The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

“It’s a fitting punishment for a monster. to want something so much—to hold it in your arms — and know beyond a doubt you will never deserve it.” 

The Wrath and the Dawn (a retelling of A Thousand and One Nights) follows Shahrzad, a girl who has volunteered to marry Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. Every night, Khalid marries a new girl, just to see them hanged by a silk cord the following dawn. After Shahrzad's closest friend is chosen for this fate and killed, she is determined to break this cycle and distract Khalid until she finds an opportunity to kill him. What Shahrzad doesn't expect is that the two of them will fall for each other, and she will be sucked in to the many secrets that Khalid is hiding from her and the people of Khorasan. 

Becky -

I have to say, I was unsure about reading The Wrath and the Dawn, and at first I wasn't really getting into it - but I'm so glad I gave it a chance and carried on reading. This book was amazing and the ending blew me away! I'm in the middle of preordering The Rose & the Dagger as I type this.

Usually, I feel as though I would find this sort of plot to be too cringey for me, but I loved Shahrzad and Khalid. Their romance was developed perfectly and with just the right pacing so that it didn't seem too unrealistic. 
Aside from the romantic aspects of this book, the fantasy world is set and created really well, and I love the hints of magic throughout - it does seem as though this is something that will be expanded upon in The Rose & the Dagger as well, which I'm really excited about! 

The ending was awfully heart-wrenching and has left me counting down the days until I can read the sequel, but I don't know why I expected anything different of such a brilliant book. 

My one initial problem with The Wrath and the Dawn was the beginning - it seemed to jump into the plot very fast, and I wasn't too sure what was going on for the first couple of chapters. However, it did encourage me to keep reading so I could work out what on earth was happening and who each character was, and once I'd properly got into it I loved it!

Angharad -

I wasn't sure about this one, purely because I've never been a fan of retellings but the beautiful cover and good reviews finally convinced me. I'm not kidding when I say I finished this book in ONE sitting. As in, I didn't go to bed. As in, I sat still for a few hours until it was done. Why? Because it was so good.

Without mentioning spoilers (which I am prone to do), I will just say that this book was a fantastic and refreshing read. I loved the Arabian setting, I loved the concept and I love how we had to wait until pretty much the end of the novel to find out the reason for Khalid's actions, making us as desperate to find out his secret as much as Shahrzad. 

My criticisms are that I do wish that there had been more world-building so we could learn more about the fantasy aspect of the world. I also wish Shahrzad hadn't of forgot her thirst for revenge so quickly. I think if the book had been longer, this would have been explored more. 

Renee's writing was spellbinding. I could imagine the atmosphere in great detail and the magic of the book was in the writing itself. The romance was beautiful, really bloody beautiful. I love that it built up slowly but surely and then it just burst into so much intensity and want. "My soul sees its equal in you." I mean?? It was lovely and I'm not usually a reader who likes the romance being the main point of the book. 

Overall, I do recommend this book. As I mentioned, a few things could have been improved but other than that, it was a captivating read and I am very much looking forward to the sequel.

What were your thoughts on this book?

Let us know in the comments!