A review by nasalle2842
Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

3.0

I give this 3.5 stars. I debated on rounding down to 3 or rounding up to 4 bc it really is a solid 3.5 for me, but I think 3 stars is fair.

While I did enjoy the story, I think some elements were a bit outdated - being “the chosen one”, “falling in love” with a boy while on a journey (seems more like trauma bonding), and the whole “the boy must protect the girl/the girl must rescue the boy from his so-called chains” feels very 2012-2014. I do still read and enjoy books with these tropes, but something about it’s execution just wasn’t doing it for me - I even cringed a few times.

I think if high school me read this ten years ago, she would’ve eaten it up and created a whole tumblr dedicated to this book, but we’re in a new era of YA literature and I think this missed the mark.