Over the weekend, I finished reading The Wrath & the Dawn duology by Renée Ahdieh. This fantasy series, inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, is about Shahrzad al-Khayzuran, a sixteen-year-old girl who volunteers to marry Khalid Ibn al-Rashid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan. In the first book of the series, Khalid takes a new bride each night only to have her executed before sunrise, but Shahrzad has a clever plan to stay alive and get revenge on Khalid for the murder of her best friend, Shiva, and the other girls. Not everything is as it seems, though, and as Shahrzad begins to fall for Khalid, she decides that she must find out the truth of why Khalid's brides are murdered and break the cycle somehow. In the second and final book, The Rose & the Dagger, Shahrzad and Khalid are separated when the threat of war is greater than ever. Although Shahrzad is reunited with her family in the desert, she desperately wants to find a way to return to Khalid. With an army gathering against Khalid and enemies everywhere, Shahrzad's loyalties are tested as she risks everything.
There are also three short stories in this series. The Moth & the Flame is about the romance between Shahrzad's handmaiden Despina and the Captain of the Guard Jalal al-Khoury. Although it simply starts out as a flirtation, Despina and Jalal begin to develop true feelings for one another when suddenly tragedy strikes. The Crown & the Arrow covers Shahrzad and Khalid's wedding ceremony from Khalid's perspective. After seventy-one days and nights of killing his brides, Khalid wonders why Shahrzad, his seventy-second bride, has volunteered and shows no fear of losing her life. The final short story, The Mirror & the Maze, is about Khalid's return to Rey after a trip to the border of Khorasan and Parthia. When he sees that Rey is destroyed and Shahrzad is gone, he believes it is all his fault for choosing love over the people of Rey.
This series was excellent and I enjoyed it from the very first chapter, which was among the most intriguing I've ever read. Despite being a little nervous after the disappointing ending to The Beautiful series by the same author, I was determined to keep the faith that the romance in this duology would have a happy ending and I'm ecstatic to say that it did! Although there were quite a few twists and turns and an event or two towards the end of The Rose & the Dagger that could have broken me, love won and it truly warmed my heart. I absolutely adored the epilogue. I also thought the world-building was fantastic. The setting was both gorgeous and dangerous, which I always think is the best combination, and I was reminded a lot of Aladdin because The Wrath and the Dawn is inspired by the same collection of folk tales. Additionally, the romance between Shahrzad and Khalid was positively flawless. They're amazing characters on their own, but I wanted nothing more for them to defy the odds and find a way to be together, especially because enemies to lovers is my favorite romantic trope. I knew Shahrzad wouldn't be able to assassinate Khalid without knowing his reason for murdering his brides and the reveal was so devastating, like I thought it would be. In my heart, Khalid certainly didn't deserve that fate and I wanted him to find redemption through his love for Shahrzad. Additionally, Shahrzad is a great female protagonist because of her strength and courage—at first to stand up to Khalid and survive, then later to fight for their love. The short stories are wonderful, as well, and I recommend The Wrath & the Dawn duology to anyone who loves fantasy, adventure, and/or romance.
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