The World Building
The writing in this book is incredible! I need a better word to describe it, but that’s all I could come up with. The author does a fantastic job of engaging all your senses and transporting you to the ancient Middle Eastern world with her descriptions of the clothing, the textures, the smells and the opulence of the period. I felt like I was living in the world of Aladdin and Jasmine.
A Strong Female Main Character
The story is told from a third person point of view, but the main character is a 16 year old girl named Shahrzhad and she is a ballbuster and I love it. She lives in a kingdom ruled by a Caliph named Khalid, who takes a new wife each day, and has her killed at dawn the next morning. When Shahrzad’s best friend Shiva is married to and ultimately murdered by the king, she volunteers herself to marry him, with hopes of killing him instead of being killed. Shahrzad miraculously survives the first dawn and her gutsy personality intrigues the king as he begins to fall in love with her. She is a force to be reckoned with.
The Love Interests
As Khalid begins to fall in love with Shahrzad, she begins to see that he isn’t quite the monster that she imagined him to be. The problem is, before Shiva was killed, Shahrzad was in love with Tariq, Mr. Tall, Dark and Muscles who felt the same way about her. I’m sure you can see where this is going…
The Conflict and Realism of the Emotions
One of my favorite parts about this book, is that Shahrzad doesn’t just meet the king, decide he’s not so bad and forget why she’s there and start getting all googly for him. She knows her heart is fickle and fights everything she is feeling, and you really connect with her struggle as she tries to hold onto the anger and bitterness of losing Shiva while reconciling that with the man that she is getting to know. The king is an interesting character with a mystery and depth that isn’t fully revealed to you as a reader, which keeps you turning the page. You will feel just as conflicted about him and want to know what’s really going on, and once you find out, the ending is fantastic.
Oblivion
This may be a little spoilery, so if you hate any spoilers at all, don’t keep reading this paragraph. The third to last chapter is called Oblivion and if I could make one recommendation, it would be to stop reading after this chapter. It is seriously such a great chapter and ties up most of the plot just perfectly. The plots lines that don’t get answered in this chapter will, I’m assuming be what the next book is about. So if you like a happy ending, just pretend the last 2 chapters don’t exist, and when the next book comes out, pretend it starts with the last 2 chapters of this book.
It Will Get Aladdin Songs Stuck in Your Head
And finally, and this is probably a testament to the beautiful writing and descriptions I mentioned above, this book will have you singing all the songs from Aladdin in your head once you’ve finished it. It totally transports you to that world, and I was singing Arabian Nights in my head all while I was reading it.
So…go do yourself a favor and read The Wrath and The Dawn. I loved it and I think you will too! Also, does anyone else get Disney songs stuck in their head while reading??
