The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh is a YA take on A Thousand and One Nights. From Ahdieh's site:

"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 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 break the cycle once and for all."


What I Liked: Ummm, pretty much everything regarding Shazi! Shazi is such a strong female character and she's so complex. She's brave, loving, clever, and stubborn. Her relationships with everyone in this book are very realistic. I especially love her female friendships, which are done really well. Khalid, admittedly, didn't intrigue me as much. I understand his torments and struggles, but I just didn't find him as well-rounded of a character as Shazi.


What I Didn't Like: Okay, this isn't only about this book, but I'm so tired of love triangles in YA. There's already plenty in this book to drive the plot and provide tension. I don't feel like the story needed the love triangle elements. I also wanted a little more magic in the story, though that's a personal gripe.

Overall, I absolutely loved the novel and would recommend anyone read it based on Shazi alone.


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Thanks for reading!