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ailun 's review for:
Spin the Dawn
by Elizabeth Lim
I’m having such a serious moment of, did I read the same book as these other people who gave five stars and are gushing over how amazing the tale was? Ugh.
I had such high hopes for this story after first coming across it years ago, but why is it that books marketed as Mulan retellings have a way of disappointing me?
I guess one of the biggest problems I had with this book was the pacing. Not even pacing with separate events, but the pacing between even sentences and paragraphs always felt rushed. Interactions felt like they could’ve been fleshed out more, but weren’t, more details could have been given but instead were skipped and brushed over. You know speed reading, where you read super fast and jump over unimportant words? That’s what it felt like the author was doing, except speed writing instead. It’s not often that I think a book should be longer, but this one could definitely use a longer page count. I’d love to have seen the competition fleshed out more—I was surprised by how short it was. The competition could have also been so much more exciting if, again, more details and nuance had been added in.
Also, why are the girls in these Mulan retellings always terrible at hiding their gender? Surely not every person who gets close enough to her is observant to tell. And surely said girl should be more skilled at keeping her identity under wraps. Every time a person sOmEhOw finds out, wait, she’s a girl! They go, “Oh don’t worry. I’ll keep your secret. + some blackmail if they’re feeling fancy. Plenty of women have disguised themselves as men in wars over the centuries, and most of them weren’t found out at all unless it was through unavoidable circumstances, like after death or medical treatment after injury. Like, come on, Maia.
Is it weird that I didn’t particularly like any of the characters in this story? They kind of just… existed. Like cardboard cutouts. I don’t even have a character that I can point to as least unlikeable because absolutely no one stood out to me. Even Maia, who I should feel close with since she narrated the story, feels like an uninteresting mop of sludge. Again, maybe it’s the author’s rush rush rush on details and emotion, but I felt like any strong feelings and emotions from Maia were always glossed over when I would have liked to see them delved into. Even her struggles with the three dresses trial felt eh. I didn’t feel any sense of fear for her even though she was going through these perilous challenges. In fact, I didn’t feel any tension throughout the story even though there was supposed to be tension throughout. The emotional arc of the story just isn’t built up well.
I should mention the romance, too. Or how about the intense dislike I had over it? Did the author just whip up a romance for the sake of a romance? Edan literally swoops out of nowhere, is stalkerish, arrogant (and not in the funny way), and annoying. I didn’t feel endeared to him at all, and trust me, I didn’t feel any more endeared to him later on either. I’m not even sure how this romance happened.
But let’s just say I accept that Maia likes Edan and Edan likes Maia. They dated for less than a month, right? And then by the end of it, they’re both “I love you. Always.” I don’t know about you, but when I date a boy, I didn’t say “I love you” barely a month into the date, much less always. I don’t think I even thought much about whether or not I loved him, because I didn’t. I realize this isn’t really an instant romance because it’s not like they started falling head over heels for each other the moment they met, but they?? are too in deep for each other way too soon?? Especially when the foundation of the romance felt undeveloped as hell?? It was just so unrealistic that I took so many screenshots of the pages where Maia and Eden were confessing their undying love for each other. Things got even better when it turns out they’ve barely been together for a month and already throwing their lives away for each other, and not only that, but also throwing sap at my face like Maia telling me that she can’t live without Edan and gAh stab me with a sewing needle.
I had such high hopes for this story after first coming across it years ago, but why is it that books marketed as Mulan retellings have a way of disappointing me?
I guess one of the biggest problems I had with this book was the pacing. Not even pacing with separate events, but the pacing between even sentences and paragraphs always felt rushed. Interactions felt like they could’ve been fleshed out more, but weren’t, more details could have been given but instead were skipped and brushed over. You know speed reading, where you read super fast and jump over unimportant words? That’s what it felt like the author was doing, except speed writing instead. It’s not often that I think a book should be longer, but this one could definitely use a longer page count. I’d love to have seen the competition fleshed out more—I was surprised by how short it was. The competition could have also been so much more exciting if, again, more details and nuance had been added in.
Also, why are the girls in these Mulan retellings always terrible at hiding their gender? Surely not every person who gets close enough to her is observant to tell. And surely said girl should be more skilled at keeping her identity under wraps. Every time a person sOmEhOw finds out, wait, she’s a girl! They go, “Oh don’t worry. I’ll keep your secret. + some blackmail if they’re feeling fancy. Plenty of women have disguised themselves as men in wars over the centuries, and most of them weren’t found out at all unless it was through unavoidable circumstances, like after death or medical treatment after injury. Like, come on, Maia.
Is it weird that I didn’t particularly like any of the characters in this story? They kind of just… existed. Like cardboard cutouts. I don’t even have a character that I can point to as least unlikeable because absolutely no one stood out to me. Even Maia, who I should feel close with since she narrated the story, feels like an uninteresting mop of sludge. Again, maybe it’s the author’s rush rush rush on details and emotion, but I felt like any strong feelings and emotions from Maia were always glossed over when I would have liked to see them delved into. Even her struggles with the three dresses trial felt eh. I didn’t feel any sense of fear for her even though she was going through these perilous challenges. In fact, I didn’t feel any tension throughout the story even though there was supposed to be tension throughout. The emotional arc of the story just isn’t built up well.
I should mention the romance, too. Or how about the intense dislike I had over it? Did the author just whip up a romance for the sake of a romance? Edan literally swoops out of nowhere, is stalkerish, arrogant (and not in the funny way), and annoying. I didn’t feel endeared to him at all, and trust me, I didn’t feel any more endeared to him later on either. I’m not even sure how this romance happened.
But let’s just say I accept that Maia likes Edan and Edan likes Maia. They dated for less than a month, right? And then by the end of it, they’re both “I love you. Always.” I don’t know about you, but when I date a boy, I didn’t say “I love you” barely a month into the date, much less always. I don’t think I even thought much about whether or not I loved him, because I didn’t. I realize this isn’t really an instant romance because it’s not like they started falling head over heels for each other the moment they met, but they?? are too in deep for each other way too soon?? Especially when the foundation of the romance felt undeveloped as hell?? It was just so unrealistic that I took so many screenshots of the pages where Maia and Eden were confessing their undying love for each other. Things got even better when it turns out they’ve barely been together for a month and already throwing their lives away for each other, and not only that, but also throwing sap at my face like Maia telling me that she can’t live without Edan and gAh stab me with a sewing needle.