The Rose & the Dagger (The Wrath and the Dawn, #2) in Hype or Like Friday

Jun 30, 2015 Marie rated it it was amazing

Shelves: favorites-of-2016, favorite-authors, favorite-couples, pre-ordered, favorite-duology

An epic conclusion from my favourite duology!

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Nov 05, 2017 Kirsty rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: reviewed, diverse, library-copy

content warnings: same as those for The Wrath and the Dawn

Where the first novel was about getting to know the characters and their world, this one was very much about twists and deception, for both the characters and the reader.

I think it's pretty obvious that from the first book to this one Ahdieh's writing already got much better and the same with the jump from this to Flame in the Mist. I love her writing style and feel really immersed in the prose. Whilst I didn't particularly feel like The ...more

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Oct 01, 2015 Heather (The Sassy Book Geek) rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2016, owned-physical

Good. Not as good as the first one, in my opinion.

Review To Come

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Aug 21, 2015 Dani ❤️ Perspective of a Writer rated it really liked it

Shelves: g-a-magic, g-r-mythology, fiction-young-adult, g-a-real-combat, g-t-historical, reviewed, genre-romance-deliberately, series-book-2, stars-4, imo-worthy-love-interest

Shahrzad and Khalid, her beloved husband and the Caliph of Khorasan have been separated by a war. Theirs is a love that has overcome much misunderstanding to find one another, but all is not done. A war is brewing and Shazi leaves the safety of Khalid's side to protect her family and to learn how they can overcome this curse.

By rights I ought to down grade book 1 to 3 stars since this one proved to be a truly solid 4 stars. And I actually liked Shahrzad this time around!! These books both (The Shahrzad and Khalid, her beloved husband and the Caliph of Khorasan have been separated by a war. Theirs is a love that has overcome much misunderstanding to find one another, but all is not done. A war is brewing and Shazi leaves the safety of Khalid's side to protect her family and to learn how they can overcome this curse.

By rights I ought to down grade book 1 to 3 stars since this one proved to be a truly solid 4 stars. And I actually liked Shahrzad this time around!! These books both (The Rose and the Dagger and The Wrath and the Dawn) are 3 star books. The writing is okay, the plotting is decent and the characters are compelling if a little shallow. What makes them so good as to rate them 4 star is the little details with the romance. The tiny bit of magic, the politics and combat, the friendships and sisterhoods, the cultural references all mixed up with the loverly angst.

Shahrzad was a lot less annoying to me this time around. She was gutsy and fierce and did what she felt like she should do but this time with none of the compromised thinking and assumptions she made before. She was almost a little too focused, not really giving Tariq much in the way of thoughts. Her relationship with him was almost contrived just so that there was an ally on the warring side to protect her from real atrocities. I liked Khalid as much as I did the first time around. His responses to Irsa in particular won over my heart.

I really loved Aratan, could definitely see a spin off with him as the lead. We could explore a subtly different world with him and his aunt. I also liked the exploration of Irsa, Shazi's sister, and her love story arc. There is always tragedy around us, especially for those who don't have as much angst getting together... Jalal and Despina was not my favorite subplot but there were a few fun twists up in there. I just thought Jalal way overreacted and it didn't really add any tension to me. I knew who would ultimately take the arrow for Khalid if Jalal wasn't there so it actually made what happened a little anti-climatic.

These are fluffy and light. Nothing to take serious or to fret over. I read it really quickly because it really is a bit of fluff. I do love Shazi and Khalid together, though they are only in their teens still, lol. They do act as if they are in their 30s. I was disappointed the magic was dealt with so simply and was almost an afterthought as a way to deal with a curse.

BOTTOM LINE: A satisfying sequel to the cursed love story! ...more

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Aug 19, 2015 Lila (Hardcover Haven) rated it really liked it

Shelves: favorites, 2016-most-anticipated, all-time-favorites

this book was gorgeous and just solidified ahdieh's standing in my mind as a master storyteller and writer. i did have to take off one star because the beginning was a little slow, but once the middle hit things really sped up. but all in all, the writing was incredible, the story was great, and i just loved it all. it was bittersweet ending this series but i know ahdieh will go on to write something great yet again.
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Aug 14, 2015 Cody Roecker rated it it was amazing

this book made up for every last thing I didnt like about The Wrath & the Dawn and improved upon it tenfold. I absolutely effing adored this book.

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May 01, 2016 Readers Rule rated it liked it

I started reading this book with a lot of hopes and expectations because I loved the prequel but then I got really disappointed. It wasn’t like the previous book at all. I think the plot of this book was a lot better that the previous book which revolved mainly around Sharzad and Khalid’s love story but the poor writing ruined it all. The plot of this book actually had more suspense, adventure and mystery and this book could have been a lot better. Also, I feel some parts of this book were left ...more

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