Unravel the Dusk – Review

Unravel the Dusk (The Blood of Stars #2)

by Elizabeth Lim

Publisher: Knopf

Release Date: July 7th 2020

Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy

Synopsis:

The thrilling sequel to SPIN THE DAWN, a magical series steeped in Chinese culture.

Maia Tamarin’s journey to sew the dresses of the sun, the moon and the stars has taken a grievous toll. She returns to a kingdom on the brink of war. The boy she loves is gone, and she is forced to don the dress of the sun and assume the place of the emperor’s bride-to-be to keep the peace.

But the war raging around Maia is nothing compared to the battle within. Ever since she was touched by the demon Bandur, she has been changing . . . glancing in the mirror to see her own eyes glowing red, losing control of her magic, her body, her mind. It’s only a matter of time before Maia loses herself completely, but she will stop at nothing to find Edan, protect her family, and bring lasting peace to her country.

YA fantasy readers will love the sizzling forbidden romance, mystery, and intrigue of UNRAVEL THE DUSK.

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Review

When I saw the cover of Spin the Dawn with the comp of Project Runway meets Mulan I knew I had to read it. I was lucky enough to participate in the blog tour last year and I fell in love! (Check out my review HERE)

Maia returns to the kingdom after completing her task of sewing dresses of the sun, moon, and stars only to be forced to wear the dress and pretend to be the emperor’s bride. Follow her in Unravel the Dusk as she tries to stave off the demon threatening to take her over while trying to find Edan. We get to see how the competition effected Maia and her inner turmoil which I felt made the story much more complex. She’s not only trying to find Edan, the man she loves, but save the kingdom and herself at the same time.

This second installment feels almost like a new story with the same characters we fell in love with in the first one. Maia is tougher than she was in the first book and instead of using her magic to create the amazing dresses we saw in book one, she’s using it to help her fight the war she’s been plunged into the middle of.

Book one was fast-paced in competition whereas this one is fast-paced in war. I enjoyed every minute of it! If you’re looking for a unique duology about family, love, and loyalty than you’ll enjoy these books!

 

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Author Bio

Elizabeth Lim grew up on a hearty staple of fairy tales, myths, and songs. Her passion for storytelling began around age 10, when she started writing fanfics for Sailor Moon, Sweet Valley, and Star Wars, and posted them online to discover, “Wow, people actually read my stuff. And that’s kinda cool!” But after one of her teachers told her she had “too much voice” in her essays, Elizabeth took a break from creative writing to focus on not flunking English.

Over the years, Elizabeth became a film and video game composer, and even went so far as to get a doctorate in music composition. But she always missed writing, and she turned to penning stories when she needed a breather from grad school. One day, she decided to write and finish a novel — for kicks, at first, then things became serious — and she hasn’t looked back since.

Elizabeth loves classic film scores, books with a good romance, food (she currently has a soft spot for arepas and Ethiopian food), the color turquoise, overcast skies, English muffins, cycling, and baking. She grew up in Northern California, with a brief stint in Tokyo, Japan, but now lives in New York City with her husband and their daughter.

Elizabeth graduated from Harvard College with an A.B. in music and a secondary in East Asian Studies. She completed her graduate degrees (MM, DMA) at The Juilliard School.

She is represented by Gina Maccoby of the Gina Maccoby Literary Agency.

 

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