A review by csharp
The Rose & the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh

adventurous emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

A really enjoyable sequel to “The Wrath and the Dawn”!

Ahdieh writes an adventurous story full of twists to conclude the story of Sharhrzad and Khalid. For one, the multiple character POVs were interesting and contributed a lot to progressing the story. We learned more about all of the characters compared to the hyper focus on Shazi and Khalid in TWATD. 
There were a few small issues I had with the story which didn’t take away from the enjoyment of the story, but just to note:
- The magic system in this world was not very deeply explored, and Shahrzad’s powers do not have as significant of a role as I thought it should.
-

The breaking of Khalid’s curse is such an anticlimax. We don’t see anything more about it again and it ceases to even exist after he destroys the book.

I found this a bit of a letdown seeing as it had a massive role in the whole plot of the story.
- The pacing toward the end started to get so fast and I felt that everything was happening at lightning speed purely for the sake of wrapping it up asap. 
- I personally did not like the epilogue.

While it was cute to see that they have a child. I wish we got to see a time jump much closer to the present where we can see Khalid and Shazi rebuild their kingdom together and heal from all of the events that unfolded, especially of Khalid literally being resurrected