The Wrath & the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh

The Wrath & the Dawn (Wrath and the Dawn, #1)

by Renée Ahdieh

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.

Reviewed by Amber on

1 of 5 stars

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I can’t remember the last time I was this disappointed in a book. I had been looking forward to reading The Wrath and the Dawn before it was even released, and I spent a lot of money on a pretty hardback copy when I was in the US. I was so excited to finally pick it up because I’d heard that it was outstanding, but it was actually pretty shit. I’m so sad.


First of all, the beginning is very confusing. The author’s writing is vague af, and it took a while for me to understand what was going on. The prologue was supposed to be vague and mysterious, but I don’t think the first couple of chapters should have been the same way. It took me a couple of rereads to understand that the two main characters consummate their marriage twice within the first few pages.

Speaking of which, the two main characters consummate their marriage twice, which is actually something Shahrzad is only doing to avenge her friend’s death. So it’s a kind of “close your eyes and think of England” type thing. And yet this isn’t addressed later. The author ignores the fact that this happened to her, and has Shahrzad fall in love with Khalid anyway. It was so annoying.

I didn’t ship Shahrzad and Khalid for this reason. I’m not here for Beauty and the Beast levels of romance, I’m not here for a girl falling in love with a murderer, and I’m also not here for instalove. The romance was fucking awful and offensive, and I was so disappointed.

Khalid has killed hundreds of girls, including Shahrzad’s best friend, and yet she falls for him anyway. I mean, even if he did have a good reason (which he might have… or maybe not because SPOILERS) that’s not something you can just brush over.

Also, there was shit like “my beautiful monster”, “you’re mine”, and “I’m yours”. Vomit.

So yeah, it’s shit.

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Reading updates

  • Started reading
  • 4 July, 2017: Finished reading
  • 4 July, 2017: Reviewed