Spoiler-Free Review
Genre: Romance, Young Adult Fiction
Author: Renée Ahdieh
Quick Summary: The Wrath and the Dawn, written by Renée Ahdieh, is the first book of a two book series that reimagines the classic tale of One Thousand and One Nights. The Wrath and the Dawn is set in the kingdom of Khorasan, a province in the Middle East. The ruler, a “boy-king” named Khalid, takes a bride every night only to execute her in the morning. Following the death of her best friend at the hands of the evil king Khalid, Shahrzad volunteers herself to be his wife to exact revenge.
My Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Overview: The Wrath & the Dawn Book Review
I chose to pick up The Wrath and the Dawn after learning it was a reimagining of one of my favorite tales, One Thousand and One Nights, a story about a woman who manages to survive 1,001 nights due to her storytelling prowess. Just like in The Wrath and the Dawn, the king marries a new woman everyday just to execute her the following morning. Eventually he is forced to marry Shahrzad, who tells him a story at night that ends in a cliffhanger. Every night he chooses to spare her to learn the ending, until he eventually falls in love. Ahdieh’s reimagining takes on a unique narrative by giving Shahrzad a fiery personality that endears all of those around her.
Story/Plot
I really enjoyed the story overall. The author adds depth to the original 1,001 Nights by giving more complexity to the characters. Rather than simply being desperate to know the ending of Shahrzad’s story, we watch as the king falls in love with her bold personality.
Additionally, you can tell the author took her time planning out her character arcs and the plotline. There were a lot of politics and agendas at play in the story.
Characters
Shahrzad is our main character. Living in a kingdom of injustice, Shahrzad’s bravery and straightforwardness was quite admirable. Her willingness to take action and say whatever is on her mind made her a very interesting main character to follow. Even so, there were moments where she came off as too harsh to the point where I found it unconvincing that everyone around her loved her so much. At the same time, I enjoy that she isn’t perfect.
Khalid is a very mysterious character that from the beginning you can tell is quite troubled. Unraveling his character and learning more about the burdens of being a young king was a treat. Nonetheless, there is still more I desire to learn about him. I found that his mysteriousness often shrouded the qualities and characteristics that were supposed to make him distinguished and enjoyable. I never felt like I truly knew who he was.
The story also follows characters outside of the palace. I enjoyed getting an outside perspective of what the people in the Kingdom of Khorasan thought of the elite who ruled over them.
The only criticism I have is that the story did have A LOT of characters, making it difficult to remember who everyone was and their roles, but after mapping them out in my checkpoint discussion article, I got the hang of it.
Writing
Ahdieh has a descriptive and flowery writing style that successfully paints a vivid picture of the vibrant and colorful Middle Eastern setting. The way she describes the palace, from the food to the structures is detailed. I had no trouble understanding what was going on. It was beautifully written.
The Wrath and the Dawn earns a solid 3.5 out of 5 stars from me.