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MY FAVORITE BOOK OF THE YEAR. PERIOD. (and one of my favorite books EVER.)

The Wrath & The Dawn is a lush retelling of 1001 Nights. It follows Shahrzad as she seeks revenge for the murder of her best friend by The Monster King of Khorasan, Khalid.

So I had just read ACOTAR, and I wasn't expecting another book to top for a long time this year. I was actually thinking that it would be my favorite of the year. WRONG. The Wrath & The Dawn hit it it out of the park for me! I was actually really excited for this book before it came out, but I honestly wasn't expecting it to be THIS fantastic.

Basically this is what TW&TD done to me:

Ok ok let's get to the actual review. The premise really grabbed me from the beginning, and it completely exceeded my expectations. It was perfectly paced and felt unpredictable. I was at the edge of my seat the entire time. The writing is lush and gorgeous.

"She was drowning in sandalwood and sunlight. Time ceased to more than a notion. Her lips were hers one moment. And then they were his. The taste of him on her tongue was like sun warmed honey. Like cool water sliding down her parched throat. Like the promise of all her tomorrows in one sigh."

Now if THAT doesn't make you want to read it, idk what will bruh. And yes, maybe some can say it's bit flowery and overdone, but my god how can the beautiful use of the english language this way not make you read this. Renee Ahdieh's writing is my kind of writing. Poetic, flows well, lush, and just downright lovely. It makes me want to be writer and I've never had that desire...ever until now. SO BRAVO RENEE BRAVO.

The plot is mysterious and intriguing. Yes there's this fantastic romance, but there's also this mystery as to WHY is khalid marrying a new bride every day and killing them off by dawn the next day. It hooked me from the get go as well as Shazi's plot for revenge. I also like this mysterious magic system, but I won't lie I wish I got a little more out of this aspect. I have to say the magic is till a complete mystery to me, but I hope that this will be fixed in book #2, The Rose and The Dagger.

Now let's get to the good stuff. THE ROMANCE AND THE CHARACTERS. I'm a sucker for romance. I'm gonna be straight up say I prefer all my books to have some sort of romance...even if it's subtle. This is by far one of the BEST romances I have EVER read. I ship Khalid and Shazi so hard.



Ahdieh's ability to captivate the readers with her words and the development of Shazi and Khalid's relationship is astounding. Did I feel conflicted over the fact that Shazi was falling for the man who killed her best friend? YES, duh. But did I believe it? ABSOLUTELY. And did Ahdieh make me root for them? WHOLEHEARTEDLY

Ok let's just talk about the characters themselves. These characters are so damn loveable. So many of these characters became some favorites of mine. Shazi is favorite MC of mine. I rolled my eyes just a tiny tiny bit at the parts where she was like I need to get revenge on this evil king, but OMG my heart is racing over him, but that's kind of the fun part of it all right? I liked that she acknowledged her conflict and struggled with it. I just love her. FAVORITE. I just wish there I got more from my side characters because I loved them. Jalal, Despina, Tariq, Rahim, Jahander, and more. I'm thinking this will be addressed more in future books because yes the romance did outweigh the development of side characters but I totally get it because this is the first book in the epic story of Khalid and Shazi. Also holla to Renee Ahdieh for putting the prologue of The Rose and The Dagger at the end. YOU DA BEST. AND I NEED THIS SEQUEL.

Overall I recommend you pick this up ASAP. Hands down, this is my favorite book of the year. Read it before it gets SUPER POPULAR. Just sayin.