Unravel the Dusk is absolutely the conclusion that Spin the Dawn deserved.

After the events of Spin the Dawn, Edan and Maia are separated, and Maia's deal with the demon Bandur is beginning to take its toll. When she is forced to step in for Lady Sarnai as the Emporer's betrothed, tensions between her country and Sarnai's come to a boiling point, and Maia is forced to lose even more of herself in order to protect A'landi. How far will Maia go to secure the peace? What has become of Edan? After everything that comes between them, will there ever be a happily ever after?

While Spin the Dawn has a slightly more straightforward plot, Unravel the Dusk has moved away from those archetypes. Maia spends the entire book battling the demon growing within her, which makes for a fascinating character study. Can Maia be tempted to abandon her causes altogether? What happens when she loses parts of herself that make her who she is? Characters fighting the evil within them is an arc I've always enjoyed, and I think Lim did a good job with it.

In contrast, Edan has become a severely watered-down version of himself. I found it difficult to invest anything in any character but Maia, even though I'd cared about them when I read the first book just under a year ago.

Like the first book, Unravel the Dusk is divided into sections, which feature fairly different plotlines, but which keeps the plot moving at a shockingly fast pace (which I appreciate, truly). This meant that the book encompassed several battles, army v army, demon v demon, and that adventure level was certainly up from the first one.

It took me a pretty long time for me to get through this book, for whatever reason. Nonetheless, it was an ending I found deeply satisfying, and I would definitely recommend that anyone who liked Spin the Dawn pick up its sequel.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley.