the suraya :): The Wrath and The Dawn (The Wrath and The Dawn #1) by Renee Ahdieh

The Wrath and The Dawn
The Wrath and The Dawn #1
Renee Ahdieh
New Adult, Romance, Fantasy
Paperback, 416 pages
12th May 2015 by Putnam

Goodreads Ratings : 4.15/5
My Rating : 4/5

A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when sixteen-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the Caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch . . . she’s falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

The Wrath And The Dawn in my opinion is one of the hardest book to review. 48 hours has passed since I finished reading the book and I’m still not entirely sure what I think of it. I love the book, but I don’t love it. If you think youre confused, I am far more confused than you are, trust me. THIS IS GONNA BE A LONG REVIEW ANYWAY.

So TW&TD is a story between Shahrzad the girl with a strong determination to seek revenge and the mysterious young Caliph of Khorasan, Khalid. I was expecting a lot of stories between stories, you know ? 1001 Nights retelling and all but its not. The book has more to tell than just tales of distractions. It has an element of magic, pure love, understanding, trust and A LOT OF CONFUSION.

To be honest, I struggled with the writing in the first place. It’s a bit twisted that it was hard for me to fathom at one go but I got used to it by the middle of the book. It’s set in the Middle East, so there are a few Arabic terms here and there. There’s a word glossary at the back of the book to help you understand the setting but having to constantly flip the pages isn’t fun at all. In case youre wondering.

“So you would have me throw Shazi to the wolves?”

“Shazi?” Jalal’s grin widened. “Honestly, I pity the wolves.”

Shahrzad (Shazi) is a force to be reckoned with. She’s fierce, strong, determined and she knows how to handle a fight. Basically everyone’s favourite lead character. Khalid on the other hand is very very mysterious. You know when I first read the blurb of the book and there it says ‘boy-king’, I immediately got reminded of Joffrey from Game of Thrones. Boy-king, murders innocent people, heartless. You know it fits. But Khalid and Joffrey is a very different person altogether. Khalid is everything Joffrey’s not. For someone as young as him, hes so mature beyond his age. I love love love him. Slowly in the book, his mysterious character got revealed one by one. And with more things unveiled, I love him even more. (HA YOU’D BE LYING IF YOU DON’T ONCE YOUVE READ THE BOOK)

The main focus of this book is actually the romance. How love changes it all. Khalid and Shazi’s love is profoundly beautiful. It’s built out of trust and understanding which most marriage lost. But most of all, I fell in love with Khalid’s idea of love.

“I want someone who sees beneath the surface-someone who completes the balance. An equal.”

“And how will you know when you’ve found this elusive someone?” Shahrzad retorted.

“I suspect she will be like air. Like knowing how to breathe.”

I mean, how can someone so strong and heartless SPEAK SUCH WORDS WITH ALL THESE CRAZY INTENSITY ???

“My soul sees its equal in you.”

Does he know what his words did to me ?!!?!?!/1

“Get up, Shahrzad al-Khayzuran. You kneel before no one. Least of all me.”

JUST HOW ?!!?!?!?!?1?!/!?!?!?!/

This is not fair. Life isn’t fair.

All swoons aside, I found something unsettling regarding the romance, though. It doesn’t develop well in the beginning in my opinion. Don’t get me wrong, they are still good together but while it was developing, something feels wrong to me. Like something is missing from the picture. *SPOILER* Shazi is so determined to kill Khalid right from the start. That determination however is suddenly swayed in a few days by her feelings towards him when hardly NOTHING hugely romantic happened during those 2 days that can result in having a crush so quick, you know ? That process doesn’t settle quite well to me. Maybe I’m the only who thinks that way. Maybe I don’t. *SPOILER ENDS*

There are also a few side stories which in my opinion, are not exactly well-developed. There is Jalal and Despina who should have more stories on them written. I WANT THEIR ROMANCE TOO DAMMIT. There’s also a few magic elements that left me so freaking confused because I understand absolutely nothing. And then there’s Tariq who is Shazi’s boyfriend. I’ve said it before that I don’t deal with love triangles that well so when he comes around I was so irritated because GET OFF MY SHIP YOU NOSY ASS. He doesn’t do anything wrong hes just trying to get his girl back BUT GOSH DUDE MOVE ON SHE DOESN’T WANT YOU ANYMORE.

In my conclusion, this first part of a duology is a HUGE CHUNK OF CONFUSION. There are still a lot of things left unresolved and unexplained but it still is a good book nonetheless. This book requires a lot of discussion in my opinion, SO EVERYONE PLEASE READ THIS BOOK SO I CAN DISCUSS THEORIES AND SOLVE A BIT OF MY CONFUSION WITH YOU GUYS PLEASE !!!

It ends on a bad note, in case if you feel the need to be prepared. If you want it to be a good ending and not feeling all heartbroken or wanting the next book fast (found this advice somewhere, thought I’d share with you), do not read the last 2 chapters. Read it once youre ready to read the second book. Make the last 2 chapters be the first chapter of the book two. Or you’ll be miserable. Like me.