The Rose & the Dagger (Wrath and the Dawn, #2)

by Renée Ahdieh

Review originally posted at Simply Adrift.

I was on the fence with The Wrath & the Dawn, so I lowered my expectations with The Rose & the Dagger. I decided to read this book because I wanted to know what happened in the story, I wanted to see how Shazi's story ended.

Much the same

To be honest, my feelings for this one were much the same as The Wrath & the Dawn. I was unsatisfied and I wasn't drawn in to the story.

When I started reading this I thought it was going to be different, more action packed, I thought more would happen. But this was more like an extension of the first book. It felt like it was the same tone, the story was the same, and the whole time I kept waiting for that big thing to happen. And then it did! But it was so anticlimactic and over with in a few pages. All of this build up for such a short event.

I was under the impression that Shazi and Khalid were not going to see each other much in this book. I thought the whole point of Shazi leaving was to stay away from Khalid. Except, they saw each other a lot sooner than I expected. I was disappointed because that tension was over, I was now not wondering when they would see each other again, I wasn't on the edge of my seat anymore.

Character Development

I felt like there was no character development at all, so I couldn't even be excited to see how Shazi would change. I mean yeah sure she started to trust her sister a little but she didn't grow from the in the story at all. She was frustrating to read, the way she tried to do everything herself and exclude everyone made me so annoyed at her. It was like everyone thought she walked on water and she was this strong, terrifying person.

Her sister could have been such a fun character to read; if she had been stronger. Irsa was a child, at least she seemed that way. I guess I wanted her to be a little more mature so she wouldn't be such an exasperating character. I liked her a lot more than Shazi though and I liked reading her chapters more as well. At least she wasn't as stubborn and love sick as Shazi was. Unlike Shazi, Irsa actually did grow throughout the book. It wasn't a massive change, but there was growth and she ended up being my favourite character overall.

The Magic

When I finished The Wrath & the Dawn I was under the impression that this book would have a lot more magic. The magic aspect of the last book was the only interesting thing about it in my opinion, we didn't see much of it at all. The Rose & the Dagger has magic, but I felt like we completely skipped the 'discovery' part of it. Shazi was fine using her magic and she was happy to train it. The wonder of magic was lost.

In the end

I was highly disappointed by this. The way it ended, ended the story. But it was also all convenient, it felt like there was never any danger to begin with. Loose ends were tied up and the story finished. I left this book thinking 'That was it?'.

I guess I don't get the appeal of this series. It's not groundbreaking, the characters aren't amazingly lovable, and there is non-existent character development. It all felt so bland compared to others in it's genre. I was incredibly disappointed.

Did you like the conclusion to this series? 

Always,
Jordon

This review was originally posted on Simply Adrift