The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
The Wrath & the Dawn is a YA fantasy retelling of the Arabian Nights. It features an enemies to lovers romance and an arranged marriage. I rated it 3/5 stars.
What is The Wrath and the Dawn about?
In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.
Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
On to the review...
I am conflicted. On paper, this novel sounds perfectly catered to me. But the execution left much to be desired.
First of all, the worldbuilding is beautiful. But Ahdieh has a tendency to over-indulge in her descriptions. It reached the point where I was only reading dialogue and skipped the narration entirely because it was so fluffed up and pointless. I think this is an Ahdieh problem though. I normally love purple prose but there has to be a point to it, or at least, it has to be so new and experimental that you can't help but become enchanted by every line. The narration has to stand on its own and not just... sit there and look pretty, you know?
Second, I really loved the promise of our protagonists. Shahrzad is a simple girl out for vengeance. Khalid is a moody, secretive boy with a dark past. My two favorite archetypes say hey, nice to meet you again!
But I wished the characters had more depth to them. Shahrzad felt very flighty. For a girl who's secretly out for vengeance, she didn't act on it at all. I don't even consider all her half-hearted attempts to learn about Khalid and the palace. It was just... eh. And Khalid, while he is intriguing and has your average daddy-issues backstory... didn't have a lot of internal conflict either. I mean, they both know they can't be together but they're so in love and ohhh it cannot be helped~
I was wholly unconvinced by the romance.
My main issue, though, is the plot. This novel suffers from Meandering YA Fantasy Novel Syndrome. I kept waiting for something to happen. For Shahrzad to finally take control of her destiny and act out this plan she keeps talking about... uh... when did that happen? Nope, her childhood friend ends up beating her to the chase. And then Khalid doesn't... does he even try to break the spell? Actually, I've completely forgotten what he's done.
I really enjoyed Shahrzad's stories though. They were intriguing and compelling, and I understood why Khalid kept her alive to keep hearing the rest. But halfway through the stories stopped and... well... I wish they didn't.
The only other memorable part is where our childhood friend love interest is basically schooled by an old man. "A shared history does not entitle you to a shared future, my friend." OOF. Ms Ahdieh just canceled all boring entitled childhood friend love interests and everyone who thinks that women only fall for bad men because of ~Stockholm Syndrome. I do appreciate this lol.
Still, that is one gorgeous cover. And, uh, I bought the sequel too so I might as well read it. But sadly this was super underwhelming and not for me.
0 comments