Unravel the Dusk by Elizabeth Lim

Reviewed by Sam!

What I drank prior: A whole bottle of wine, YOU WANNA FIGHT?! I am an adult and i do what i want.

Goodreads Overview:

Maia Tamarin’s journey to sew the dresses of the sun, the moon and the stars has taken a grievous toll. She returns to a kingdom on the brink of war. The boy she loves is gone, and she is forced to don the dress of the sun and assume the place of the emperor’s bride-to-be to keep the peace.

But the war raging around Maia is nothing compared to the battle within. Ever since she was touched by the demon Bandur, she has been changing . . . glancing in the mirror to see her own eyes glowing red, losing control of her magic, her body, her mind. It’s only a matter of time before Maia loses herself completely, but she will stop at nothing to find Edan, protect her family, and bring lasting peace to her country.

YA fantasy readers will love the sizzling forbidden romance, mystery, and intrigue of Unravel the Dusk.

Drunk Overview: This is the second and final book in this series, so if you don’t want spoilers for book one (review here), then GET OUT. Or don’t, like Minda says, I’m not your mom. So, at the end of book 1, we have our main lady, Maia, about to become a demon to save her one-true-love, Eden, who she’s sent away to “save his life” and the king knows she’s a woman and doesn’t care as long as she keeps making bad ass garb like she’s done before. The three dresses of the goddesses. At the beginning of this, the chick who was gonna marry the king goes missing and so Maia stands in for her, king finds out and is all… fucking find her. All while Maia keeps being called back to the island of the damn DEMONS.

Spoiler-free Thoughts:  This was rather like the first one in that it didn’t give me what I wanted but I didn’t hate it. Like, I expected something else but I liekd what I got, ya know?!

Characters: Listen, the characters in this are real annoying. Maia is such a shit. LIke, literally, she sent her man away to “save him” and then as soon as he comes back (that’s not a spoiler, of course he does) she’s right back to placating to his whims and orders. I hate it. Eden, while actually bae (because how can you not swoon) is such a martyr. The only character i like in this is the weird handmaiden chick.

Plot: So this is where this gets good. Remember how I asked for more? I got more. This, again, felt like two books, but it worked. I found myself tearing up at bits, which I wish I could talk about. There’s also a weird war that came out of no where and made very little sense. I found it hard to follow. I really REALLY loved the end. A lot of times, characters say thats what they want and then dont, but in this case #ItTrue.

Writing Style: Its… fine.

World Building: I got so many of my questions answered but developed two-fold the amount and it wasn’t answered.

What to pair it with: Strawberry Hard Seltzer. I chose the flavor from the cover 😉

Rating: 3/5

Until next time, we remain forever drunkenly yours,
Sam