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A review by allthatissim
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
5.0
Full review on: Flipping Through the Pages
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Another book which was better than my expectations! I truly enjoyed [b:Spin the Dawn|42815556|Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars, #1)|Elizabeth Lim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542674036l/42815556._SY75_.jpg|58477266] from the first page to the last. I finished the later 70% of the book in a single day and stayed up till 3 AM to finish this book. This is something which rarely happens to me. So yeah, you can guess how much I loved this. This is a tale with adventure, magic, sorcerers, demons, ghosts, quests and of course, lots of sewing.
The story is about Maia, a seamstress, who wants to be an imperial tailor but the only problem is that she is a girl and in her kingdom, girls can’t be royal tailors. But when the emperor summons her father to the court, she disguises herself as her brother and goes to the palace. There she has to compete with eleven other tailors to become the Emperor’s court tailor. But the last challenge made her go to the most difficult quest of her life. She was given the task to make three dresses to symbolise the goddess Amana’s children and for that, she had to collect laughter of the sun, tears of the moon and blood of the stars. Then there is Edan, emperor’s Lord enchanter, who knows Maia’s secret from the beginning that she is a girl. He tries to help her from the beginning and even leave with her for her quest.
I loved Maia so much. She was a strong and well-developed character. She had gone through so much but still, she was determined to improve her family’s condition and to support them in whichever way possible. I really loved how she wanted to make a name for herself by being an imperial tailor. she had been told from her childhood that she can’t be a tailor simply because she was a girl, no matter how good she was in her craft. But I loved her ferocity and her desire to earn fame.
And Edan? He was a sugar. Maia and Edan are now one of my favourite OTP. Edan was so mysterious. He never fully revealed what or who he was. As a sorcerer, he was really powerful with centuries of knowledge and magic. I loved his initial banters with Maia. He always teased her and no matter how much Maia wanted to avoid him, they became closer. I was eagerly waiting to happen something between them 😀 Their love was a forbidden one but I wanted it so badly. Their relationship arc was really good and I loved how Edan slowly opened to Maia and told her his darkest secrets. Over the pages, Edan won me over.
Another side character I really like was Lady Sarnai. I definitely want to know more about her. She was forced into an arranged marriage with Emperor Khanujin to maintain the peace between two kingdoms. She was another example to show the status of women in society, that how men treat women as prized possession no matter how much talent she has. She was really an intriguing character and I hope her past is more explored in the sequel.
The world building of the story is fantastic. The story begins with a war-torn country which was trying to recover from this tragedy. I was glad though that the author didn’t put many details of this war in the story and quickly moved to Maia’s and Edan’s adventures, in which I was completely lost. The imagery of the world that [a:Elizabeth Lim|6926374|Elizabeth Lim|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1508017352p2/6926374.jpg] has created, is really beautiful. The scenes where Maia had to go to collect laughter of sun, tears of moon and blood of stars, were done so beautifully that I felt as if I am seeing them on the screen. The concept was really brilliant.
I really want to commend [a:Elizabeth Lim|6926374|Elizabeth Lim|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1508017352p2/6926374.jpg] for her writing for it kept me glued to the pages. The writing was so beautiful that it felt like I was reading an old favourite fairytale. The addition of magic to the story created a wonderful effect.
And lastly, can we talk about the gorgeous cover? It is so beautiful. And now after finishing the story, I can see how beautifully the different aspects of the story has been illustrated on the cover. There is Maia with her magical scissors, the dress with sun, moon and stars and then there is a Hawk.
Overall, Spin the Dawn is a fun and engaging read with a strong female character that I am sure everyone would love. Maia’s love for her family and her desire to gain fame is something that comes across strongly. With Chinese legends, magical gifts, adventuring quests, and the power of love, Spin of Dawn is really entertaining. It shows what true love is how it demands sacrifices. It is a story about grief, responsibility, faith, will-power, sacrifice and magic. I would absolutely recommend this. The sequel is definitely going to be darker than this and now I can’t wait to read it.
Actual rating: 4.5 stars
Another book which was better than my expectations! I truly enjoyed [b:Spin the Dawn|42815556|Spin the Dawn (The Blood of Stars, #1)|Elizabeth Lim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1542674036l/42815556._SY75_.jpg|58477266] from the first page to the last. I finished the later 70% of the book in a single day and stayed up till 3 AM to finish this book. This is something which rarely happens to me. So yeah, you can guess how much I loved this. This is a tale with adventure, magic, sorcerers, demons, ghosts, quests and of course, lots of sewing.
The story is about Maia, a seamstress, who wants to be an imperial tailor but the only problem is that she is a girl and in her kingdom, girls can’t be royal tailors. But when the emperor summons her father to the court, she disguises herself as her brother and goes to the palace. There she has to compete with eleven other tailors to become the Emperor’s court tailor. But the last challenge made her go to the most difficult quest of her life. She was given the task to make three dresses to symbolise the goddess Amana’s children and for that, she had to collect laughter of the sun, tears of the moon and blood of the stars. Then there is Edan, emperor’s Lord enchanter, who knows Maia’s secret from the beginning that she is a girl. He tries to help her from the beginning and even leave with her for her quest.
“My whole life, I’d been told what I couldn’t do because I was a girl. Well, this was my chance to find out. The only thing I could do was take it.”
I loved Maia so much. She was a strong and well-developed character. She had gone through so much but still, she was determined to improve her family’s condition and to support them in whichever way possible. I really loved how she wanted to make a name for herself by being an imperial tailor. she had been told from her childhood that she can’t be a tailor simply because she was a girl, no matter how good she was in her craft. But I loved her ferocity and her desire to earn fame.
And Edan? He was a sugar. Maia and Edan are now one of my favourite OTP. Edan was so mysterious. He never fully revealed what or who he was. As a sorcerer, he was really powerful with centuries of knowledge and magic. I loved his initial banters with Maia. He always teased her and no matter how much Maia wanted to avoid him, they became closer. I was eagerly waiting to happen something between them 😀 Their love was a forbidden one but I wanted it so badly. Their relationship arc was really good and I loved how Edan slowly opened to Maia and told her his darkest secrets. Over the pages, Edan won me over.
“I dread reaching the end of my story, for it is full of knots that I haven’t had the courage to cut free.”
Another side character I really like was Lady Sarnai. I definitely want to know more about her. She was forced into an arranged marriage with Emperor Khanujin to maintain the peace between two kingdoms. She was another example to show the status of women in society, that how men treat women as prized possession no matter how much talent she has. She was really an intriguing character and I hope her past is more explored in the sequel.
The world building of the story is fantastic. The story begins with a war-torn country which was trying to recover from this tragedy. I was glad though that the author didn’t put many details of this war in the story and quickly moved to Maia’s and Edan’s adventures, in which I was completely lost. The imagery of the world that [a:Elizabeth Lim|6926374|Elizabeth Lim|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1508017352p2/6926374.jpg] has created, is really beautiful. The scenes where Maia had to go to collect laughter of sun, tears of moon and blood of stars, were done so beautifully that I felt as if I am seeing them on the screen. The concept was really brilliant.
I really want to commend [a:Elizabeth Lim|6926374|Elizabeth Lim|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1508017352p2/6926374.jpg] for her writing for it kept me glued to the pages. The writing was so beautiful that it felt like I was reading an old favourite fairytale. The addition of magic to the story created a wonderful effect.
And lastly, can we talk about the gorgeous cover? It is so beautiful. And now after finishing the story, I can see how beautifully the different aspects of the story has been illustrated on the cover. There is Maia with her magical scissors, the dress with sun, moon and stars and then there is a Hawk.
Overall, Spin the Dawn is a fun and engaging read with a strong female character that I am sure everyone would love. Maia’s love for her family and her desire to gain fame is something that comes across strongly. With Chinese legends, magical gifts, adventuring quests, and the power of love, Spin of Dawn is really entertaining. It shows what true love is how it demands sacrifices. It is a story about grief, responsibility, faith, will-power, sacrifice and magic. I would absolutely recommend this. The sequel is definitely going to be darker than this and now I can’t wait to read it.