Welcome back to The Bibliophagist! I hope that your Monday was not too bad. I have been having the worst time being able to actually pick up a book lately. It might be because I’ve been so busy. However, I am making a vow to read a little every day no matter how busy I get! Audiobooks I think are going to be a new thing in my life. I might have to look into an audible subscription. If you have used it let me know below.
Fortunately, I found a book that I loved the prequel novel for and I was able to take part in this amazing blog tour hosted by Fantastic Flying Book Club. This is such an amazing tour company, one of the only ones I know of that don’t charge authors or publishers to schedule tours with them. That’s fantastic right?!
Anyway…let’s get on to this tour for yet again, another amazing Asain fantasy novel! I will admit…Asian fantasy novels are now my guilty pleasure! Don’t forget to check out all the other great posts for the tour here.
Unravel the Dusk (The Blood of Stars #2) 
Author: Elizabeth Lim
Published: July 7th, 2020
Publisher: Knopf
Book Length: 368 Pages
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
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Buy the book: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository (Use my referral ID: TheBibliophagist)
Disclaimer: I received a NetGalley copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion and review.
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.
Just as we did with the first novel, can we take a moment to pick our jaw off the floor…because, let’s be honest, the cover of this novel and its predecessor are stunning!!
About the Author
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 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 lives in New York City with her husband.
Review
A satisfying conclusion to Spin the Dawn, this book pulled me in from the start but left me breathless begging for it to slow the pace. At times it did feel that some things were missing or looked over. The relationships at times fell flat of what I’d imagined from the first novel.
“If dying is this beautiful, then I wish I were a tree too. I’d be happy to die and be reborn in the spring.”
Maia…I loved her in the first book and I was so happy to see her continue on her journey in the sequel. She has completed the impossible task of becoming the Emporer’s tailer…the first female one at that. This does feel like rather than being one seamless story with a smooth plot, it is broken in two halves. The first part of the book seemed a little rushed. Many important events happened so fast that I barely took a second glance at them. I feel they could have been slowed a little, pulling the reader just that much deeper into the story. There was so much happening so quickly that I almost felt out of breath by the halfway point, which is when things slowed down.
One issue I did find with the plot was my failure to fully connect with Maia and her struggle in this novel. Some felt superficial, almost as if it was unnecessary pressure.
I do have to say that Lady Sarnai truly had her time to shine in this book. She shows readers that unlike in the first novel, she is much more than a bride-to-be. She is a warrior, one not concerned with being liked by others. When she began to play a larger role in the plot, I truly fell into the story. The same goes for Edan. He was almost completely absent from the first half of the book. The romance between him and Maia was a HUGE part of why I enjoyed the first book so much. He appears later in the story but his presence was missed in the first half. He also felt like he wasn’t the same as what he was in the first…a fraction of that actually. I missed those romantic moments that pulled me in and made me swoon before.
I think my favorite part concerning the characters though was seeing Maia struggle with her demon side. She slowly loses her humanity and the author does a phenomenal job portraying her struggle with losing her humanity…the confusion and anger she begins to feel makes her seem so much more real. The POV writing really gets the reader in her head and helps them understand how raw that struggle is.
Magic, demons, and royalty oh my! I love that a system of magic was woven into this beautiful world. (See what I did there? I was able to thread a joke in there…haha ok I’m done now). This world is so well thought out, just like the first one. I do wish there was a little more background about the magick system. Some things that happen just because they do and there was no explanation of why or how it worked.
Unravel the Dusk is a wonderful conclusion to this duology. There were some pacing issues. The battles, romance, and character development are what really keep your attention while reading and at times it was difficult. It was overall a good read but It doesn’t live up the to Sping the Dawn. The fate of the Kingdom is at risk so grab your copy and follow Maia on her journey to save it.
Don’t miss out! Grab your copy today…psst it is released today so no waiting!
Giveaway
Prize: Win (1) of (2) copies of UNRAVEL THE DUSK by Elizabeth Lim (US Only)
Starts: July 1st, 2020
Ends: July 15th, 2020
a Rafflecopter giveaway
What do you think? Have you read Spin the Dawn? If you wrote a review for the first novel post it below, I’d love to read it!
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