Review: The Wrath and the Dawn – People Aren’t Always Exactly As They Seem

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #1
(2015)
Hardcover (388 pages)
Rating:
Also by this author: The Rose and the Dagger
Also in this series: The Rose and the Dagger
Reading Challenges: 2015 Fairytale Retelling, Read 2015

Synopsis

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.

Find the book: Goodreads

My Review

I wanted to read this book since I first saw the cover and learned that is was to be based on The Thousand and One Nights. I love that original tale. This story definitely does it justice.

Shahrzad (Shazi) volunteers to be the Caliph of Khorasan’s next wife even though all of this wives are executed the dawn after their wedding. Shazi volunteers because her best friend, Shiva, was a previous bride of the Caliph Khalid. Shazi wants revenge for the murder of Shiva by the “monster” boy-king of Khorasan. Shazi’s plan is to kill the Caliph. She has no intentions of developing feelings for Khalid.

Shazi begins a story on her wedding night but does not finish it. This is how she hopes to ensure her survival. She hopes that the Caliph will honor his promise to hear the end of the story. As Shazi is able to survive the dawn, she surprises many people.

One of the people she surprises is her Greek maid, Despina. Another is the captain of the guard, Jalal, who also happens to be Khalid’s cousin. Shazi also surprises both herself and Khalid.

Tariq, Shazi’s childhood friend and first love, is not accepting of Shazi’s decision to become the Caliph’s bride. He sees Khalid only as a monster who needs to be destroyed. He doesn’t want to leave Shazi with Khalid and will do anything to save her.

It all gets a bit complicated as a variety of things start to happen. I love that about this story. Things aren’t always what they seem. I cannot wait for the next book after that horrible cliffhanger of an ending that nearly had me in tears. Needless to say, I absolutely loved this book.

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Which Reading Challenges?

• You Read How Many Books? Reading Challenge
• Fairytale Retelling Challenge