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emeryboyd's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
fast-paced
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Violence
Minor: Suicide
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 against another edition
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
truegrit's review
Really gross set up - like an enemies to lovers situation but he's a murderer and rapist? Could not abide by the story line or characters, really yucky.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gaslighting, Grief, Emotional abuse, Murder, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Violence, Rape, Misogyny, Toxic relationship, and Domestic abuse
anneliedip'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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Suicide, Violence, Vomit, and Murder
Moderate: Emotional abuse
Minor: Child death
mermaidmommy19's review
3.0
I got this book because I loved RA's The Beautiful series (or at least what has been released thus far).
I enjoyed this book and don't have anything bad to say about it, but there wasn't much that stuck out to me either. There wasn't much umph, but it was a good, quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
I enjoyed this book and don't have anything bad to say about it, but there wasn't much that stuck out to me either. There wasn't much umph, but it was a good, quick read that I thoroughly enjoyed.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Murder
Minor: Miscarriage, Infidelity, Fire/Fire injury, Death of parent, and Suicide
whenjessreads's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? No
3.5
This book was beautifully written. The prose was flowery in a good way, the representation of Middle Eastern culture made me want to pack my bags and jump on a plane, and the whole thing was just atmospheric and magical. The plot itself - inspired by 1001 Nights - wasn’t overly complicated and though it has been a long time since I read the original, I thought this was fresh and inventive.
The MC Shahrzad (Shazi) was strong and sharp-tongued (love some acerbic wit in a female character!), with a level of arrogance that I thought was really satisfying - often men written with arrogance are thought of as ‘strong’ or ‘determined’, but it’s nice to see some of these written as positive qualities in a FMC.
Dedicating a paragraph here to the FOOD. Holy hell, after reading this book I was ravenous. I just want a recording of Renée Ahdieh describing various Middle Eastern foods that I can play on repeat and dream about.
On to the things I didn’t like…
I loved the strength of the MC. But she was all talk. No planning, ill judgement, ego… It was so frustrating that her determination wasn’t backed up.
I wasn’t super interested in the secondary POV, Tariq. He annoyed me and I thought he was just unlikeable and unnecessary. SHOO. The third POV, Jahandar, made the storyline confusing and stilted.
There were a couple of weird moral issues with the romance, uncomfortable events that were brushed off and seemed to have no emotional impact. It felt a little like Stockholm’s syndrome, but in… 2 days?
Regardless. I enjoyed it! I will definitely be picking up the sequel, and I’m mad that this is a library book because I want to own it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Rape and Violence
Minor: Miscarriage, Suicide, and Death of parent
griffinthief's review against another edition
emotional
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Blood, Death of parent, Suicide, Violence, Death, Animal death, and Grief
Minor: Physical abuse, Slavery, and Child abuse
mandathebiblio's review
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Animal death, Blood, and Suicide
Moderate: Pregnancy and Miscarriage