A review by inesreads
The Rose and the Dagger by Renée Ahdieh

adventurous tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

This sequel was... definitely something. It didn't feel like a sequel. This book focused way too much on expanding its universe than finding a good end for the plot of the first book. Unfortuately, I still couldn't sympathise with Khalid (he's so aggressive all the time for what? it's not hot.) and we see his POV a lot more in this book. Shiva also made an appearance and her personality was a joke, frankly. If I took a shot every time this girl called Shahrzad a "goose" I might just get drunk enough to find Khalid somewhat attractive. The plot twists weren't really set up in a believable way and the writing somehow managed to be even more clichéd than in TW&TD.
Overall, this book was really disappointing, because even though I was not the biggest fan of its predecessor, I was still intrigued enough to read the sequel. Unfortunately there's little left of the premise of the first book and plot points that were introduced are not resolved in a satisfying way. I'll probably remain firm in my belief that TW&TD should have been a standalone about revenge instead of whatever this duology turned out to be.
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