The Laughing Listener
June 2019
Format: eBook
*I was graciously given a free copy in exchange for an honest review.*

Overall Rating: 5 Stars

When I read the words “Mulan retelling” and saw the beautiful cover, I was totally on board for this. I’m a sucker for a good retelling, especially when it involves badass female heroines. And guys. Let me tell you. This DID NOT disappoint. I’m so excited to be sharing this book with everyone because it was so unexpectedly creative and wonderful!



I’ve heard a lot of people say this book is Mulan meets Project Runway and it’s true! Similar to Mulan, Maia goes to the palace in place of her father, but as a tailor. There’s a contest to determine who the best tailor is for the emperor and it gets CRAZY. I loved the competition aspect of this book because it sucked me right in and I couldn’t put it down. But I also want to emphasize that this novel is SOOOO MUCH MORE than that. It was actually shocking to me how little real estate the contest takes up in the book as a whole. Lim takes us on such a wild ride with this story and it was amazing!

Any y’all, don’t even get me STARTED on how beautiful the writing is. From page one, this is styled like an old fairytale and it was perfect. The language was so pretty and flowed so well, it was such a pleasure to read. Plus, a lot of the fantasy and magical elements added to that fairytale feeling and it was wonderful. Hearing Maia and Edan talk about all the gods was fun and Lim did such an excellent job bringing them to life.



FINAL WORD

This book is MAGICAL. It’s a fun story about an amazing female character and you all NEED to read it. I already can’t wait for book two!

#1 ↦ Spin the Dawn ↦ ✦✦✦✦✦
#2 ↦ [b:Untitled|36683940|Untitled (The Blood of Stars #2)|Elizabeth Lim|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|58477276] ↦ ????

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I JUST GOT APPROVED FOR THIS ON NETGALLEY!!