The Wrath and the Dawn // Renee Ahdieh
So let's talk about a recent release
The Wrath and the Dawn....
Rating: 4.5/5
(Spoilers ahead... You have been warned)
This book is a spin on the classic tale 1001 Arabian Nights. The book similar to the tale follows Shahrzad or Shazi, who represents the story teller who is cunning enough to survive as the wife of Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. Khalid has been taking a new wife only to have them killed by dawn, and the previous victim was none other then Shazi's beloved friend Shiva. Shazi marries the young king to exact revenge upon him for taking her friend's life.
However things take a turn (an expected one) when Shazi survives to see the dawn and starts to fall in love with the boy- king.
Now on to the fun part...... REVIEW + QUESTIONS
Firstly, I want to say I absolutely LOVED this book. There was just enough suspense as well as romance. I also feel that the romance in this book felt a little more realistic then it may feel in other YA books as it takes the characters time to figure the situation out before deciding anything.
As for point of view the story is told from four perspectives:
- Shazi
- Tariq ( Shazi's previous lover)
- Shazi's father
- Khalid
Because of the differing points of view the story felt a little bit confusing especially when we got to the parts about Shazi's father, Jahandar. I mean I know there is some kind of magic in this book but how did Jahandar go from having a ratty old book to performing some ceremony and gain some wickedly crazy powers.... I really hope that gets explained.
Another annoying part of this book was that there were many words that were not English but rather Arabic or Farsi words. The author kept sticking these words in to the text and I know that if you didn't have some background... you might miss what was going on. Also, the book had a freaking glossary in the back. There is no way that every time a word comes up I am going to flip to the back of my book for reference.
Despite this, the story was absolutely amazing and I was immediately swept up in it. It left me wanting more from the series. Luckily, this is the first book in a new YA duology (we could never have enough of those).
Questions:
One thing that I was wondering is that if Shazi decided to marry Khalid right after her friend was killed... shouldn't Tariq and Jahandar know that she is out for revenge. If they did, why did they not let her handle it? They just had to interfere with her plan obviously. Also, if Jahandar wanted to bust her out right away why did he agree to let her leave in the first place? The story didn't mention anything about her being forced into this.........
Final Thought:
The guys in this book are confusing while Shazi is a straightforward powerhouse. (GIRL POWER!)
-Iman
Goodreads: Iman Oza
