The Bibliophile's Bookshelf

Title: The Rose and the Dagger

Series: The Wrath and the Dawn #2

Author: Renee Ahdieh

Genre: Young Adult, Retelling, Fantasy, Romance

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

In a land on the brink of war Shahrzad is forced from the arms of Khalid, her beloved husband. She once thought Khalid a monster, but after unravelling his secrets, she found an extraordinary man and an incredible love. Still, a cruse threatens to keep them apart. Now she is reunited with her family, who have sought refuge in a desert, where a deadly force is gathering against Khalid. Trapped between loyalties to those she loves, Shahrzad has to act. Using the burgeoning magic within her, she strikes out on her own to end the curse and the war brewing. But to do this, she must evade enemies of her own.

In some ways this book was better than the first, but in other ways it was worse.

It had a lot more going on, so it wasn’t completely focused on the romance between Shahrzad and Khalid (though that was a big part). We got to see more of Shahrzad’s sister Irsa, understand Khalid and Jalal’s relationship a little more, as well as get a better understanding of the magic system in this world. However, there wasn’t enough time to anyone of these things for me to be satisfied.

I loved seeing Shahrzad interact with more people this book. It also allowed for some interesting conflicts, which kind of started in the previous book, but came to a head and an end this book. We especially got to know Irsa and their father, Jahandar, better. But again, there was a lack of development. Especially considering Irsa’s new relationship. Here are some minor spoilers: Irsa falls in love with someone, and this person passes away. Their relationship was really cute, but when her love interest died, it was sad, but I felt like I didn’t know either of them enough for it to be super hard hitting.

Then we have Jalal. This was one part were I really, really wanted more. I loved Jalal in The Wrath and the Dawn, and I knew interesting things were coming in this book, but for his story I was disappointed. I loved getting the small snippets of Jalal and Khalid’s relationship, though I wished for more, and after they got into a massive fight, I was hoping to see more of the repercussions and how Khalid felt. The fight was about Despina, and when that was resolved on Jalal’s front with Despina, there was no closure for Khalid and his relationship. I assume they work things out, but I have no clue.

There were some new characters introduced in this book that I enjoyed; they were a nice addition, but not really developed.

Khalid did go through some character development. He worked on controlling his anger and tried to help his people more. He also realized he didn’t have time for hatred and anger, which I really enjoyed.

Shahrzad was still headstrong and determined. I especially loved the scenes between her and Khalid. They were very sweet and romantic. They also have such a respect for the other and can bring them out of themselves.

I also really loved seeing the differences between Khalid and Tariq. Tariq isn’t a bad person or anything, but he isn’t right for Shahrzad, and that is very apparent throughout this novel. It kind of made me love Khalid even more!

The ending of this book was really good, and I enjoyed it. It was perfectly dramatic, which is right up my alley.

While I enjoyed the book overall, many things needed to be developed a little more. I think the author was just trying to put too much in this book without giving it ample time. The romance between Shahrzad and Khalid was well done, but the other relationships throughout the book needed more work.

The Rose and the Dagger was an interesting sequel, that had a good ending and a strong main romance, but many aspects of the book needed to be developed a little bit more.

Quotes:

“It was never about belonging to someone. It was about belonging together.”

“‘Give me a meaningful love or a beautiful death!’”

“‘Be the beginning and the end, Shahrzad al-Khayzuran. Be stronger than everything around you.’”

“But Khalid did not have time for hatred. Did not have time for retribution… In the end, there was only love. So much more than he deserved.”