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A review by mahjabinmeem
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
3.0
2.75 stars
Let's face it, the concept of this book is slightly ridiculous. Our protagonist Maia is entering a competition to become the imperial tailor, because that is the biggest honor a citizen can hope to achieve. But she cannot participate as herself, because here apparently women can't be Master Tailors.
How to write a YA Fantasy 101-
Pick a culture
Make something forbidden for women in that culture
Make the protagonist be the first women to achieve that
Insert a love interest, preferably a hate to love romance, or a love triangle.
Anyways, I picked this book up as I was craving something easy and light, also to see if the author could somehow magically make this ridiculous concept into something glamorous. Nope. Didn't happen. The various sewing metaphors in the book just made me cringe honestly. Maia's magical ability is to be able to wield magical scissors smh. Also a princess is delaying her marriage by sending people into quests to make dresses of Goddesses.
The magic was so vague. It's as if she needed to make it fantasy so it would sell, but had no idea how to manifest that concept into reality. Even the tailoring stuff could've been if there was a detailes cool magic to accompany the story. The whole book was very surface level without any deeper look into the world. There were no real high stakes to justify the dangers Maia had to face on her quest.
The writing was the best part about the book. It was decent, easy to go through. Nothing too flowery or obnoxious. The romance was also good I suppose. The main characters were okay. I actually quite enjoyed the quest parts.
If you're looking for some simple, easy read, you can check it out.
Let's face it, the concept of this book is slightly ridiculous. Our protagonist Maia is entering a competition to become the imperial tailor, because that is the biggest honor a citizen can hope to achieve. But she cannot participate as herself, because here apparently women can't be Master Tailors.
How to write a YA Fantasy 101-
Pick a culture
Make something forbidden for women in that culture
Make the protagonist be the first women to achieve that
Insert a love interest, preferably a hate to love romance, or a love triangle.
Anyways, I picked this book up as I was craving something easy and light, also to see if the author could somehow magically make this ridiculous concept into something glamorous. Nope. Didn't happen. The various sewing metaphors in the book just made me cringe honestly. Maia's magical ability is to be able to wield magical scissors smh. Also a princess is delaying her marriage by sending people into quests to make dresses of Goddesses.
The magic was so vague. It's as if she needed to make it fantasy so it would sell, but had no idea how to manifest that concept into reality. Even the tailoring stuff could've been if there was a detailes cool magic to accompany the story. The whole book was very surface level without any deeper look into the world. There were no real high stakes to justify the dangers Maia had to face on her quest.
The writing was the best part about the book. It was decent, easy to go through. Nothing too flowery or obnoxious. The romance was also good I suppose. The main characters were okay. I actually quite enjoyed the quest parts.
If you're looking for some simple, easy read, you can check it out.