#The Blood of Stars

[bookshelvesandtealeaves]

✨ DUOLOGY REVIEW ✨

The Blood of Stars by Elizabeth Lim

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25

Spin the Dawn: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Unravel the Dusk: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

[instagram]

Ohhh my gosh, I loved this duology so much!

I absolutely love the concept. It’s been described as Mulan meets Project Runway which, while not inaccurate, definitely makes it sound a bit more frivolous than it is.

I really enjoyed the progression of this story, from sewing competition to impossible magical quest to fighting off a demon’s hold to the climactic battle at the end. Everything was just so evenly paced. I was never left bored or wanting to rush through parts, and no parts felt as though they were over too quick.

I adored the slow burn romance. Maia and Edan were just so wonderful together. I loved watching them fall for each other, watch their bickering turn fond, watch the way their attitudes changed over time. They just loved each other so much and it made my heart so full.

The family relations were the ones that really tugged at my heart, though. Familial love is woven so deeply throughout this story and it’s so beautifully done.

And the magic! The magic was fascinating and unique and I loved every moment of it!

I definitely recommend this one for YA fantasy lovers.

[m4g0rtz]

Today's polish was tricky to photograph but I think I got it. 😁 The base is a dark blue jelly with tons of blue reflective glitter and orange to green ghost flakes. I had the hardest time getting the ghost flakes to show up on camera, but then I finally got them in the car. Ohh and Caleb. 😂😸 This is The Blood of Stars from Bee's Knees Lacquer.

[channary]

— Elizabeth Lim, Unravel the Dusk

[teartra]

The Blood of Stars Duology edge painting is here!!!

[mattel]

GOTTMIK RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9x03

[nomohmoss]

With each triumph, you must confront yourselves anew, peering into the depths of your hearts and acknowledging the potential for malevolence.

[starry-bi-sky]

I am loudly pushing the batdad agenda i am loudly pushing the— DPxDC Prompt

“Woah. You look like shit."

Granted, that’s probably not the first thing Danny should be saying to the guy that just bit the curb, but in his defense; he’s not running on 100% right now either.

The man -- tall, towering, and broader than Danny is tall -- whips around on his heel, black frayed cape flaring out impressively. Danny would've whistled in appreciation, but he takes the time instead to wipe the back of his hand across his mouth, smearing the blood running from his nose across his cheek.

"Sorry." He blinks widely, not even flinching as the man with the horns zeroes in on him. "That was rude of me. I have a really bad brain-to-mouth filter; Sam says its what always gets me into trouble."

And she's not wrong either, per say. His smart mouth is what landed him in this situation -- with blood blossom extract running through his veins and cannibalizing the ectoplasm in his bloodstream. Thanks Vlad.

The man grunts at him; a short, curt "hm" that shouldn't make Danny smile, but he does because he's somewhat delirious and probably concussed. The man keeps some kind of distance, sinking towards the shadows of Gotham's alleyway like he dares to melt right into it.

If it's supposed to scare Danny, it doesn't work. Danny's never been afraid of the dark; he's always been able to hide himself in it. He blinks slowly at the mass of shadows.

"You look hurt." The shadows says, blurring together around the edges. Danny squints, and licks his lips to get the blood dripping down his chin off. Ugh, he hates the taste of blood.

"I am." He says, "My godfather poisoned me. M'dying." The agony of the blood blossom eating him from the inside out looped back around to numbing a while ago, so all he feels is half-awake and dazed.

"Hey," Danny stumbles forward towards the man, a bloodied hand reaching out to him. "You-- you're a hero, right? You're not attacking me; which is more than I can say for most costumed people I've met." Maybe it's a poor bar to judge someone at, but he's already established that Danny's not in his right mind.

The man makes no change in expression, but Danny realizes blearily that it's hard to tell with the shadows on his face. He stays still long enough for Danny to latch onto the cape -- stretchy, but almost soft under his fingers.

He looks up blearily into the whites of the man's eyes. "Can you help me? I don't-- I don't wanna die." Again. He doesn't wanna die again. He blinks slow and lizard-like. "I mean- I'll probably get to see mom and dad again, but I told them I'd at least try and make it to adulthood."

There's a clatter down the street, and Danny's ghost sense chills up his spine and leaves a bitter, ashy taste in his mouth. He immediately knows who it belongs to even before the deceptively gentle; "Daniel?" echoes down the way.

"Daniel? Quit your games, badger, Gotham is dangerous for children."

Danny's mouth pulls back, and blood spills against his tongue. "Please." He rasps, and grabs onto the shadow's cape with both hands. "Please. He's going to kill me. Please--"

"Daniel? Is that you?"

His lips part, dragging in air to plead with the darkness again. He doesn't need to, the whites of his eyes narrow, and the cape whirls around him before Danny can blink. Soon swaddled in shadows, the Night lifts him up, and steals him away.

[galacticsabc]

Go ahead Red Mage, save the party.

[supitsgdo]

Book review: The Blood of Stars duology by Elizabeth Lim

Rating:

Spin the Dawn - 4⭐

Unravel the Dusk - 4⭐

This gave me Mulan vibes, and I liked it!!!! The beginning was similar-ish to Mulan, but with a different plot, and I really liked the main characters. I liked the personality of the female MC, and then the male MC comes in and I just had fun reading through their relationship, always bickering (classic). The challenges that they faced were interesting to read, in both books they were really well written, and fresh. In the second book, there are more interactions with the secondary characters, which was a nice change in the momentum of the series. And the finale was great. I really enjoyed theses books, so much so that I read the first one in one day 😅 And I enjoyed the fact that, in some way, this story was connected with Six Crimson Cranes (which I read first).

[shyranno]

Hat is matte black Got the boots that's black to match

[oobbbear]

-Intrusive thoughts-

Close ups:

Scene from fic “Ghostlight” by Kittenixe (@ghostlightfic)

Please go read the fic it’s really good/sob, and play the game possibaly for more context

[puppyeared]

isat playthrough moodboard

[lonelyslutavatar]

Mr Bonzo's on his Way!

[dreamdripdistance]

✦ the most consistent part of this life, is that the sun will always rise and there's stars in the night ✦ (the reverse)

[mari-lair]

First Loop

[scorbleeo]

Book Review: Unravel the Dusk

The Blood of Stars (Book 2) by Elizabeth Lim

Source: Google Images

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.

ISBN: 9780525647027 (2020) | Source: Goodreads

This Book Surprised Me

I guess because Spin the Dawn was an average and forgettable read to me, I expected to dislike Unravel the Dusk. Turned out, I liked this more than the first book, not bad. Side note, despite only reading Spin the Dawn late last year, I was kinda taken aback when I had no idea what was going on in the beginning of Unravel the Dusk – that's why I said the first book was forgettable. Anyhow, yes, getting into this book was slightly rocky because yours truly forgot what happened previously, but all turned out well in the end because it was pretty easy to get my bearings back with this book.

Oddly enough, everything I complained that was lacking in the previous book was quite evident in this instalment. I remembered wanting more political conflict or action in Spin the Dawn and well, I got them here. The political conflict was nothing complicated, it was the action that made this book easy to breeze through. Unravel the Dusk is the action packed book in this duology.

As for the characters, our two main characters were boring. I like Edan without all that magic from the first book but he was barely in this book. As for Maia, I liked how Lim wrote her internal conflict and just how much she was suffering trying not to lose control, it was as if I was there suffering alongside Maia. Also because of that very reason, I felt so connected to Maia. When she saw Ammi again after her memories were gone? My heart twisted for Maia. When she could not recognize her family? My heart broke with Maia. And when she was saying goodbye to the spirits who helped her? My heart was crying.

What I did not like was how it seemed the good and evil were simply using Maia's body. It was as though without those objects, Maia had no magic and she was just there as a shell for good and evil to fight. Talking about evil, Bandur felt more like an irritating housefly, the Shansen was a power-hungry maniac and Gyiu'rak reminded me of an overly confident and complacent bitch. Considering this is a YA duology, I can allow the villains to be so far below average, but oh boy, they were not villainous enough. Lady Sarnai could be a better villain just for how she talked to Maia...

And since I've mentioned Lady Sarnai, I would just like to point out a small issue I have with this character. What is the point of creating such a strong kickass female character if there is not much focus on her arc at all? It was obvious she would rule in the end but I wanted to be shown more than just that ending if I was gonna be "yes, she deserves it".

Lastly, the ending... I am not speaking for anyone else, but I think if this had a sad ending, or even an ambiguous one, I would have liked this book a lot more. Personally, I just thought that through all the suffering Maia went through in this book, it would have been so much more painful (but the book would also be so much more impactful) if what Master Tsring said was the actual ending. Anyone?

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.5/5)