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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
sarah_royal04's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
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? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Death, Violence, and Murder
Moderate: Pregnancy and Suicide
Minor: Animal death
noellelovesbooks's review
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
ceredonia's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
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
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Sexism, Animal death, Pregnancy, Suicide, and Fire/Fire injury
1quillb's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.25
The thing that authors really need to get right when writing enemies-to-lovers is the transition from enemy to lover—it needs to be made clear to the reader why, exactly, they fall in love with each other. But here, the author fails completely. There is no transition, there’s just Shazi hating Khalid to her saying she wants to kiss him and is in love with him (I’m not tagging a spoiler here because it’s the whole premise of the book). There’s literally zero explanation as to why she has suddenly become enamoured with Khalid. I really like the general idea of the book, especially as a 1001 Nights rewrite, but the relationship aspect falls flat without the journey of actually falling in love with someone who is supposedly evil. Had the author included a more transitionary period with their relationship I probably would have rated this much higher, but I couldn’t stand Shazi constantly waxing poetic about a man she hardly knew anything about.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, and Kidnapping
Moderate: Murder, Child death, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Misogyny
Minor: Grief, Pregnancy, Suicide, Fire/Fire injury, Sexual content, and Infidelity
notsobinaryart's review against another edition
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
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