Some might see weakness in Maia’s gentleness but hers is a quiet strength born of emotion and self-sacrifice Maia is a talented tailor, not warrior. And as she fought the demons, ghouls and voices in her head, Maia remained elegant and delicate, a far cry from the fierce and unapologetic YA female characters we come across today. Despite this, Maia remains headstrong, determined and filled with love. She has achieved her dream of becoming the imperial tailor but it has come at a terrible price. Maia is severely melodramatic and often morose, rejecting every offer of help she is offered. Gone is the cheery and relentlessly optimistic tailor in her place, a broken and downtrodden woman with the world on her shoulders. That future would hold tight, even as I unraveled.

What little I had left of my tailoring gift wasn’t for sewing with needle and thread, it was for crafting a future, stitch by stitch, for the people I loved. Like a river flowing to the ocean, Unravel the Dusk builds slowly as it leads to it’s final conclusion.

The magic and the lore is woven cleverly into the plot and there is rarely a dull moment. Despite being stuck in Maia’s head, it is fast-paced. There is also a very strong sense of loneliness after all, the road to salvation and redemption is lonely. Instead, it is suffused with melancholy and revolves around Maia’s internal conflict, mirroring the mounting war in the world around her. The story is told with a lot less of flash and bang. To save her country, she has to sacrifice bits and pieces of herself the more she uses her dark demon magic, the more she is consumed. She fights it every step of the way but there is war on the horizon, fought more with magic and spirits than with weaponry and military tactics. Even the magic of the dresses is not enough to save Maia from herself. As the days pass, Maia continues to sink even further into dark depths, fighting a literal inner demon that threatens to consume her whole and leave her without her humanity. Maia’s secret identity has been revealed, she has been separated from Edam and her soul is sold to a demon oath. It starts immediately after the events of Spin the Dawn with Emperor Khanujin’s marriage to Lady Sarnai. Told in three parts, the plot once again revolves around the three dresses but this time, we see them in action and their creator at the centre of that power. Plot and Pacing: Melancholy and Introspective Themes: Frustrating Romance and My Favourite Myth.Worldbuilding and Prose: Confusing Magic System and Beautiful Prose.Plot and Pacing: Melancholy and Introspective.Unravel the Dusk: Mature, Melancholic and Reverent

Spin the dawn unravel the dusk