Author: Renee Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #2
Genres: YA, Fantasy, Romance
Publisher: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Source: Paperback
Pages: 420
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SYNOPSIS: The much anticipated sequel to the breathtaking The Wrath and the Dawn, lauded by Publishers Weekly as "a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance."
I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust.
In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid's empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan.
While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn't yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.
The second and last book of the duology... at first when Renee announced it I was happy because trilogies are so typically YA that I was excited about reading a duology but now I am sad because I wish there were more books! I absolutely loved both books and there will be no more :'(
THE WORLD: It's set in Khorasan, which turns out to be a real region that nowadays occupies most part of Iran. Its capital is Rey. The other close caliphate is Parthia, its capital is Amardha.
THE CHARACTERS: The main character is still Shazi, the badass and loudmouth heroine we loved in the first book. She's back at it with the sass! but we get to meet other characters as well such as Shazi's sister, Irsa, who is quite opposite to Shazi... she's more reserved, quiet, looks more like an adorable doll but guess what? she can be strong as well and she demonstrates it. I wish she had more character development though. Then we have Tariq who I didn't like in the first book but in this one he goes nuts geez he's such an asshole and an idiot. However, he does realize he's being a fool and changes for the last quarter of the book which saved him from getting into my blacklist of characters. The last main character is obviously my love, Khalid. The one and only. He's still as awesome as in the first book, even better actually! He's adorable and strong and smart... do I need to continue with the list?
Moving on with secondary characters we have Shazi's father, Jahandar, who has a small but important role. Another idiot to be honest... he gets a bit corrupted by power... or so you think. There is also Reza bin-Latief, Tariq's uncle and a major douchebag, Rahim al-Din Walad, a friend of Tariq but has much more common sense than him, Omar al-Sadiq, emir of Badawi, Salim Ali el-Sharif, sultan of Parthia and another major douchebag, Musa Zaragosa and Artan Temujin, allies and Artan is like a male version of Shazi more or less... quite an interesting character, Yasmine Ali el-Sharif, daughter of Salim who has a tiny role at the end. Last but not least we have Jalal, Khalid's cousin, and Despina who has more secrets than A in Pretty Little Liars.
PLUS: I loved everything about the book but I have to start by mentioning Renee's fantastic writing! I swear she writes beautifully... I don't know how to explain it... it's like prose in motion I guess. It's prose but there is a rhythm to it just like in poetry and it maintains the flow in such a way that you could read the same phrase over and over again without getting tired of it. It's just so elegant and exquisite and delicate ♥
There is also the story itself of course! It was compelling and not once did I get bored, well maybe during some chapter sections narrated by anyone who wasn't Shazi or Khalid but they were really short so I didn't mind at all.
The ending chapter was just amazing omg yes such perfection!
MINUS: The only minus is that I missed some character developments such as Irsa's, Despina's, and Jalal's. They barely got any story time! I would've preferred them to Tariq's or Jahandar's chapters/sections really...
OVERALL: 5 stars and goes to favorites. This duology is stunning from start to end. It has such a raw quality! Sadly there will be no more books but I will keep an eye on Renee because to be honest I would probably buy her next book, 99% sure. She made it to my top writers just with two YA books out! guys how amazing is that? I suggest you read these two books as soon as possible. Grab your copy now!
My apologies if the quality is too low... I couldn't find a better one on the internet.
THE CHARACTERS: The main character is still Shazi, the badass and loudmouth heroine we loved in the first book. She's back at it with the sass! but we get to meet other characters as well such as Shazi's sister, Irsa, who is quite opposite to Shazi... she's more reserved, quiet, looks more like an adorable doll but guess what? she can be strong as well and she demonstrates it. I wish she had more character development though. Then we have Tariq who I didn't like in the first book but in this one he goes nuts geez he's such an asshole and an idiot. However, he does realize he's being a fool and changes for the last quarter of the book which saved him from getting into my blacklist of characters. The last main character is obviously my love, Khalid. The one and only. He's still as awesome as in the first book, even better actually! He's adorable and strong and smart... do I need to continue with the list?
Moving on with secondary characters we have Shazi's father, Jahandar, who has a small but important role. Another idiot to be honest... he gets a bit corrupted by power... or so you think. There is also Reza bin-Latief, Tariq's uncle and a major douchebag, Rahim al-Din Walad, a friend of Tariq but has much more common sense than him, Omar al-Sadiq, emir of Badawi, Salim Ali el-Sharif, sultan of Parthia and another major douchebag, Musa Zaragosa and Artan Temujin, allies and Artan is like a male version of Shazi more or less... quite an interesting character, Yasmine Ali el-Sharif, daughter of Salim who has a tiny role at the end. Last but not least we have Jalal, Khalid's cousin, and Despina who has more secrets than A in Pretty Little Liars.
PLUS: I loved everything about the book but I have to start by mentioning Renee's fantastic writing! I swear she writes beautifully... I don't know how to explain it... it's like prose in motion I guess. It's prose but there is a rhythm to it just like in poetry and it maintains the flow in such a way that you could read the same phrase over and over again without getting tired of it. It's just so elegant and exquisite and delicate ♥
There is also the story itself of course! It was compelling and not once did I get bored, well maybe during some chapter sections narrated by anyone who wasn't Shazi or Khalid but they were really short so I didn't mind at all.
The ending chapter was just amazing omg yes such perfection!
MINUS: The only minus is that I missed some character developments such as Irsa's, Despina's, and Jalal's. They barely got any story time! I would've preferred them to Tariq's or Jahandar's chapters/sections really...
OVERALL: 5 stars and goes to favorites. This duology is stunning from start to end. It has such a raw quality! Sadly there will be no more books but I will keep an eye on Renee because to be honest I would probably buy her next book, 99% sure. She made it to my top writers just with two YA books out! guys how amazing is that? I suggest you read these two books as soon as possible. Grab your copy now!
What did you think about THE ROSE AND THE DAGGER?
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