Spin the Dawn

Quotes

Genre

• Young Adult
• Fantasy
• Fairy Tale
• Adventure
• Asian Literature
• Romance
• Coming of Age

Trigger Warnings

• Violence
• Death
• Loss of loved ones
• Blood
• Imprisonment
• Threat of sexual assault
• Homophobic and ableist language
• Sexism

*There may be spoilers in this review. I will try to avoid major spoilers but some need to be brought up to be discussed.

Summary

Maia Tamarin dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well. When a royal messenger summons her ailing father, once a tailor of renown, to court, Maia poses as a boy and takes his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she’ll take that risk to achieve her dream and save her family from ruin. There’s just one catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

Backstabbing and lies run rampant as the tailors compete in challenges to prove their artistry and skill. Maia’s task is further complicated when she draws the attention of the court magician, Edan, whose piercing eyes seem to see straight through her disguise.

And nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three magic gowns for the emperor’s reluctant bride-to-be, from the laughter of the sun, the tears of the moon, and the blood of stars. With this impossible task before her, she embarks on a journey to the far reaches of the kingdom, seeking the sun, the moon, and the stars, and finding more than she ever could have imagined.

Characters

• Maia Tamarin – The daughter of a tailor she goes in secret to take her father’s place in the Emperor’s contest for a new Imperial Tailor.
• Keton – Maia’s only surviving brother and a cripple. She takes his name when she goes to the contest.
• Brothers – Maia had two other brothers that were both killed in the war
• Babba – Maia’s father
• Edan – The Imperial Enchanter has many secrets
• Emperor Khanujin – The emperor of A’landi
• Lady Sarnai – The shansan’s daughter that has been promised to the emperor as a bride. She is the one judging the contest for a new imperial tailor but she has little interest in making it easy.
• Lord Xina – Lady Sarnai’s rumored lover
• The other tailors – Eleven master tailors from all across A’landi.
• Amana – The goddess

Setting

The land of A’landi.

Overview

So the first line you see anywhere when they are advertising this book is how it is a mix of Mulan and Project Runway. To be honest the only thing it really has in common with Mulan is Maia having to hide her gender and the Chinese influence om the world and culture. And she’s a tailor so there you go, Project Runway. Well, I guess it is a contest but still.

I recently took a class on modern publishing and I now get why they have tags like that on new books but I really feel like it does a disservice to the work and even more so, to the audience. If I had just seen that line instead of reading other people’s thoughts (to be fair it was the cover that got me first and the fact that Tamora Pierce endorsed it) I probably wouldn’t have picked it up.

Pros

The story felt fresh and the characters weren’t forced archetypes. A lot of YA comes across formulaic and while this had elements of the formula, Lim created a world that felt alive and unique. There was a blend of fairytales and cultures that really made the world fun to read about. It was familiar and still refreshing.

“Little Furball” was one of my favorite stories growing up. It felt like Cinderella but if Cinderella had a bit more agency. Furball also demanded dresses to be made like the sun, moon, and stars to delay an unwanted wedding. I was thrilled when I saw Furball reflected in Lady Sarnai.

Speaking of, the characters were a lot of fun but I appreciated the female characters quite a bit. They all felt like they had their own stories and that they stayed true to themselves rather than being a victim to the narrative. Lady Sarnai was cruel but the more I learned of her situation the more I found myself sympathizing with her and respecting the way she took up space. She could have been made to be petty and catty and malicious but she had been used and sold and she had feelings about it.

Maia wasn’t the type to hold other girls in disdain either. I liked her quite a bit as the main character and I appreciated that she wanted to do things for herself as much as for her family. This new brand of hero that wants to find fulfillment for themselves is really appreciated in this day and age. It is a hard narrative to balance though, without crossing the line into a selfish or self-absorbed type character. Maia was pretty solid as a decent person first and she grew into a stronger and stronger version of herself.

I appreciated the chemistry between Maia and Edan as well. I kept waiting for it to bug me, YA romance is difficult for me to appreciate sometimes and I find myself being more and more critical as I move along. They felt like they fit. They understood the back and forth between each other and it felt like they genuinely cared about each other. Maia felt a little dense sometimes when it came to Edan but I guess that’s a typical fairy tale for you.

Cons

I wanted more about the world. There wasn’t a lot of worldbuilding outside of what was happening around the story. It hinted at a lot of things that I was hoping to get more details on but they never came up. Hopefully, the sequel will add more but for now it felt like it relied a lot on the audience just accepting a pretty cookie cutter inspired by China type of world.

Things did feel pretty trope-y. I enjoyed the story and most of the tropes didn’t bother me too much but I could see it being a distraction to someone who would be bothered. Edan rode the line with the whole “dresses all in black, smirking ‘I know more than you’ condescension” nonsense and Maia with the other whole “I’m too sassy and I won’t take your nonsense even though I let everybody else talk to me like I’m crap” thing. I liked their interactions though. The chemistry made up for it when they hit the trials. Again, I felt like Maia was being a touch obtuse when it came to Edan and his secrets though.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I really enjoyed it. I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was and maybe that helped elevate it. I am a sucker for fairy tales and I really liked the tailor element. Any time artisans and magic mix I am a happy camper. The scissors were a cool element especially the way they tied into the overall mythology.

If you like fairy tales or lean more towards the whimsical quest type of story, I highly recommend this. I’m a sucker for any artisan type craft and when mixed with magic it’s just *chef’s kiss.*

There were some YA tropey type elements but none that were so heinous that they changed my feelings on the overall story. The characters are likeable and the quest was a lot of fun for me. I feel like I haven’t read a quest story in quite awhile…

I’m definitely picking up the sequel and I can’t wait to see what comes next.

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