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bookishmillennial's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
disclaimer: I don’t really give starred reviews. I hope my reviews provide enough information to let you know if a book is for you or not. Find me here: https://linktr.ee/bookishmillennial
I read this as part of my #12Friends12Books 2024 reading challenge, and this book was recommended to me by @booknerderika (instagram). Thank you friend! 🩷
I thought this was such a clever story and I am excited to read the next book! It is a retelling of the One Thousand and One Nights tale, which I actually am very familiar with so it was fun to have that frame of reference. The Caliph of Khorasan marries a new bride each day and by the next dawn, she is killed, on his orders. Shahrzad marries him to get revenge for her best friend Shiva (one of the murdered brides) and plans to kill him with her longtime love Tariq (she has loved him since she was 12).
She gets Khalid (Caliph) to extend her life by telling him a story and promising to continue the story the next night. She hides her time this way, but learns more about Khalid and his childhood. Most notably, she cannot help but wonder why all of those women had to die. Amidst all this, Shahrzhad grapples with feelings of guilt, confusion, and compassion as she gets to know Khalid.
I did feel like their romance escalated a bit *quickly* and was curious about how you could go from hating someone for murdering your bestie to wanting to kiss him in a matter of days, but by the end, I did believe in it! I would have loved to see just a bit more of them getting to know each other and uncovering more layers of the other, but I am still satisfied with how this story unraveled.
I am excited to read the next book & think this would be an interesting one to adapt onscreen, especially since it’s already a folklore retelling.
I read this as part of my #12Friends12Books 2024 reading challenge, and this book was recommended to me by @booknerderika (instagram). Thank you friend! 🩷
I thought this was such a clever story and I am excited to read the next book! It is a retelling of the One Thousand and One Nights tale, which I actually am very familiar with so it was fun to have that frame of reference. The Caliph of Khorasan marries a new bride each day and by the next dawn, she is killed, on his orders. Shahrzad marries him to get revenge for her best friend Shiva (one of the murdered brides) and plans to kill him with her longtime love Tariq (she has loved him since she was 12).
She gets Khalid (Caliph) to extend her life by telling him a story and promising to continue the story the next night. She hides her time this way, but learns more about Khalid and his childhood. Most notably, she cannot help but wonder why all of those women had to die. Amidst all this, Shahrzhad grapples with feelings of guilt, confusion, and compassion as she gets to know Khalid.
I did feel like their romance escalated a bit *quickly* and was curious about how you could go from hating someone for murdering your bestie to wanting to kiss him in a matter of days, but by the end, I did believe in it! I would have loved to see just a bit more of them getting to know each other and uncovering more layers of the other, but I am still satisfied with how this story unraveled.
I am excited to read the next book & think this would be an interesting one to adapt onscreen, especially since it’s already a folklore retelling.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, Trafficking, Murder, Death, and Grief
Minor: Sexual content
julierambaeck's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
Felt like it moved too fast. So many moving points, but it felt like the plot were moving in circles. I didn't really like the main couple. LOVED the other couple and their story!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Pregnancy
Moderate: Animal death, Toxic relationship, Murder, Miscarriage, Death, Animal cruelty, Death of parent, and Suicide
noellelovesbooks's review against another edition
5.0
Content Warnings: violence, blood, animal death, and sexual harassment.
Mention of: suicide, murder, death of loved one[s], pregnancy, classism, sexism, grief, and miscarriage.
This gorgeous book has been sitting on my shelf for a while now and I decided it was finally time to dive in...and it did not disappoint.
We get a story with love, mystery, intrigue, and a little magic...we also get a story where stories are told to us by some of the characters and I LOVE that. Idk why but there's just something about a character telling us a story/myth/lore from their world that just helps me settle in even more. ^^
The end of this book had me glad I already have The Rose and the Dagger sitting on my shelf...so I can immediately dive into the other half of this tale.
Mention of: suicide, murder, death of loved one[s], pregnancy, classism, sexism, grief, and miscarriage.
This gorgeous book has been sitting on my shelf for a while now and I decided it was finally time to dive in...and it did not disappoint.
We get a story with love, mystery, intrigue, and a little magic...we also get a story where stories are told to us by some of the characters and I LOVE that. Idk why but there's just something about a character telling us a story/myth/lore from their world that just helps me settle in even more. ^^
The end of this book had me glad I already have The Rose and the Dagger sitting on my shelf...so I can immediately dive into the other half of this tale.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Violence, Animal death, and Sexual harassment
Moderate: Sexism, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Grief, and Murder
Minor: Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Suicide
geminisoul's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
I loved this story. It was so beautifully written and I loved to see the growth in the two main characters. The author did a great job of world building and giving the main characters depth. I can't wait to read the next book!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death and Violence
Moderate: Suicide, Miscarriage, Grief, Death, and Blood
notsobinaryart's review
challenging
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Sexual content, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail, Self harm, Pregnancy, Animal cruelty, Alcohol, Child abuse, Child death, Blood, Animal death, and Confinement
Minor: Slavery and Miscarriage
emsavors's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Infidelity, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Pregnancy, Toxic relationship, Violence, War, Fire/Fire injury, Genocide, Grief, Vomit, Injury/Injury detail, Miscarriage, Murder, Slavery, Suicide, Child abuse, Kidnapping, and Sexual content
dlsmk's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Animal death, Fire/Fire injury, Animal cruelty, Blood, Child death, Grief, Death, Miscarriage, Pregnancy, and Self harm
gummifrog's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
I remember when this book was really popular several years ago, and I was never very drawn in by the cover. But I just read it on audio for the first time and I'm so glad I did!
"The Wrath and the Dawn" is an enemies to lovers romance based on the framing device The 1001 Nights. I loved the characters so much, the world building, the relationships, the backstabbing betrayals and mistrust. This book was an emotional rollercoaster and so, so fun! It also had some interesting ideas to bring to the table about this kind of romance, which I appreciated. The writing was beautiful and it read easily and quickly. I absolutely spend a whole day doing nothing but listening to this one.
I only docked it from a 5 star rating for two things; I really disliked Tariq's storyline and POV, I just thought it was meandering and more plot-driven. The second thing was that Sharhzad's ruminations on her internal conflict were very repetitive, and I felt it could have been cut down somewhat.
I really liked the character development though, and the absolute badassery of all of the main cast. In addition, the reveal of "why is Khalid executing all these wives?" ended up being very effective for me, making his motivations make sense while not absolving him of direct guilt, which I was very impressed about!
"The Wrath and the Dawn" is an enemies to lovers romance based on the framing device The 1001 Nights. I loved the characters so much, the world building, the relationships, the backstabbing betrayals and mistrust. This book was an emotional rollercoaster and so, so fun! It also had some interesting ideas to bring to the table about this kind of romance, which I appreciated. The writing was beautiful and it read easily and quickly. I absolutely spend a whole day doing nothing but listening to this one.
I only docked it from a 5 star rating for two things; I really disliked Tariq's storyline and POV, I just thought it was meandering and more plot-driven. The second thing was that Sharhzad's ruminations on her internal conflict were very repetitive, and I felt it could have been cut down somewhat.
I really liked the character development though, and the absolute badassery of all of the main cast. In addition, the reveal of "why is Khalid executing all these wives?" ended up being very effective for me, making his motivations make sense while not absolving him of direct guilt, which I was very impressed about!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Violence, and Death
Minor: Miscarriage and Pregnancy
beckyyreadss's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
I’ve wanted to read this book in forever. This book was gifted to me by my friends for my birthday and I was excited to read it. It took me a while to get into, but once I got into it, I really enjoyed it.
This book has multiple POVs from this love triangle. There is Khalid, who is an eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. There is Shahrzad, she is sixteen and she has volunteered to marry Khalid. But she does have a clever plan to stay and exact revenge on Khalid for the murder of her best friend and the countless other girls that Khalid has executed. Shazi’s wit and will does get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her friend. She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems, and neither are the death of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all. The third POV is Shazi’s best friend named Tariq and he has been in love with Shazi since they were children. He has found out what Shazi is doing and is determined to rescue her and take her home and to kill the king once and for all.
I struggled with this book at first and I think it’s because of the lack of world-building at the beginning or a storyline, it jumped in straight to the action that I sort of had to read ahead to then get what the hell was going on. I didn’t know this was a retelling of Thousand and One Nights and I've never read that book, so I went in completely blind. The world-building did get there eventually but for a fantasy I look for the world-building and how immersed I can get in the world, and it just didn’t happen here.
The thing that saved this book were the characters and the romance that was budding between Khalid and Shazi. It was 1000% enemies-to-lovers, and I was down for it. The tension, the mystery, the conflicting emotions they were both feeling and how they slowly opened to each other. I liked the mystery aspect of it and how you didn’t know who was trying to poison Shazi. I loved how bad-ass Shazi is, like everyone around her is trying to protect her and then she’s like no I can’t protect my damn self. I loved the side characters such as the guards and the maidens and would have loved to have seen more of them.
The storyline managed to keep me hooked but overall felt like it was just missing that extra sparkle that would have made it five stars. But I am looking forward to the next book of the duet.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Emotional abuse, Suicide, and Animal death
Minor: Miscarriage, Rape, and Pregnancy
imaginationindex's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
“Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise.
So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi’s wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.
She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.”
This was a reread, though I hadn’t officially rated it the first time, I do remember enjoying it enough to buy my own copy.
What I loved
- Retelling of A Thousand and One Nights. It was clever and doesn’t often get a retelling, I loved it
- Also the storytelling by Shahrzad. It was a story within a story, descriptive and captivating… it worked.
- Despina and Jalal acted as a great foils for Shahrzad and Khalid
yet are too prideful for their own relationship - I bookmarked every single romantic and affectionate moment. Out of context some quotes may come across as cheesy, but they made me melt as I read further
- Few action scenes I forgot about but carried the story forward. Shahrzad wasn’t always the DID (damsel-in-distress), and is an experienced archer in her own right
What I did not love:
- How indecisive Shazi was (look, I’m not one to talk but… girl, are you going to kill him or not)
- Tariq. I get she’s your childhood best friend however he always thinks she needs saving. His own agenda irritated me and also….
- Honestly still a little on the fence about the pace of the love story. With Tariq’s POV, it spaced it out however it was still a matter of days that she caught feelings and things escalated.
- TW: I’ve included this last, not because it is least important, but if the things above haven’t turned you away, this one might. Their marriage is consummated very early on and while it’s a fade to black scene, it’s clear Shahrzad is just going through with it and not willing to say no. It’s awkward when she’s at least happy he didn’t try to kiss her.
And especially when you find out later on that Shahrzad is the only girl who Khalid has done this to… yikes.
Though this was a reread, I haven’t read the 2nd book and it’s next on my list.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Violence, Suicide, Animal death, and Blood
Minor: Miscarriage