Title: The Rose and the Dagger
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #1
Published by: G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers on April 26, 2016
Genre: YA Fantasy Retelling
Setting: Khorasan
My Rating: 3.8 Roses
The darker the sky, the brighter the stars.
In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unraveled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever.
Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire and commanded by Shazi’s spurned childhood sweetheart. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, the only thing Shazi can do is act. Using the burgeoning magic within her as a guide, she strikes out on her own to end both this terrible curse and the brewing war once and for all. But to do it, she must evade enemies of her own to stay alive.
The saga that began with The Wrath and the Dawn takes its final turn as Shahrzad risks everything to find her way back to her one true love again.
After long days and lazy ass nights I finally came to the conclusion of the duology I've recently been reading. I think I've already said that I did not love the first books through my review of that one and I certainly don't love this one either! It was a wee bit better in some aspects compared to the first book but it is still lacking and frustrating.
I admit that I willingly want to be captured by the book but it is hard when Shazi is frustrating and when the climax is at the top and fell instantly into a nosedive because it feels like the author was playing safe on that conclusion. So, nope, I wasn't captivated by the seemingly promising retelling of Arabian Nights.
I also wasn't motivated to write the review because I did not like it. I do understand other people's fascination though. I just felt like it could have been more.
In this last installment of the book, it was so good to see old characters by the end and the twist here and there. Shazi was still frustrating and her decisions are still questionable. A lot of things could have been prevented if not for her decisions that seems always stupid. The story wouldn't exist, though, if she didn't make wrong decisions but it's just really frustrating the way the things played our because of her judgement. 😑 Khalid was better, which is great. We saw more of him even though he's not present so much on the first half. There were a lot of potential build ups that could have been epic but sadly, it was played safely, as I have said.
I did not hate this. I still liked it but cannot love it as much as other fantasy retellings I've read. The book still doesn't deserve a 3 and 4 is too high so I'm picking somewhere in between.
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