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kaullan's review against another edition
3.0
*3 stars*
i wish the characters could've been more complex, the insta love killed the enemies to lovers i hate it sm. BUT, the author’s descriptions was impeccable!! overall i did enjoy it!
i wish the characters could've been more complex, the insta love killed the enemies to lovers i hate it sm. BUT, the author’s descriptions was impeccable!! overall i did enjoy it!
alonaabu's review against another edition
5.0
I hardly give books 5 stars but this book deserves it. This book has changed the way I think about other books amazing and can't wait to read more of Rene's writing!
isbnopal's review against another edition
3.0
Oh Renee Ahdieh….
Let me start this with the fact that ever since I read Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher, I have been in love with the tale of Scherezade. IN LOVE. I also literally love any book that takes places in the historic middle east, and I especially love fairytales. So with all that in mind, The Wrath and the Dawn should have been a hole in one. It should have been perfect for me! And yet, it just wasn’t… It was good, please don’t get me wrong, and maybe I am holding the Wrath and Dawn up to some incredibly high standards that I don’t set for many other books. But like… seriously??? WHAT WAS UP WITH SOME OF THIS.
I was bored a lot of the time. I wanted to take an interest, but I felt extremely removed from the book the entire time. I wanted to be immersed and involved in the story, but instead I felt like the story was pushing me out as much as possible. The author kept pretending like the characters had chemistry, but I was not feeling it. The tension wasn’t there. It was just so blah. Also, I hate love triangles, and I hate the stupid game Sharhzad was playing. At first it seems like she is going to be a total boss and beat the prince at his own game, but then she just becomes a heartsick girl in love with the bad guy, but like also in love with someone else and just like I don’t know. I struggled to finish it. I wasn’t dying to read the next book at the end. Ugh, I’m still mad about this. I just wanted ONE great Arabian Nights book. ONE. I’m just going to have to go read Rooftops of Tehran again and that’s not even a fairytale.
Let me start this with the fact that ever since I read Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher, I have been in love with the tale of Scherezade. IN LOVE. I also literally love any book that takes places in the historic middle east, and I especially love fairytales. So with all that in mind, The Wrath and the Dawn should have been a hole in one. It should have been perfect for me! And yet, it just wasn’t… It was good, please don’t get me wrong, and maybe I am holding the Wrath and Dawn up to some incredibly high standards that I don’t set for many other books. But like… seriously??? WHAT WAS UP WITH SOME OF THIS.
I was bored a lot of the time. I wanted to take an interest, but I felt extremely removed from the book the entire time. I wanted to be immersed and involved in the story, but instead I felt like the story was pushing me out as much as possible. The author kept pretending like the characters had chemistry, but I was not feeling it. The tension wasn’t there. It was just so blah. Also, I hate love triangles, and I hate the stupid game Sharhzad was playing. At first it seems like she is going to be a total boss and beat the prince at his own game, but then she just becomes a heartsick girl in love with the bad guy, but like also in love with someone else and just like I don’t know. I struggled to finish it. I wasn’t dying to read the next book at the end. Ugh, I’m still mad about this. I just wanted ONE great Arabian Nights book. ONE. I’m just going to have to go read Rooftops of Tehran again and that’s not even a fairytale.
sarahboudereads's review against another edition
5.0
How can teenagers be so intense? They're secretly 30, you can't change my mind.
But this ma'am, is ya fantasy romance like they don't make anymore. WOW.
But this ma'am, is ya fantasy romance like they don't make anymore. WOW.
blurrypetals's review against another edition
5.0
If you had told a younger version of me about this book, Past-Me would have frowned and just said, "Eh, not my thing." and read something else. Even Present-Me was a little leery of it, but then it was recommended to me on here after I read The Grisha Trilogy and that was enough for me to give it a shot.
I'm really glad to have stepped at least a little bit out of my comfort zone because I adored this. I loved the slow, steady burn of the romance, the story, the conflict...it was damn near masterful. The characters were intricately woven, the plot was interesting and unfurled at a pace which at first might seem slow but eventually proves to be perfect. I actually am having a hard time believing how much I loved this, due to my usual disinterest in historical fiction.
I loved it. I loved Shahrzad, I loved Khalid, I loved them together, I loved Despina (maybe just a little bit because she reminded me of Genya Safin), I loved the conflict I felt about Tariq, I just loved it all and I can't wait to see what happens next.
I also quite enjoyed finding out that I knew way more of the plot (or general concept, at least) of One Thousand and One Nights than I thought I did so it was really interesting, seeing whether my incredibly limited knowledge of One Thousand and One Nights would color anything in this book at all. It turns out, it didn't color much of anything, since I only know the basic setup of One Thousand and One Nights but I was impressed with myself as well as with Renee Ahdieh because The Wrath and the Dawn used that pure, basic premise and, from what I can tell, ended up doing something entirely different with the same premise.
Speaking of which, one thing I did find interesting (in a good way, promise) were the similarities I found between this and Shadow and Bone, the first book in The Grisha Trilogy. I can definitely see why my interest in The Grisha Trilogy brought me here: they're both historical fiction with fantasy mixed in, they both take place in a kingdom that clearly draws upon a specific sort of place and culture (Western Europe for The Grisha Trilogy and the Middle East for this book), Khalid and The Darkling are like two sides of the same coin (they're attractive, tortured sadbois who do Really Bad Things, albeit for COMPLETELY different reasons), a common girl is brought to a palace and her handmaiden is like the coolest person ever (let's face it, we all know Genya and Despina would be BFF's), and both stories contain a man in power whom the people all fear and there's a plan to kill aforementioned sadboi...I'm sure the similarities don't end there, but the cool thing, to me, is that they're still entirely their own stories that are doing completely different things with similar blueprints.
Books are rad, man. Onward to the finale!
I'm really glad to have stepped at least a little bit out of my comfort zone because I adored this. I loved the slow, steady burn of the romance, the story, the conflict...it was damn near masterful. The characters were intricately woven, the plot was interesting and unfurled at a pace which at first might seem slow but eventually proves to be perfect. I actually am having a hard time believing how much I loved this, due to my usual disinterest in historical fiction.
I loved it. I loved Shahrzad, I loved Khalid, I loved them together, I loved Despina (maybe just a little bit because she reminded me of Genya Safin), I loved the conflict I felt about Tariq, I just loved it all and I can't wait to see what happens next.
I also quite enjoyed finding out that I knew way more of the plot (or general concept, at least) of One Thousand and One Nights than I thought I did so it was really interesting, seeing whether my incredibly limited knowledge of One Thousand and One Nights would color anything in this book at all. It turns out, it didn't color much of anything, since I only know the basic setup of One Thousand and One Nights but I was impressed with myself as well as with Renee Ahdieh because The Wrath and the Dawn used that pure, basic premise and, from what I can tell, ended up doing something entirely different with the same premise.
Speaking of which, one thing I did find interesting (in a good way, promise) were the similarities I found between this and Shadow and Bone, the first book in The Grisha Trilogy. I can definitely see why my interest in The Grisha Trilogy brought me here: they're both historical fiction with fantasy mixed in, they both take place in a kingdom that clearly draws upon a specific sort of place and culture (Western Europe for The Grisha Trilogy and the Middle East for this book), Khalid and The Darkling are like two sides of the same coin (they're attractive, tortured sadbois who do Really Bad Things, albeit for COMPLETELY different reasons), a common girl is brought to a palace and her handmaiden is like the coolest person ever (let's face it, we all know Genya and Despina would be BFF's), and both stories contain a man in power whom the people all fear and there's a plan to kill aforementioned sadboi...I'm sure the similarities don't end there, but the cool thing, to me, is that they're still entirely their own stories that are doing completely different things with similar blueprints.
Books are rad, man. Onward to the finale!
hellobookbird's review against another edition
4.0
One hundred lives for the one you took. One life to one dawn. Should you fail but a single morn, I shall take from you your dreams. I shall take from you your city. And I shall take from you these lives, a thousandfold.
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.
Though I know of the premise, I confess that I haven't read the original tale, A Thousand and One Nights, so I went into this blind with the only desire to read more from Ahdieh (after being introduced to her [b: The Beautiful|11505797|Beautiful Disaster (Beautiful, #1)|Jamie McGuire|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1358259032l/11505797._SY75_.jpg|16441531]). She didn't disappoint.
"For without a measure of arrogance, how can one attempt the impossible?"
Shahrzad was spicy and I loved every minute of it. Ahdieh is adept at creating female leads that are strong in personality, sharp in tongue, and delightful in their entirety. Khalid was also a delight. Though I felt he was mature beyond his years (curses would probably do that to you), he was...strong, solid, human. He was not unapproachable or too good to be true.
Their romance was slow burn and developed very well. Shazi was first beguiling and manipulative, then conflicted and interested (despite herself), and then openly warm and affectionate. Khalid was cold and distant, then hesitant and interested (despite himself), and then openly warm and affectionate.
And anything that is this corny that still makes me swoon is A++:
“What are you doing to me, you plague of a girl?” he whispered.
“If I’m a plague, then you should keep your distance, unless you plan on being destroyed.” The weapons still in her grasp, she shoved against his chest.
“No.” His hands dropped to her waist. “Destroy me.”
The story was well paced. While you have to suspend belief on a couple of things (he would risk his whole city for a bedtime story?), it is without question a beautiful tale. My only complaint might have been that it took way too long for them to tell Shahrzad about the curse under the guise that they wanted to protect her from the burden. Men. *eyeroll*
"For nothing, not the sun, not the rain, not even the brightest star in the darkest sky, could begin to compare to the wonder of you."
Recommended for lovers of retellings, strong female leads, and slow burn romances.
bkanipe's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
izzyschnizzy's review against another edition
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.0