Image and blurb from Goodreads
Title: The Rose & The Dagger
(The Wrath and the Dawn #2)
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Publication Date: April 26th, 2016
Category/Genre: Young Adult Retellings
G.P. Putnam's Son Books for Young Readers
G.P. Putnam's Son Books for Young Readers
The much anticipated sequel to the breathtaking The Wrath and the Dawn, lauded by Publishers Weekly as "a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance."
I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust.
In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid's empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan.
While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn't yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.
I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust.
In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid's empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan.
While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn't yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.
I would:
- Befriend: Shahrzad
- Take to prom & kiss: Khalid
- Take to a desert island and leave behind: Jahandar
- Change into a vampire so we can be young together & forever: Khalid (sorry, Tariq)
4.5 “Beautiful writing,
complex characters and epic love story” STARS
Yep, from that line
above you already know how I feel about this book, huh? And if you read my
review of The Wrath & The Dawn then
you know how I feel about the series and its author.
The Wrath & The
Dawn was one of my favorite reads of 2015. It easily made my top 5 list. And its sequel will certainly be featured on my favorite’s list this
year too.
Though not as sexy and
angsty as the first, The Rose & The Dagger is just as good as I
expected it to be. What I didn’t see coming was the heartbreak and how it’d
make me cry. Yep. I cried, people. That doesn’t happen often, but can you
really doubt Renee’s superb writing can evoke all kinds of emotion?
If it’s been a while
since you read the first book (which was my case – why did I have to wait so
long? How did I wait so long?), then let me refresh your memory. Last year,
Renee Ahdie brought us the love story between Khalid, the monster boy-king who
took a new wife every day just to kill her the next dawn, and Shahrzad, the
girl who offered herself as his new wife with a plan to get revenge for her
best friend’s death at his hand.
I know… I know…
Giphy.com
We soon learned Khalid
wasn’t the monster his people believed him to be. In fact, he was just a boy
trying to protect his people from a curse, and because of that curse he had to
let go of the one he loved the most.
This is where The Rose
& The Dagger starts. Khalid and Shahrzad are apart, missing it each
other painfully, and making me feel so much only a few pages in:
“A
trickle of blood slid down his arm.
He
felt nothing. He only saw it.
Because
nothing hurt like missing her.
He
suspected nothing ever would.”
Rip my heart out, why
won’t you?
But the story doesn’t
dwell on those feelings for long (fortunately or unfortunately, I can’t tell),
because Khalid and Shahrzad have a lot to worry about. Breaking a curse,
finding a way to be together again, stopping a war, discovering and exploring
hidden abilities and learning who to trust are all things on the agenda. Since
this was a duology (shock!!! How come you not giving me a third book, Renee? So
mean), the author had all of that to cover and a satisfying ending to deliver.
Needless to say, things had to move fast, and they did.
Again, no matter
how fast things moved, the characters stole the show. Even the minor characters
like Shahrzad’s sister, Irsa and Tariq’s best friend, Rahim. Honestly, it took
me a while to get behind Irsa’s POV chapter. I often felt like it needed to be
narrated/focus on other characters – mainly the one where Tariq was acting
stupid with a bow and arrow, but when I finally understood the importance of
her chapters and Irsa as a character it was too late… Too late to not feel. Too
late to not be devastated for her. Not be devastated by that damn chapter. (I
am not crying again. Nope). So thank you,
Irsa, for making me feel.
Someone who also made me feel
a whole lot was Irsa and Shahrzad’s dad. What an obnoxious man! I wanted to
kill him many times, even though deep down I understood where his hunger for
power came from. It doesn’t mean I forgive him for everything he did and all
the pain he caused, but yeah… write complex characters, why don’t you, Renée?
Talking about complex,
Shahrzad embodied that word in this book. She was a great character in book 1,
but her flaws and qualities were even more pronounced here. Shahrzad was
selfish and incredibly stubborn at times. Rude in so many occasions. But she
was also brave and bold and fearless. She was sexy and powerful. And then she
was weak. I wanted to learn more about her power and thought she could’ve done much
more with it. That’s pretty much one of the only negative things I have to say
about the way the author handled the story.
Mostly, I loved how
Shahrzad made me want to punch her, just to want to hug her a few moments
later. By the end, I was exhausted and happy to have known her.
“Put them away at once,
you miserable louts!” Shahrzad insisted. “This is why the world would be a far
better place in the hands of women.”
What to say about the
boys? I continue to love Khalid fiercely. I mean, how can you not? He was
the one who changed the least from the end of the last book to the end of this
one, which can be a good and a bad thing. I see it as a great thing, actually,
because I loved him just as much. Tariq, on the other hand, irritated me way
less here. He grew on me, I guess. He showed me his pain and I couldn’t help
but feel it and feel for him. A love that big had to hurt when not returned,
especially since it had once been. Tough we got less chapters from his POV (or
maybe because of it?), I had the sense I knew Tariq a lot better now and
understood and liked him a lot more.
I also liked the
surprises involving characters that played big roles in the first book, but
practically disappeared in this one just to show up at the right time. Right
before Despina (Shahrzad’s handmaiden and friend) showed up for the second time
with her “SURPRISE” moment, I was just wondering what had happened to her and
what had been the point of showing her earlier if she’d only disappear for the rest
of the story. That, ladies and gentlemen, is the power of writing. Renee
masters it -- we all know that by now – and she showed it again by bringing
Despina back right when she was needed. *claps*
Oh, let me just add
something about another minor character – Yasmine. I won’t get into details
because of spoilers, but if the idea in the end was truly Yasmine’s, she’s the
smartest person in this story. She found a way to keep the legacy her father
was about to throw out the window because he was stupid and still look good
while doing it. I admire her. And I ship her with “you’ll know who when you
read it”. I knew it was going to happen and I approve.
I also approve of the
ending. A lot. A whole damn lot. The almost heart attack was unnecessary, but
the pages after that were just perfection. So much love for those characters
and their future.
So, in case you didn’t
notice, I loved The Rose & The Dagger and, most importantly, I loved
that group of characters. I also loved Renee’s beautiful prose. Now go get your
copy and read it so we can spread the love.
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