Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim
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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.
The prologue instantly captures your attention as you want to know more about this character and her story. There’s a clear emotional response whilst talking to her family brings a lot of expectations to the tale (that were met!).
Spin the Dawn is a Mulan-esque tale with Maia posing as her brother to become a Master Tailor because women can’t in this culture. I loved the obvious nod to Mulan as well as the asian influences throughout the story, but Lim made the book unique in many other aspects. I think the main deviation that I loved was that Maia was extremely talented beforehand and it was society which made her less. The story is actually of overcoming the perception that she couldn’t be a tailor because of her gender, and showing off what she has worked for.
The book is split into two parts, one of which is a competition for Maia to prove her skills in front of the emperor and then the second part is that Maia has to go on a magical journey. Whilst there is different pacing and the second part had a lot more action, the slower parts of the book still held my attention. I was intrigued by the mystery of the world, the characters we’ve met so far, and how far Maia can go on acting as her brother.
Maia as a character is really great to read. Whilst she does pretend to be a man, she doesn’t lose her feminity and she doesn’t dislike what makes her a woman but that she’s gatekeeped from her wish of being a tailor. Her goal is to help her family, but she also has ambition for herself and wants to become the Master Tailor because she’s worked hard on her talent. I loved her stubborness, and how she wasn’t sacrificing her life for someone else but living her dream which also elevates her loved ones.
Edan is the imperial enchanter and is very much your typical love interest in a lot of ways. He’s dark, brooding and the relationship is built on teasing which leads to more. He’s the main way we see magic throughout the book, and he allows explainations to Maia for some magic things that happen. The downside to Edan is that he is the love interest as it moved very fast, he’s 500+ years old, and to be honest it didn’t add a lot to the story.
I loved that we are shown through Edan that magic comes at a price in this world, and it’s not unlimited power. Magic in this book is based in myths and lore of the world, and this expanded the world building as it also include ghosts and demons and magical places. There’s not a lot of depth to it, it’s not a huge magic system or anything like that but at times it feels very fairytale-like which I loved.
Overall, Spin the Dawn was one of my quickest reads of 2021 so far. I just couldn’t put this book down for too long because I wanted to know what happens. I’m excited to also pick up the next book.
Positives of Spin the Dawn
- Great myth, lore, and world building
- Unique take on a Mulan trope
Negatives of Spin the Dawn
- Predictable love interest
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