Unravel the Dusk

[psocoptera]

Unravel the Dusk, Elizabeth Lim, 2020. Sequel to Spin the Dawn (and conclusion of the duology). You know how some sequels are really good at refreshing your memory on what happened in the previous one? This... wasn't. I don't know if that's because the assumption in YA is that your readers are still young enough to actually remember most of what they read, or what, but I definitely found myself struggling to pick up the threads of all the oaths and curses and whatnot that never actually got recapped. Unfortunately, a lot of what made the first one charming also failed to carry over... instead of all the neat inventive fantasy-sewing bits, this felt much more run-of-the-mill with battles and the aforementioned curses. The central conflict felt belabored, and the eventual resolution felt unearned. I think there is definitely an art to writing a story that pays off on-theme... like, the recent Space Battle Lunchtime is a great example of this, at heart it's cooking-themed and so the day is saved through cooking. On MLP all problems are friendship problems. Etc. I wanted Dusk to be more about creativity and less about Generic Fantasy Final Battle. I still think the first one is very enjoyable, but my recommendation would be to skim this one heavily if you absolutely must know how it all turns out.