![]() Cassidy Serhienko 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? Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end. I read The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh right around it's publication in May 2015 after a couple months of impatient waiting (which is really the only way I wait), and it completely exceeded my very high expectations. Which is great because it would've sucked if it was terrible. But when a book is as vivid as this one is, it's almost impossible not to like it. Right from the get go you know there's something going on with Khalid that he kills a wife everyday at Dawn, because the universe (or at least Renne Ahdieh) isn't so unfair as for him to be such a babe AND evil as crap. I didn't guess what the actually was that necessitated Khalid's admittedly gruesome actions right up until the moment he comes clean to Shahrzad, and I always appreciate a plot that isn't too predictable. As I mentioned, Khalid obviously isn't evil, but he's just scary enough to be interesting and is responsible for one of my favourite quotes from the book (which has earned a spot on my wall): "I suspect she will be like air. Like knowing how to breathe." All in all, Khalid has had a pretty awful life, and I hope that in the next book he gets some love from the subjects he's secretly devoted to. Shahrzad is one of the best characters I've ever read about in a YA, or any, book. She's tough as nails, stubborn to a fault, incredibly smart, and brave. As Khalid says, she's a difficult girl, and I think her narrow mindedness and warranted suspicious nature keeps her from seeing the truth sometimes, but is ultimately what drives the story along. The only parts of the book that bothered me were any chapters from her father's or Tariq's point of view. Not that they weren't engaging, but because for most of the book I was really only concerned about what was happening on the Khalid Shazi front, so that's not really a fault of the book, just a point against my sketchy priorities. I also hated anything with Tariq. Because he's an annoying little dillhole. The romance in this book is phenomenal. Shazi is a "difficult girl" and Khalid is, as he says, a monster, but I'm gonna say tormented because I'm clearly in love with him. Their, what we'll call banter, had me grinning at the book like a maniac. I hope that Despina and Jalal are in the next book because her sass and his general charming-ness also had me looking crazed. Despite the impression I might be making (okay definitely making), the romance is not the only element to this story, yes it was my favourite part, but there's also some sketchy magic and the fate of a whole Kingdom to worry about. And in conclusion: All hail the Caliph of Khorasan King of Kings.
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![]() Cassidy Serhienko When nineteen-year-old huntress Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin—one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world. As she dwells on his estate, her feelings for Tamlin transform from icy hostility into a fiery passion that burns through every lie and warning she's been told about the beautiful, dangerous world of the Fae. But an ancient, wicked shadow grows over the faerie lands, and Feyre must find a way to stop it... or doom Tamlin—and his world—forever. Picking up A Court of Thorns and Roses, I was expecting it to be exactly like Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge, which is probably one of my favourite books, but I was wrong. Of course there are minor similarities, both books being Beauty and the Beast retellings, but Sarah J. Maas's book struck different chords and played different notes (ah music metaphors). I should probably start off by saying that this was the first of Maas's books that I've read, but from what Meghan has told me about Throne of Glass, I wasn't surprised to learn that she writes action really well, but I wasn't expecting the steamy hanky-panky. It wasn't really anything out of left field, it was just MORE than I was expecting from this book. The mythology was also fantastic, although I will admit it seemed suspiciously convenient that the High Fae were super hot while regular fairies were all kind of scary/gross looking. One of the things that I liked about Feyre, on top of her iron will, steadfast courage, and general badassery was how she wasn't inexperienced. This books romance is pretty central to the story remember, and I'm glad that she wasn't all "oh Tamlin, I don't normally do this, I'm so nervous, make me feel better". Bleh. This chick is assertive and she doesn't take anybody's crap. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD The only thing I didn't really like was how as soon as Tamlin and Feyre really got together, they basically didn't speak for the duration of the book. I actually found myself liking Rhysand more than Tamlin by the end, and why wouldn't I? The guy's freakin hilarious. END SPOILERS The side characters were all also really well developed; Lucien was one of my favourites (because wit+ginge=fantastic) and I hope we see more of him in the next book. Feyre's sisters could have been one-dimensional greedy little wenches, but I'm glad that Maas gave them more substance than that. You can see that despite her harsh life, Elaine has a gentle heart, and you begin to understand why Nesta is so full of hate towards everyone in her life besides Elaine. When reading you're kind of like "so... what? She kills this guys bff and now he's gonna let her live in the lap of luxury for the rest of her life? What kind of a punishment is that?" DO NOT DESPAIR GRASSHOPPER, all will be revealed to you by the end of the book. Overall, I would recommend this book to any fans of Cruel Beauty and probably anyone else who would listen. It has stayed in my head for weeks after finishing it, and I have high hopes for book two. |
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