The Wrath and The Dawn duology - Renée Ahdieh - Opinião

The Wrath & The Dawn

Sinopsis

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, 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.

Opinion

From the sinopsis I was interested in the story: kind of a retelling of the 1001 nights, mixing fantasy, romance and magic with deserts and oasis as background.

 I didn't feel particularly swept away by it, or moved until closer to the end. This was because I had some dificulties liking the mais characters and understanding their motivations, while the author was worldbuilding. 

On the the last third of the book there's finally an outpouring of emotion, when the story catches a little fire and made me genuinely invested in the characters, intrigued about where the author was leading us,  and anxious to see what was going to happen.

What I liked:

-- Interesting theme
-- A world very different from what we're used to in Fantasy/YA

-- The various misteries happening all at once, concerning all the characters

-- Almost nothing was what it seemed

-- Nice action scenes towards the end

-- The romance (with some restraints on my part)

What I wanted;
-- Magic well explained
-- Understanding the characters more, they lacked dimension
-- understanding why the two main characters are drawn together, particularly why Khalid is so intrigued by Shazi that he continues to spare her life

-- Feel more conected with the characters

3.5/5

The Rose & The Dagger

Sinopsis

"I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust. " In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid's empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan. While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn't yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love."

Opinion

The author read my thoughts on the first installement, because what I thought was laking on the first book was developed and wraped in the second book. 

We get to see more magic, and connect with the characters, understanding their motivations and where they were heading. 

We see the bond linking Shazi and Khalid, and doesn't look instalove anymore.

And the plot twists were also good to keep me guessing, adding some more mistery.

The bad aspects also existed: although I would like to know more about two characters who were secundary to the story but vital to the outcome because they were the key to the magic. I never understand why Shazi had magic. And it seemed so easy to Khalid break the curse after all the drama around it! So some wrap up of the story seemed rushed as we remain guessing what hapened to other characters except for the main ones.

4/5