Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

The Wrath & The Dawn by Renée Ahdieh
on May 12th 2015
Pages: 388
Genres: High Fantasy
Format: Hardcover
Source: Purchased
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One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end.

Alright, alright. Alright, alright, alright.

Let’s get this out of the way now. This book is trash. All the way, to the end of the road, it’s absolute trash.

And this was me:

Gawd I loved this book. All the while I knew it was bad. Just down to it’s very core it’s a bad book. But it is so. damn. addictive.

So Shazi’s best friend Shiva has just been murdered by the King, Khalid. So she leaves her lover, Tariq and volunteers as tribute (sorry not sorry) to be Khalid’s next wife.

Now, let me get the complaining out of the way early.

Shazi is annoying. Like very obtuse. She is full of pride (which I love) but she’s very clumsy about how she goes about discovering the Khalid’s secrets (which I hate) – which basically boils down to her whining to him a lot about them instead of doing any real investigation. Then there’s the time when she pretends to everyone that she can’t shoot arrows and lets herself be goaded into revealing that, actually, she’s a great shot within like 5 minutes. Way to go, there Shazi.

Also, the romance is super instalovey and I never really bought it. Obviously, there was a sizzle or I would have been out the door so fast you’d have thought I was being chased by a bear. But when it came to their devotional love proclamations, I was left unmoved.

The writing is a little subpar but it’s nothing to cry about.

Also the plot. Shazi barely even tells the stories. Like, it happens a few times but mostly it’s so quickly done and over with and they’re very underwhelming so I’m not sure, like, if I were a blood-thirsty sultan, that I would spare her life for those stories. I mean, I’m just assuming here because I’ve never slaughtered dozens of innocent girls. Maybe if I did, I’d be as easily amused as Khalid was, I don’t know. THIS IS ALL CONJECTURE.

Okay. Deep breath. So what did I like about this book?

Gawd, I don’t know.

If I could pinpoint the magic that was The Wrath and the Dawn and bottle it up and sprinkle it over everything I would. There was just something, ultimately, very readable about it. It made me want to devour everything and never stop.

It was like doritoes, you know? You know they’re bad for you, but you can’t stop eating. So moarish. I need more. I’m reading The Rose and the Dagger immediately and not one of youse can stop me.

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Kat Kennedy

Co-blogger at Cuddlebuggery

Kat Kennedy is a book reviewer and aspiring author in the Young Adult genre. She reviews critically but humorously and get super excited about great books. Find her on GoodReads.

@_KatKennedy

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