A review by cleolindbooks
The Wrath & the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.25

I really wanted to like this book but I had major issues with it by the end. While it is a fantastic premise, I think the execution left a lot to be desired, especially when justifying the relationship and the murder of the women. The general plot is Shahrzad marries Khalid who murdered her best friend in order to kill him. Every day he marries a woman ans every Dawn she is strangled until Shahrzad who, for some reason he lets live. Even before starting the book, it says that there is a reason for these deaths.  And despite reasons in the book saying they should be consequences to keeping her alive, there really isn’t.  There’s really no explanation for why nothing comes of her being left alive when throughout the story we were told there are ulterior motive’s to why he was killing these women. 
In addition, this book has the instant love trope, which I find extremely concerning, and probably one of the biggest issues Shahrzad comes to the Palace and marries him to get revenge for her best friend who he murdered. But before knowing that there was ulterior motive for him killing her, she starts falling in love with him, and is extremely attracted to him. Tariq says at the best in the book, but how could she fall in love with the man who killed her best friend? I think this book would’ve been much better if she didn’t fall in love with him. She goes back-and-forth, whether or not she should Kill him, and even decides to do it. But then immediately after changes her mind again.  
I was extremely confused and concerned about was at the beginning of the book it states that he comes to her room twice I believe and they have relations. This is when she has been married to him for a few hours, and still hates his guts. Later in the store, it is even said that he never visited any of the other wives in this way.  I did not like that this was included as it really had no bearing to the plot or story. They could’ve easily been taken out and changed nothing but it further is my belief that the relationship is not one that should be shown as romantic.  
Also, I believe the main character is not very well developed or comparable to the original main character of 1001 nights. Shahrzad volunteers in order to kill him but it immediately it’s clear to the reader that she has no plan or way to do this. She marries him expecting to die at Dawn the very next day so I thought she would at least have a plan, or ability to kill him. She tells him the story of the very first night and does again on the second night, but they really don’t ever use that again. For a book based on storytelling and survival, there was very little actual storytelling. 
I wanted to like this book so much I went into it, expecting to really enjoy it. I am really disappointed with the direction of story took as I loved the premise. At the beginning, there is a lot of name dropping, which leaves you asking who is this person and what is their connection to the people around them. It also felt like there wasn’t much actually happening. Just a lot of back-and-forth without a lot of real development to the story until the very very end.  
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