Title: The Wrath and the Dawn
Author: Renee Ahdieh
Pages: 388
Genre: YA, Fiction, Fantasy, Retellings
Source: Owned Print
Rating: A
Review: It took me a month to finish this book. Not “a little reading every day” for a month, but I read about 30% of it in early April, and then set it aside because I just wasn’t feeling it. Although I know it’s YA, it was feeling a little too juvenile for me early on. But as it turns out, setting it aside for nearly a month made all the difference because I plowed through it once I picked it back up. Some books are just slow starters, and I think that was the case here. When I was finishing it last night, I was SO mad at myself for not having the sequel – The Rose and the Dagger – ready to go. That has since been remedied, but now I have to wait (come on Amazon, hurry up!). Grrr.
The basic storyline is the usual stuff, but the world-building and background are different from what I’ve read before. I’m trying to think of another book I’ve read that is set in a Middle Eastern background, and I can’t think of one. Which is a shame because it was a refreshing change.
The author said this is a retelling of The Arabian Nights, which I’m not even remotely familiar with, but now feel the need to go and read for the purposes of comparison. Though my understanding is that The Arabian Nights are not really fairytales for children as much as folk tales, the retelling or reimagining of fairytales has become quite the thing as of late, and of the few I’ve read, The Wrath and the Dawn has been the most interesting. I absolutely loved Shahrzad and Khalid, and I always enjoy feisty female characters.
Very much looking forward to the arrival of The Rose and the Dagger so that I can find out what happens to Shahrzad and Khalid. And Jalal and Despina. And the kingdom. And…pretty much all of it.