The Rose and the Dagger brings us more adventure, major relationship angst, and a satisfying conclusion of a debut series.  

Warning: Spoilers from book one, The Wrath and the Dawn. The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh pretty much resumes soon after the events from the first book. So, please beware that you should only read this review if you’ve already read the first book.

The unique retelling of the Arabian Nights story continues to be enthralling in this second half of the tale. The book resumes soon after the events from the first book. The city of Rey is in ruins after the lightning storm that Jahandar had created. The caliph of Khorasan is without a calipha as Shahrzad has been forced to be separated from him for the sake of the city and the curse that plagues Khalid’s life. But neither is taking the separation well. And with Tariq still determined to seek revenge against Khalid for the death of his cousin and his aunt, Shahrzad needs to figure out how to stop this curse and prevent a war that could ultimately kill those that she loves.

This time around, we get to read more about the other characters at play in Khalid’s and Shahrzad’s lives, including that of Shahrzad’s younger sister, Irsa. But it’s not as easy to deal with her family or those she considered as family as she’s the only one that knows of Khalid’s true nature and his curse, so Shahrzad struggles to keep her loyalty and love for Khalid a secret from those that surround her. And Khalid struggles to find peace for his people.

There was definitely a good amount of intrigue and adventure involved in book two of this duology, and the character development was nice to see, more so in the supporting characters than the main ones, making Shahrzad’s character development the least dynamic of all the familiar characters from book one to book two. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, and luckily the multiple characters and their arcs were interesting enough to not make such a big deal about it.

I ended up at least appreciating most of the characters, if not liking them straight out. As much as they were in the book as compared to the first book, I still wish I had gotten to know them a little more, oddly enough. Part of me thinks that expanding on some of the characters storylines more would have been beneficial, but I suppose the author wanted to keep the focus on the two main characters as this is their story.

So, maybe I just wanted a much longer epilogue to find out more about what happened with all of them after. We do get to know a bit about some of those supporting characters, though, but only enough to peak my interest in the actual details of the relationships that had formed and changed since the final scene. But that’s just my preference; I love knowing the details of everyone involved.

Overall, I did like the series and I enjoyed the adventure, even with some of the heartache that it had. Renee Ahdieh did a commendable job for her first series, and I look forward to her improving her writing and her characters in future books.

If you read it, put in your rating below.

Publish date: April 26, 2016
Series: The Wrath and the Dawn (order on Amazon)
Number: Book 2 of 2