Thoroughly enjoyed the first, but maybe save yourself the trouble of reading the second.
Summary:
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.
Verdict:
First book 8/10
Sequel 6/10
Overall 7/10
It probably wasn't as great as I remembered and I wasn't enthralled with the second book, but it was a decent read.
I had somewhat forgotten about this book that I had read in high school. A dramatic but well-written YA romance called "The Wrath and The Dawn". I'd loved it as a teen. So when I stumbled across a Webtoon based on the story (and realized I had forgotten most of the storyline), I decided to reread the book and actually read the sequel this time, which I hadn't gotten around to doing the first go-around.
The comic was intriguing enough to make me want to revisit the characters, but after re-familiarizing myself with the story, I found that the timeline and details stray quite a bit from the original. It's not bad, but when compared to the book, it's easy to find faults.
I will say I didn't love the first book as much as I did upon first reading it. A lot of the mystery came back to me while reading, which detracted a bit from the excitement of the first time. But it was still a great plot with clever and complex players.
Shahrzad is a sharp-tongued heroine that moves mountains with her storytelling, much like the author. I loved the barbs she would throw out in verbal jousts and found myself drawn into her fight for power in a place where she could have had little. It's reflected in Khalid, who has all the power but none of the freedom to wield it as he could. His backstory was a great drive of the story, and he parried off his counterpart well so that when they end up falling for each other (as you know they must), it comes off as a perfect pairing of minds.
Of course like many YA romances, there's got to be a love triangle intent on destroying each other. It was well-balanced with all the other action in the story and with the underlying unrest in the kingdom. However, this really took away from the story in the sequel.
This was one series that I think I would have enjoyed better in a novel, even if it made it a bit lengthier.
The second focused far more on breaking the curse and the politics going on between the uprising neighboring kingdom. It had far less intrigue and seemed to take away from what I liked most which was seeing the characters interact and play off each other. There was less suspense and excitement (which seems backwards when it centers around a war). And I felt like I was always waiting for something to happen.
Another YA troupe is that every story has to involve magic. Sure, that worked with the curse, but in the sequel I felt like Ahdieh overdid it a tad.
Not every young adult hero/heroine needs magic to be powerful!
What I liked about Shahrzad was that she had power in her words and her confidence and her fearlessness. Adding magical abilities took away from that. And she really only used it once to melt some chains. It was completely unnecessary and distracting.
And then when they finally did get around to the battles and wars, it tied itself up in a bow. The only characters lost were ones that were side-characters and somewhat easily disposable without causing a major plot point. It's a bit cowardly from a writing standpoint. If you're gonna kill off a character, don't just choose one because you need a death. Choose one that's going to mean something and affect the story impactfully.
The saving grace of it all was the artful storytelling. Ahdieh has a way of weaving in descriptive imagery without taking away from the action present. Some authors get so caught up on describing a scene that they forget to describe why it's important or how the characters fit in. You know, a paragraph of setting and then a paragraph of dialogue, and then back to setting = boring! This author does a great job at including detail that captures the senses without distracting your mind from what's happening.
The picture painted is a full and colorful one with equally vibrant characters to match. And the love story does pull at your heart. It's worth reading. But in my opinion stop at the first. If you need to know how it ends, message me for an abbreviated version and save yourself the time.
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