The Wrath & the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

“I will live to see tomorrow’s sunset. Make no mistake. I swear. I will live to see as many sunsets as it takes. And I will kill you. With my bare hands.” 

A kingdom ruled by a monster.  Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan takes a new bride each night and has her executed at sunrise, leaving a devastated and shattered family every time.  When her best friend becomes one of the Caliph’s victims, sixteen-year old Shahrzad volunteers to be the next bride in order to exact her revenge and put a stop to the murders.  But once she enters the Caliph’s world, she realizes that there is more to the boy king than she originally thought. Struggling with the fact that she is falling in love with the person responsible for the death of her best friend, she sets out to discover his secret.

The Wrath & The Dawn is an engaging and wonderfully written debut novel. Renée Ahdieh proves herself to be a captivating storyteller, weaving a story that had my full attention from start to finish.  She presents a great cast of characters, from Jalal, the Caliph’s cousin to Despina, the handmaiden. Shahrzad is a witty and strong heroine, and the romance between her and Khalid is well developed and very sweet.  I found the dialogue overall to be smart, clever and thoroughly enjoyable, especially between the main characters.  Although I felt at certain times the plot could have moved along a little faster, it did not take away from the quality of the story.  The Wrath & The Dawn is a sweet romance and an intriguing mystery, that charms from the beginning all the way to the last page. This is the first book in what is set to be a duology, with the second book The Rose & The Dagger expected to be released in 2016.

Favourite quote: “Some things exist in our lives for but a brief moment. And we must let them go on to light another sky.”