Renee Ahdieh

The Rose & The Dagger

Renée Ahdieh

The much anticipated sequel to the breathtaking New York Times bestseller THE WRATH AND THE DAWN. I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust. In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse-one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid's empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan. While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn't yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love. Praise for The Wrath and the Dawn 'A potent page-turner of intrigue and romance' Publishers Weekly 'Don't be surprised if the pages melt away and you find yourself racing through warm, golden sands or drinking spiced wine in cool marble courtyards. This is an intoxicating gem of a story. You will fall in love, just as I did.' Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the Legend series and The Young Elites

The Rose and the Dagger

fc ♡

Shahrzad paused, staring down at the boy at her side. Then she glanced up at the man across the silken cushions. Her heart was as boundless as the ocean. As vast as the sky

“A fool. As I’ve always been when it comes to you.”

For the first time in her life, she woke wrapped in someone else’s arms. 

She was on her stomach, strewn across him, their limbs an unwieldy tangle.

“I’d like for you to call me Khalid.” The caliph braced his elbows on his knees. “Since you’ve already scolded me in typical al-Khayzuran fashion, it shouldn’t be too difficult.” An odd trace of humor flickered across his face.

"Today when you yelled at me—it was the first time I realized what it might be like. To have a sister.”

 “And what did you think?” Irsa whispered. 

Her mouth fell ajar. “Even though I yelled at you?”

 “In truth, that might have made all the difference.” 

“Really?” Irsa blinked, astounded. “Goodness, but you’re odd. Has anyone ever told you that?”

 His smile appeared again, just as mystifying as before. Then— The Caliph of Khorasan laughed.

“Khalid-jan,” Shahrzad whispered. She tugged on his hand in silent censure. 

Though he did not appear the least bit remorseful, Khalid squeezed her palm in acknowledgment.

When she laughed, Shahrzad was rewarded with one of his uncommonly effortless smiles. The kind that changed a face of shadows into one of light. The kind that made her want to forget how small the magic carpet happened to be. 

“You’re beautiful,” Shahrzad commented softly. 

Khalid’s hand tightened around her waist. “Are you not stealing the words customarily reserved for a man?”

 “You’re welcome to say other, less customary things.” Though her tone was airy, her pulse stuttered. 

“You’re a smart man. I’m sure you’ll think of something.”

 “I already have.” The touch of Khalid’s lips trailing below her ear sent a swirl of desire through her.

As soon as he settled onto the carpet, Shahrzad coaxed it into the air without a word of warning. A volley of expletives flew from Khalid’s mouth. 

When Khalid tried to tug her back down—his eyes flashing—she sent a look of mocking scorn over one shoulder. “Get down,” Khalid yelled over the wind, taking tight hold of her waist. 

“No, I won’t.” She spread her arms wide. 

 “Get down,” he insisted, his jaw rigid. “Please!”

“Because you’re killing me, by degrees!” 

Grumbling, Shahrzad eased back onto the carpet. Khalid pulled her into his chest, his breath fast against her neck.

“Are you finally starting to breathe in a normal fashion?” Shahrzad teased. “I must confess I find your behavior rather odd, considering you said only a child would be afraid to fly.”

 “I wasn’t afraid.” Khalid wrapped a forearm of corded muscle around her.

 She slanted a disbelieving look his way. “You just lied to me.”

"I wasn’t afraid,” he repeated. “I was terrified.”

"Since you can’t say it, will you at least tell me how much you love me?”

 Khalid ran the tip of his nose beside her ear, a grateful smile upon his lips. “From the stars, to the stars.”

“How do you know I’m smiling? You’re not even looking at me.”

The warm sound of her laughter stole through Khalid’s skin, heating the coldest reaches of his soul

“I love you,” Shahrzad breathed. “You are all that I am.”

Khalid inhaled sharply. “I do.” He grazed a thumb across her lower lip. “And do you know you make my life a thousand times worth living?” 

“Yes.” Her throat went dry. “I do.”

At that, Shahrzad reached a hand toward him. Stopped just before his brow, as if seeking permission. He bent forward, and her fingers sifted through the black silk of his hair. 

Khalid reached behind her knee, drawing her closer. 

“Fight with me,” she said. At his silence, Shahrzad tugged his hair back, forcing him to look her in the eye. “I want a life with those I love around me, safe and happy. What do you want?” 

 “To taste every breath.” Khalid skimmed a hand down her leg. A frisson of heat shot up her spine.

“To fall asleep each night with you by my side.”

 Shahrzad took his face between her palms.

His careful control shattered. Khalid stood suddenly, catching her to him.

 “Will you go with me?” she gasped as his hands moved higher. 

He nodded. Then Khalid pulled her close and crushed his mouth to hers

“I’ve missed the silence of you listening to me.” Shahrzad attempted a weak smile. “No one listens to me as you do.”

“You don’t wait to speak,” she clarified. “You truly listen.”

 “Only to you,” Khalid replied gently

"You must know you have an abominable temper,” Shahrzad said with reproach. 

A smile ghosted across his lips. “As do you, my queen.” 

“We are not discussing my shortcomings.” She sniffed. “Promise me you won’t lose your temper until I finish talking?” 

He dipped his head once in acknowledgment.

Shahrzad found herself smothering a rather inappropriate grin.

 When Khalid turned around, his eyebrows shot into his forehead again. Then he sighed, long and low.

“Is something wrong?” Her voice sounded innocent, though her expression conveyed a sentiment far less so. Shahrzad sat on the edge of his platformed bed, tucking her legs to one side.

 “Wrong is not exactly the right word.” His retort was brusque, but there was a note of humor beneath it

He pulled her in to his chest, a hand tangling through her hair. The beat of his heart rang loud and true against her cheek. The only measure of time that mattered. 

She exhaled fast only to inhale deep. To breathe in his scent. The scent of sandalwood and sunshine. Her fingers moved across his skin, making memories of their own. The hands of a master swordsman. The lips of her greatest love. The heart of a king. “Khalid.”

Khalid had not run from his obligations. That much had been quite evident to her, as she’d flown over Rey. She’d seen his mind for organization—his quiet intelligence—in every aspect of the restoration. In the logical engineering. In the careful attention to detail. 

He was everywhere. Even if no one else saw this simple truth, Shahrzad did

“Despite all, I find I . . . miss the little troublemaker. And how she made you smile.”

 As did Khalid. More than he cared to admit to anyone

"Don’t compare yourself to Khalid. It’s childish and beneath you.” 

Tariq winced, but stood his ground. “Answer me, Shazi. Would you tell him it wasn’t his place to rage against this boy for what he did to you?” 

“And he would listen to you?” His brows gathered in disbelief.

"Then what is the right answer, sayyidi? What should I have said?” Jalal called out to the sky in exasperation.

“And don’t speak to me of this again until it is!”

"Now is easy. It’s easy to say what you want in a passing moment."

 He felt nothing. He only saw it. Because nothing hurt like missing her. 

"Unsure who to trust, Shahrzad takes matters into her own hands to try and break the curse and reunite with her one true love"--

Monicap

This one was not as good as the first one. Which I suppose I ought to have expected, but whatever. I found the characters, especially some of the side characters like Irha, Rahim, and Tariq to be quite flat, and the narrative was far more meandering than direct. It felt for most of this book as though Shazi was flailing around trying to come up with a plan and then only deciding on one and acting on it halfway though the book. The ending also seemed rushed and left me feeling flat.

Selin Igten

** spoiler alert **
           if i’m being absolutely honest, this book was a complete waste of time and wasn’t written well at all.

it’s literally 390 words written about them running around in the desert doing absolutely nothing important and then BAM. 
It seems like the author tried to rush everything that was important and interesting in the last 10 pages lmao.
In 1 page, just 1, Khalid dies and then BAM he’s back alive? Turns out Shazi her dad miraculously brought him back to life after throwing a knife into his heart mmhhh so interesting. Then next chapter it’s like a time skip of some sort??? And then bam. The end.

the first book was so so good, the world building was amazing, it was all going great but this book was so slow? there was nothing special no spark it was really boring to read


2’5/10 3’5/10 this was not it :( sucks

The Rose & the Dagger

AHNA

** spoiler alert **
           3.5 🌟

It's been a while since I read a story with a “And they all lived happily ever after. The end.” as a conclusion. I feel pretty satisfied with the whole series, much for this book as a lot of things happened here. Renée Ahdieh truly has a way of hypnotizing you into her stories. Someone mentioned that there's so much potential to develop this whole series into something more and I very much agree. But nonetheless it's a series I enjoy and for now that's enough.

Zahra

Sadly did not live up to its predecessor.

Annika Arguemore

I wasn't convinced of it at first, but as I read it, I started to realize that it truly had lived up to my expectations of what The Wrath & The Dawn's sequel should be.

I honestly was so heartbroken about that part about Irsa at the camp waiting for them to arrive. I also loved that ending. And the twists! Those were some goddamn twists right there!

A very good, albeit very long, read.

nina 

2.75

I personally didn’t enjoy the plot of this one as much. A lot of the aspects that I enjoyed last book weren’t present due to the nature of the plot, hence the lower rating. Surprisingly some characters that irked me last book annoyed me less this time around, and ones that I expected to like, I found more annoying (*cough* sometimes shazi). Some characters definitely deserved more development and page time. 

The ending was good but I felt that it was cut off. What happened next? What were the ramifications? We never got to see how Rey reacted just because one “enemy” was dealt with. Were they made aware of the curse or do they all still vehemently hate their murderous boy king? I would have liked more explanation in general.

While this book was a bit underwhelming, as a whole the characters saved this series for me and I don’t regret reading this duology.

Nessa Luna

Saints, I wish I could give half stars - because I don't think it's a 3 star but I also think it's a 4 star either. So I'm officially giving it 3,5 stars. 

I liked this one a bit more than the first book in the series, though I still was thrown off by the ever-changing POVs within a chapter. The plot was more enjoyable in this one and I really enjoyed all of the characters! It stayed exciting until the last chapter and I actually may have shed a couple of tears at some point.

Courtney

I liked this book, but nowhere near as much as I loved the first one!

Colleen

3.5 Stars but I am rounding up to 4 stars (mostly out of nostalgia for this first book)

This review contains some spoilers.

The Wrath & the Dawn was one of my favorite reads of 2015. I was obviously exasperated that I had to wait over six months for the sequel to come out though. Unfortunately, the time it took for the sequel to come out was an awkward length where it had been just long enough since reading the first book that the details had faded and my enthusiasm had worn down some but not long enough to where I felt it warranted rereading the first book before continuing with The Rose & the Dagger. It also did not help that during that time, the author published a couple of in-between novellas which admittedly is a huge pet-peeve of mine. Either fit something into the actual books or leave it out. Do not fluff out your series with unnecessary additions. (Obviously I did not read those novellas, and I partly wonder if that was why I felt like I was missing some details when I started reading the sequel which just frustrated me even more.) I definitely would have enjoyed The Rose & the Dagger more if I had been able to start it immediately after reading its predecessor. While The Wrath & the Dawn was far from perfect, I immensely enjoyed it. However, I never reached anywhere near that level of captivation with The Rose & the Dagger.

Even though the story picks up soon after the end of the first book, I had trouble reengaging with it. The story only focuses on Shahrzad and Khalid part of the time, and for some reason their romance never rekindled the butterflies that it produced in the first book. Without the enchantment of romance and the thrill of adventure, there was nothing to gloss over the things that annoyed me in the first place. The story was even choppier than the first one. The plot was overreaching and messy. Several new characters were introduced but never fully fleshed out or explored so they just added noise and confusion. By this point, the story had almost nothing to do with One Thousand and One Nights. It started to feel more like a cheesy fantasy novel and less like a hidden gem that I thought the first one was. The love triangle went from triangle to... I do not even know what to call it... a messy love Etch-A-Sketch drawing that tangled in with the attempts to thicken the plot with double crossings and intrigues.

Also, I was still annoyed with the spelling of Shahrzad's name. Obviously, I did not expect that to change. But the book left me feeling just snippy enough to point that out again.

Once again, my review sounds more negative than it actually is. I did enjoy the book; I just did not love it. The Rose & the Dagger would not have been nearly so disappointing if I had not had such high expectations from The Wrath & the Dawn. But for me, the sequel lost everything that made the first book distinctive and delightful, so it was a letdown and very anticlimactic. (view spoiler)[For a minute, I thought the ending was going to go somewhere darker, but Ahdieh forced out a happy ending after all. Such was my level of disappointment at how anticlimactic it was that I half wondered if I would have preferred the darker ending for once. The story did not feel organic at all. (hide spoiler)] It was still a decent enough story, and I may read other books by this author, but my strongest reflection on The Rose & the Dagger was that it never quite lived up to my expectations. It started out so promising, but it completely lost its spark.

One other random thing to mention: What was with the inside jacket picture? Both books have the peekaboo affect as if Shazi was looking through a screen. But when you open the jacket of The Rose & the Dagger, it reveals that picture behind the screen is her standing in the desert in a ridiculous poufy dress. It not only goes against anything remotely accurate for the the approximate time and place in which the story is set but also against everything that she is ever described as wearing in either book. This is just further proof that publishers think teenage girls will only buy books that have picture of what look like bad advertisements for gaudy prom dresses. Gag. 

RATING FACTORS:
Ease of Reading: 4 Stars
Writing Style: 4 Stars
Characters: 3 Stars
Plot Structure and Development: 3 Stars
Level of Captivation: 3 Stars
Originality: 4 Stars

Faith Kitowski

4.5/5. holy emotional distress. a lot of tears were shed while reading this book. i’m gonna miss this series so much. khalid and shahrzad are perfect for each other<3

Audrey Lord

Took me forever to read but totally worth it in the end.

Beatrix Haase

4.5/5 

Such a great way to end the duology. Such a great book duo. I really enjoyed both books equally!

sarah stevenson

3.5 ☆
a bit slow and not as good as the first but i loved the alliances and new friendships in this one!

Sofia Nunes

"I love you, Baba."
"And never forget my heart is always in your hands, Haroun."

Such a beautiful tale. The first half is a bit slow, but the end: truly magic. This author really does know how to turn a story into a fairytale. I'm sO HAPPY :)
ALL MY SHIPS HAS SAILED (very rare)

mercy

this one is a let down for me considering how much i loved the first book and i expected great things going into it. the writing and the world are still beautiful and i love khalid and shazi but there were too many subplots that i didn't care about and i was bored a lot of the time reading it :(

dija

HOLY SHIT! This book made me so nervous that i nearly pissed myself! The last 10 pages made me question your humanity, my dearest author. Thank god you proved me wrong at the end, for i was going to rip off my heart and sell it to you.*because obviously i wouldn't give it for free*

Valeria Rodriguez

As much as I flew through the first book, I was almost afraid to read the sequel as I knew a little bit what direction it was going as well as I don’t have a great track record with sequel books in general. 

I’m happy I read the continuation of the story and was anxious the whole time for the main characters. Not as strong for me as the first one, but interesting nonetheless 

Rabia Sitabi

As much as I flew through the first book, I was almost afraid to read the sequel as I knew a little bit what direction it was going as well as I don’t have a great track record with sequel books in general. 

I’m happy I read the continuation of the story and was anxious the whole time for the main characters. Not as strong for me as the first one, but interesting nonetheless 

Trish

This was a riveting sequel to The Wrath and the Dawn. I was a little afraid the plot would be predictable, boring or slow but it was far from any of that. I was constantly on the edge of my seat and heartbroken more than a few times. It was quite literally an emotional rollercoaster of tragic separations and heart-melting reunions. 

Surprisingly, I grew to love all the smaller periphery characters and appreciated that Ahdieh was able to give each one a well, fleshed out storyline. Characters like Despina, Jalal, Irsa, Rahim, Tariq and Yasmine all get some form of closure along with Shazi and Khalid, of course. 

The only qualm I have with this book (hence the 4 stars instead of 5) is the ending. All's well that ends well, right? Well, maybe. I love that everything worked out in the end and (almost) everyone got their own version of a "happily ever after" as we all suspected they would. But ugh, the last chapter of the book (not the epilogue) really felt overdramatic and predictable. (view spoiler)[Like, was the whole "power of love" thing necessary? It was just so cheesy and cliche and the ending would have been 100% better without it in my opinion. Plus it was an easy way to redeem Shazi's corrupt, deceptive and power-hungry father without actually having to waste time or pages fleshing out any character development. It just seemed like a weak plot maneuver to me. Would it really have killed Ahdieh to leave the dad as a villain and credit Khalid's recovery to medicine, or idk, Irsa's potions or something? Now that would have been interesting. (hide spoiler)] Plus, the magic carpet wasn't showcased quite in the way I thought it would be. Maybe I was thinking it would have more of an entity like in the Disney version of Aladdin. But the "magic" aspect and the curse were both a lot less complicated than I thought they would be. It was a pretty straight forward solution and easily dealt with. You'd think that with so many dead girls sacrificed because of the curse, the means to reverse/end it would be much more dangerous or harrowing. Turns out, Khalid had a harder time dealing with his evil uncle than reversing the curse, which was a little weird to me, but whatever. 

In the end, is this book better than The Wrath and the Dawn? I don't know. There were things I loved and things that left me feeling a little confused or expectant. I do, however, think it was an engaging, fascinating and satisfying sequel to a unique and modern rendition of the Arabian Nights. If you loved The Wrath and the Dawn you won't be terribly disappointed.

The rose & the dagger

Stef

Awal pembukaan buku 2 bikin bosen daripada di buku 1. Baru mulai seru di 2/3 sampai ke akhir kecuali yang ending nya dan epilog nya bikin rolled eyes, serasa terlalu klise dan jadi nya ingetin diriku buat baca Haroun and Sea of Stories ><. 

Setelah baca, khalid jadi salah satu bookboyfriend baru untuk di adopsi ><

Instant New York Times Bestseller The much anticipated sequel to the breathtaking The Wrath and the Dawn, lauded by Publishers Weekly as "a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance." I am surrounded on all sides by a desert. A guest, in a prison of sand and sun. My family is here. And I do not know whom I can trust. In a land on the brink of war, Shahrzad has been torn from the love of her husband Khalid, the Caliph of Khorasan. She once believed him a monster, but his secrets revealed a man tormented by guilt and a powerful curse—one that might keep them apart forever. Reunited with her family, who have taken refuge with enemies of Khalid, and Tariq, her childhood sweetheart, she should be happy. But Tariq now commands forces set on destroying Khalid's empire. Shahrzad is almost a prisoner caught between loyalties to people she loves. But she refuses to be a pawn and devises a plan. While her father, Jahandar, continues to play with magical forces he doesn't yet understand, Shahrzad tries to uncover powers that may lie dormant within her. With the help of a tattered old carpet and a tempestuous but sage young man, Shahrzad will attempt to break the curse and reunite with her one true love.

The Rose & The Dagger

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