Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

Original Instagram post: May 12, 2021

How do you feel about protagonists with unconventional skills?

I just love them. Maia is my perfect unconventional hero. I don’t know if I’ve encountered another book that puts a sewist at its center. I loved seeing my maker-self reflected in Maia. It was also so important to me that she never became a “girl with a sword.” She comes into her own strength and learns to defend herself, but she never shifts into a swordswoman.

There is something incredibly empowering about seeing a hero whose worth comes from her skills as an artisan rather than as a warrior.

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Spin the Dawn is pitched as “Mulan meets Project Runway,” which is a fair way to characterize the first part of this book. Disguised as her brother, Maia competes with other men for the position of royal tailor. (Women are not allowed to be tailors.) Her confidence grows as she proves her skill again and again.

I thought the contest would be the entirety of the story, but I was wrong. Maia’s final task is to construct three mythological dresses. Edan, the emperor’s kind-of-immortal sorcerer (and my favorite mysterious, hawkish man), is the only one who can aid Maia.

Three reasons to the read Spin the Dawn

WORDS & WORLD

The book is so beautifully written. The descriptions of the gowns, the cities and countryside, these magical moments that Maia must bottle up are so vivid I could feel the fabrics between my fingers as I read.

FAVORITE TROPES

Spin the Dawn combines some of my favorite tropes — Girl-disguised-as-a-man who then KICKS ASS AND TAKES NAMES; the thawing of an immortal being’s heart, adversaries-to-allies-to-friends-to-lovers — and made me love a trope I don’t normally go for: a hunt for a magical object.

THE ENDING

It was not what I expected at all!

It’s such a cliff hanger. Maia and Edan end in a place I never expected! And I recommend having Unravel the Dusk on hand to dive into right away.

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