingdom with the help of some unexpected visitors. And if that ending doesn’t have you in tear, I don’t know what will. I found it very fitting for Maia.

Overall, I really enjoyed the conclusion of this duology and cannot wait to see what Elizabeth Lim comes out with next.

<b>“I will stay by your side until the fire in the sun grows cold and the light of the moon is no more. Until time blots out the stars.”</b>

<i> The quotes above were taken from an ARC and are subject to change upon publication. </i>

*posting on 9/9/21

This was one of my most anticipated releases and I’m happy to say that it was a good one! That being said, this book felt different from the first one. I missed Edan’s relationship with Maia in the sense of adventure, but I enjoyed seeing her struggle against the darkness inside her and getting to see how it all ends.

As I said, this book felt different from Spin the Dawn. I think what I loved about the first book what is the developing relationships between Edan and Maia as well as the magic quest they were on. Most of that was missing from Unravel the Dusk which was a disappointment. Not to say the book was bad. When I step back, I can see the book was good, it just wasn’t what I expected.

Because Spin the Dawn focused so much on the relationship between Edan and Maia, it left a sort of gap in Unravel the Dusk. The author tried to fill it by giving Ammi a bigger role as Maia’s new companion on her new journey. Ammi was the one constantly trying to keep Maia from losing herself and while I enjoyed their friendship, I still really missed Edan.

Another difference between the first book and the second was the plot. In Spin the Dawn, the focus was more about a quest, Maia's growth, and the development of the relationship between Maia and Edan. However, in Unravel the Dusk the focus is on the war and about trying to not lose her humanity.

The pacing felt slower to me because of the constant switches between the physical world and this demon landscape that Maia falls into from time to time. It was a little jarring to me and kind of pulled me from the rest of the story (which is my only real complaint about the story).

So while I enjoyed getting to see the end of the series, I still loved the first book more. That’s not to say that Unravel the Dusk is bad, it’s just different. When you pick up this book just come into it knowing that it will be different, but hopefully you can still enjoy the story like I did!

Absolutely love this sequel!! I loved this duology and can’t wait to read more by this author in the near future!

A successful conclusion to this duology, Unravel the Dusk takes the reader through the ways Maia's changes are tied to changes to the structure of her country itself. I enjoyed seeing the journey, especially as we get to see her relationships with characters we already know and love further develop.

I do prefer the first book more and think that maybe it would've worked well as a standalone. But, this is a solid wrap-up to a duology. One reason I liked the first book a lot more is that the plot structure was much clearer and flowed well. Here it felt a little all over, but it ends up winding up together to create a satisfying ending.

It has a strong focus on our main character Maia. We do get to see a little development of some others, but I think I would've liked to see more. I think it would've been especially cool if we got some other characters POV. If you really liked Maia from the first book, I think you'll be satisfied with her journey here.

I was mesmerized by the first book and this duo-logy, and was so excited to read this one. I was not at all disappointed by this book either. Lin’s writing is so impressive and poetic I can fall right into every word. I loved following The story of Maia and how she overcome every one of her obstacles. I loved the romance and the friendships. I wish there was more.

I gave the books 4 stars instead of 5 because I felt like the book lacked in ways the first didn’t. I didn’t feel as drawn to the story as I did in the first book. Not sure exactly why I felt like that reading the book. I also felt like it was rushed a bit. Like there were so many details Lim wasn’t able to write and things were skipped over. I’m not sure if that was just me. That aside I love this series and I can’t wait to read her recent released book.

I still loving the writing here and the story is phenomenal. The thing is, it feels so different from the first book because of how the plot progresses. This isn't a bad thing, just unexpected. So much of this book surprised me.
I adore the characters and their plight had me so emotional. It made it difficult how this book ended up feeling more morally grey with no "right" side. These are the kinds of books and problems I do like reading about.

So, really enjoyed this one, even if I didn't like it more than the first, and I plan on reading more by this author in the future.

I wanted to love this one as much as I loved SPIN THE DAWN. I don't know if it's because I waited so long to read it but I wasn't swept away like I was with the first book in the Blood of Stars duology. I found the story harder to track and some parts felt a little "too easy".

I never really know how to review sequel books with giving the description of the book without spoiling anything. Anyway, this picks up right after Spin the Dawn with Maia in her predicament that she was in at the very end of Spin the Dawn. Also, war is looming.
I really love the magic scissors in this and just how well done the magic is done in this book. I loved the romance. The war parts were great. I did feel like that this wasn’t as amazing as Spin the Dawn.

Having read the first book, I was so excited to see how this next installment went! That being said, I was disappointed.

I’m all for independence and women empowerment, but much of this book was Maia going rogue, and it was FAR from fun. She was battling with herself from becoming a demon, and we just followed her around (isolated and alone) solving one problem to the next, refusing any help lest she’d hurt the people she cared about (which would be fine if she hadn’t clearly needed one), while ocassionally telling her inner demon to f*ck off.

I didn’t feel emotional connection to any of the characters. The characterisation was seriously lacking. We didn’t get to see much of the other characters apart from the surface level interactions. Even Edan didn’t appear until almost halfway through the book, and when he did, he was practically useless. I would’ve loved if we had other POVs (Edan’s and Lady Sarnai’s) to contend with.

꧁ 4 stars ꧂
at this point i'm sure that every book with ghosts of dead family members will make me cry.

so in my opinion, this duology could have totally been a standalone. if you add the books together, that's 747 pages (still less than acosf) and there's a lot of overlap at the beginning of this one that could have been skipped. AND THE PLOT WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE COHERENT AS A WHOLE. yes i have a bias towards standalones and i'll stand by that.

but anyways, i enjoyed this book more than book 1 simply because there were less of the maya x edan sappy twilight level lines. and the demon conflict was so much more compelling than the dresses one! i just feel like this book started as a middle grade novel and the plot jumped around a little too much. i think the demon stuff & losing memory was really well-written, and lady sarnai was an actually realistic character — one who doesn't give a fück what the main character tells her to do.

the ending was... meh. it was over too fast and without a good reason.

ok in conclusion: i liked this series as a casual read, and it had AAPI rep so that made me happy. i'm looking forward to reading elizabeth lim's next book, six crimson cranes!

(i received the eARC of this book before it was published; all thoughts and opinions are my own)