Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Rose & the Dagger

I really enjoyed the first book in this series. The first book in this series was gifted to me by my friends for my birthday and I was really excited to read it. I loved it and I was instantly wanting to read the second book as soon as I could. I liked how it ended even if it scared me for a second.

This book has dual POV. The first is Shahrzad had a plan to take down to Khorasan, but now she has discovered the man she married and the man that everyone believed to be a mass murderous king was plagued by a powerful curse and she is determined to break this curse. Now she has been torn from her husband and taking refuge with her family among his enemies, Shahrzad finds herself a prisoner caught between loyalties to the people she loves. She is determined to find her way back to Khalid before the kingdom is attacked, Shahrzad awakens the powers inside her to attempt to break the curse and unite with her true love once more. The second is Khalid, he is an eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, and he is under a curse and in love with his latest bride Shahrzad. He is split between wanting to hide away and be the bad guy they all expect to him to, trying to be the righteous leader and wanting to be the good guy that he can be for Shahrzad.

I loved the characters in this book and the romance between Khalid and Shazi. I love that we got to see another side of them both that wasn’t them hating each other. I would have loved to see more of Irsa, and I would love to have another book with her finding love because her story was heartbreaking and I just want them to be happy. The storyline was strong and there was so many twists and turns that I was gasping the whole way throughout this book. I loved the character development that Shazi had and how she was so strong and powerful and that she stood up for everyone and her country that she turns to like.

I felt like the pace was a little too fast at times and then at times it was a little too slow. I would have loved a constant pace. I still struggled a little bit, but I think that’s because I spent too long in between books rather than reading them back-to-back. I still didn’t know this was a retelling. But overall, it was such a fun read.

Overall, this series has been powerful and fun. I would love to have another book in ten years to fifteen years on Khalid and Shazi’s kids and them having their own adventures.

Content Warnings

meghansarmiento97's review against another edition

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dark 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

4.5

Content Warnings

kassidyreads's review against another edition

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adventurous medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

Content Warnings

plumpaperbacks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

I finally did it. I finally read this book. It only took me seven years to get to. Not my finest reading moment, but patting myself on the back for it nonetheless.

Where the first book focused on the enemies to lovers romance and the complexities of its characters, this one focused more on world-building, politics and war. The pacing was about the same, the romance still present, but there was something about The Rose and the Dagger that didn’t live up to its predecessor; I just can’t pinpoint it.

Maybe it was that I predicted nearly all of the plot twists, and the ones I didn’t predict were resolved too quickly to have much of an impact. Maybe it was that I found I didn’t care about most of the characters, or the budding romance between two of them. Maybe it was the disproportionate amount of planning vs action, or the abruptness of the ending. Maybe it was all of the above.

The saving grace was the characters I did care about: Shahrzad, Khalid, Despina and Jalal. If I didn’t like them so much, if I wasn’t so thoroughly invested in Shazi and Khalid’s romance, I suspect this review would be very different, my rating lower. But luckily, I have a weak spot for fierce, ambitious girls and the soft, traumatized-and-in-need-of-a-hug boys that adore them. I also have a weak spot for snarky best friends. And it was those weak spots that ensured I did like at least some aspects of this book.

Don’t get me wrong, this wasn’t a bad book. Despite my criticisms of it and my preference for her later work, Ahdieh is undeniably an excellent storyteller. And although this duology isn’t a favorite of mine, it’s still enjoyable, and I’m glad I finally finished it.

(Also, I want to put this here so I don’t forget: I noticed an interesting amount of similarities between this and the Sands of Arawiya duology by Hafsah Faizal. Both feature fierce girl protagonists, traumatized-and-in-need-of-a-hug love interests, and snarky side characters to round out the found family, whose relationships develop in unexpected ways. The protagonists of both books have shyer younger sisters with a knack for medicine that come into their own over the course of the story. Both stories also feature an enemies to lovers ship you can’t help but go down with, and a magical book you probably shouldn’t trust.) (I’m not saying anyone copied anyone else. I quite like both duologies. These are just my own early-hours-of-the-morning musings.)

Representation

full POC cast

Content Warnings

kenziewol's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Content Warnings

laurajeangrace's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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