The Blood of Stars (Duology)

This Post is Spoiler Free!

Spin the Dawn

So… Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim. Where to start? Well, I suppose I’ll start with the first chapter. It was interesting because the first chapter was backstory and nothing else. It almost felt like an extended prologue, but less mystical? I’ll be honest, this is the only book I can remember reading that started like that, and I actually found it useful. When the story started in the second chapter, I already liked the characters well enough and was eager to continue.

Unfortunately, that eagerness didn’t remain—somewhere in the first half of the story, I got super bored. To the point where I put the book down for a few days and didn’t read anything at all. It wasn’t until tonight (time of writing this, not posting this) that I decided to pick the book up again… and I read the rest of it in one sitting. It was strange because, honestly, I liked this book. I liked it a fair amount. The characters were great (though the main character wasn’t my favorite, for reasons I’ll explain in a minute), the story itself was interesting, and the mythologies of the world were fascinating. 

For the main character… I’ll be honest. I rarely like main characters, especially if the story is told in a first person POV (which this was). It might be because of the insight to their thoughts, but I tend to get annoyed with them. Maia (the main character) was the same. There were some things I loved about her—her love for her family, her passion for her craft, her determination—but I still found her to be strangely naive and weak. That being said, I almost always find female first person POV main characters to be strangely naive and weak. Now that I’m really thinking about it, I wonder if that’s more a reflection of me than the characters… But, in any case, the main character was one of the two things that contributed to my lack of interest in the first half of the book.

The second thing was the pacing. I almost felt like this book would be better split into two books. There were two overarching trials that Maia had to overcome, and it was during the first one that gave me trouble. Maybe if that first trial had been fleshed out more, put into its own book with the pacing slowed down, I would have enjoyed it more and would have been compelled to continue reading. However, that is just my opinion. I tend to be picky about pace in books!

However, I definitely feel that the good outweighed the bad. I absolutely loved Eden (one of the other, more prominent characters), which isn’t a surprise. I’m not gonna give anything about him away, but even within the first sentences of meeting him, I put him into my “Bookish Boyfriends” pile. I also loved the world that Elizabeth Lim created. It was absolutely beautiful and so, so full. I’m definitely looking forward to book two, Unravel the Dusk.

Unravel the Dusk

Oooooooooooooooooooh boy! I just finished Unravel the Dusk… and I’m reeling. That was incredible! Everything that I struggled with in the first book didn’t even make a hint of an appearance in the second. Really, the only thing I didn’t absolutely love was how legendary everything was, but it fit the book/story, and I realize that is just a weird personal preference of mine. 

To be honest, I was a little nervous going into this one. I’ve heard some very mixed reviews about it (though nothing really in detail). Most people simply claimed not to like it as much as the first, but I am here to say I liked it a lot more than the first. The pacing was super even and always brought me into the story—there was never a time where I felt like it lagged and left me bored. Also! Maia, the main character, was so much more tolerable. I even liked her, which is surprising considering how much she annoyed me in the first book. 

I’m not sure what to say, since I don’t want to give away any sort of spoilers, but the second book had great character development as well as an incredibly fascinating storyline. I am very glad I didn’t give up halfway through book one!Fun fact! I just found out that there’s going to be another duology set in the same world?? The first is titled Six Crimson Cranes and I’m already so STOKED! Also, I’m currently listening to some of Elizabeth Lim’s musical compositions, and I really like them… I may be fangirling a little too hard right now. Hmmm… Go read Spin the Dawn and Unravel the Dusk!

My Next Read:

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn