The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
3 OUT OF 5 STARS.
“I do know enough to realize you cannot control the actions of others. You can only control what you do with yourself afterwards.”
Goodreads Description: In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all. Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
FYI: There is a glossary at the very back of the book. Had I known this when I first read the book, it probably would be been very helpful. I didn’t find it until I was almost done! Onto my thoughts!
There is so much hype for this book and so many people love this book so much. I, however, am not one of those people. Sad, I know! The idea was amazing, the description (and beautiful cover) instantly drew me to it. I needed to read this book, because when I looked up the story that it was inspired by, it sounded awesome! Renee’s writing style was nice.
The story itself wasn’t exactly what I expected. I figured there would be some killing of some wives. You know, like the original story…maybe even just one or two would have been nice. That sounds horrible, but when you just finished reading a book about serial killers before starting this one, you are on that level. There wasn’t any like you would expect from knowing the story it’s a retelling of.
The names. The names started to bother me as soon as I started reading. All of these characters had like four names! Also, they are not the easiest to pronounce. Trying to pronounce four names per character got annoying. I started calling them by letters. Or just skipping over even trying to say them. FYI: remember that glossary I told you about? Remember that as you’re reading, so you can flip through and get the meanings on some them and other things!
Quick thought on some of the characters. Tariq…hated him. He was pretty annoying throughout the book, especially toward the ending. Khalid…loved him. I really started to fall in love with him toward the ending. I think he meant well and so misunderstood. Shahrzad…love/hate her. There were some times that she annoyed me, but other times she was a really cool character. Jalal…loved him. I instantly fell in love with Jalal and I wanted more about him. There are so many characters in this book and they are throw at you at once and that (plus the fact they all have like 3-4 name) can get confusing. There’s a good cast of characters though. A mix of good and bad.
Overall, I was pretty bored the majority of the time, sadly. I wanted to love this book so much. Everyone is loving and raving about it. I’m the outcast when it comes to this book. It wasn’t horrible, but it could have been so much better. There wasn’t enough action. Most of the time it felt like nothing was really going on. It took so long to find out the reason why the wives had to die and that was bugging me. AND DAMMIT, I WANTED TO HEAR ALADDIN’S STORY! I curse Khalid for always say “no” when Shahrzad asked if he wanted to hear it.
The ending started to get better and more enjoyable. I was excited for a little while. The ending also left me so confused and annoyed. I have a like/hate for this book. Sigh. So many unanswered questions. Will I read the next book? Probably, only because the ending of this one was so confusing and it’s going to bother me until I find out why it ended the way that it did. Do I recommend it? Yes, I do. I think there are a lot of you that will love this book. I mean, it wasn’t a completely horrible book, just could have been better!
“Some things exist in our lives for but a brief moment. And we must let them go on to light another sky.” 
Have you read this book? If so, what did you think? Or better yet, did anything bother you about it? Let me know!
Check out my mid-year book freak out tag over here. The year is over halfway over and that’s insane. You can see some of the books I read throughout the first half of the year and loved/hated and books I am excited for! I hope you have a great rest of the weekend! Bye! ❤
socially awkward bookworm. 
I definitely understand your problems with The Wrath; it took me a long time to get a proper feeling for it as well. And I had the exact same thought when I found the glossary lol. I really don’t know why the author didn’t tell us about it in the beginning. I pretty much hated Tariq as well; his character is really annoying… And just the fact that I will have to wait almost a year to find out what happens next is really frustrating, especially since I don’t really want to reread The Wrath any time soon. 😉
I flipped to the back of the book when I first started to read it, but I swear I did not see the glossary, lol! I was also scared I was going to accidentally read the ending or something. Haha. It would have been nice if like how in Throne of Glass, the author included a page that showed you how to pronounce the character’s names. It would have been nice for Renee to do that as well, lol! It sucks that we have to way so long to find out what is going to happen next! Even if I didn’t like ti so much, it still left me wanting to know what is going to happen next.
Knowing how to pronounce the names would definitely help haha, and it’s a shame the glossary is sort of hidden… Because I think we’re not the only ones struggling with the words. And yes, the long wait is definitely annoying after that cliffhanger ending! I didn’t like it thaaat much either, but I still want to find out what happens in the sequel.
I finished this book yesterday and I completely adore it! I am so sad that it didn’t fully meet your expectations. The names were so confusing but even though I knew about the glossary I didn’t look back to it. But I got used to the names after a while! I really didn’t like Tariq either. By the end I wanted to shoot him in the face (woah I’m so sorry for inflicting such a violent comment!)
I love love love Khalid and Jalal. Favourite characters.
But unlike you, I really enjoyed Shazi. I thought she was such a great female protagonist and she’s one of my favorites now.
xoxo 💋
I’m so glad that you loved it so much! I guess it’s just not for everyone. 😦
I looked back on the glossary a couple times after I found it. I was so far into the story by time I found it though, that I just didn’t even both with it too much. It would have been nice like how with Throne of Glass, the author included a page that showed you how to pronounce the characters’ names.
Your violent comment about Tariq is totally okay, haha. I totally wanted to shoot him in the face too. I wanted him to just go away, lol. I was like “leave Shazi alone” haha.
Shazi had her cool moments, but there were lots of times where I just wasn’t into her, sadly. 😦
I am really hoping the next book is even better for me!
Oh that’s such a shame. Yeah I read reviews that mentioned a glossary so that’s how I knew about it.
Haha, I’m glad you feel the same way about Tariq! 😁
I really hope the next book is better for you too! I can’t believe we have to wait a year for it. *cries*
I’ve been drawn to this book simply because of the cover. Thanks for the review! With the glossary, Sounds like hard cover is the best option here
The glossary is a big help for a lot of the terms used in the book, so it’s definitely nice to know it’s there. I felt the need to share that with everyone, because if I found it sooner…it would have been so much more helpful to me. I hope you enjoy it if you read it! 🙂
This is me inserting the crying laugh emoji × 5
HAHAH! 😀
The only thing that really intrigued me with this book is the book cover. It’s absolutely gorgeous.
While I haven’t read the book yet, now I know not to have high expectations. A lot of people who have reviewed this book have nothing, but great words for it. I was waiting for someone to finally say something “negative” about it and I’m glad I read your review. So I don’t think you should feel bad for being the “outcast” in regards to this book. Some books are just not meant to be loved by everyone just because a majority of people do. 🙂
I agree with you, the book cover is definitely so gorgeous! The inside cover is just as pretty too.
I think my expectations were really high going into it, because I seen so many people just loving it so much. I always feel like something is wrong with me or I missed something big in a story with everyone loving a book and me just not being into it, lol. But yeah, you’re right. Not every book is for everyone. 🙂
I’ve been hearing so much praise about this book that I’m going to give it a shot soon and see how I feel about it. It’s a shame that you were disappointed, but hopefully you’ll enjoy the sequel better:)
Great review!♥
I really hope you enjoy it when you get the chance to read it! ❤
Thanks, I really hope the sequel is a lot better for me. I will definitely still give the series a chance. 🙂
I gave into the hype and ordered The Wrath and The Dawn the other day. I actually like that you didn’t like it, now I can go into the book with like level exceptions – yes people love it, but not everyone. I could tell you weren’t feeling this book from your goodreads updates haha! Great review ❤
Haha, yes…my Goodreads updates lol! Sigh. I hope you enjoy it more! 🙂
Hopefully!!
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