The Rose & The Dagger
By Renee Ahdieh
Genre: YA Fantasy
Recommended Ages: 18+

In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad is forced from the arms of her beloved husband, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once thought Khalid a monster—a merciless killer of wives, responsible for immeasurable heartache and pain—but as she unraveled his secrets, she found instead an extraordinary man and a love she could not deny. Still, a curse threatens to keep Shazi and Khalid apart forever.

Now she’s reunited with her family, who have found refuge in the desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid—a force set on destroying his empire and commanded by Shazi’s spurned childhood sweetheart. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, the only thing Shazi can do is act. Using the burgeoning magic within her as a guide, she strikes out on her own to end both this terrible curse and the brewing war once and for all. But to do it, she must evade enemies of her own to stay alive.

The Gist

I LOVED The Wrath & The Dawn, just ate it up. Which is why I was a little sad when I didn’t love this sequel as much as the first book. It wasn’t bad. I quite enjoyed it. It was just a bit of a let down after the amazingness that was The Wrath & The Dawn. After the action-packed cliffhanger of book one, I expected book 2 to hit the ground running. But it look a while to get started and I failed to be quite as enticed by the storyline as I was in the first book.

What I Liked:

The ending/epilogue was everything I ever wanted in a fantasy book. Seriously. It made my heart fill with joy. And that’s all I’ll say.

Shahrzad is maybe one of the best storytellers I know of. The little stories she tells ads so much richness to the book so I was thrilled to see more of them. And as an avid reader, you know I appreciate a good storyteller.

I think the relationship between Shahrzad and Khalid is so well done. One of the bests I’ve seen in awhile. It’s a love tangled with mutual respect, honor, compassion, and desire. They bring out the best in each other and love each other for who they really are. And never did it feel like one of those you-are-my-entire-world loves that so much YA stuff is saturated with. That kind of stuff just makes the stories cheesy and over-the-top. This relationship is the really selling point for me and this duology.

This book had some TWISTS! It’s hard anymore nowadays to catch me off-guard with a twist, but man this book sure did. I had to keep reading to see how the twist would turn out and if there were any more. Love to be kept guessing, for a certain amount of time haha.

What I Didn’t Liked:

The plot fell short for me. I wasn’t as engaged with this book’s plot as the first.  I was dying to know the reason for Khalid’s treatment of his brides in the first book. But in the second, the plot was trying to figure out how to break the curse. And I knew the curse would be broken, because it always is. But the story lacked that something extra to keep me sitting on the edge of my seat dying to read on and know what happens.

Tariq’s character felt burdensome after a while, like why was he there so much? I wish some focus on Tariq would have been taken and given to Khalid. He’s a much more interesting character to me.

The war and curse plot overall fell flat for me. I found myself longing for more Shahrzad moments than wondering what would happen in the war and how the curse would be broken.

LunasLuckyRating: 3.5/5 Lunas