Hey, everyone. I hope you all are having a
great day and today I'll be reviewing
The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh,
which is the sequel and the conclusion
to The Wrath and the Dawn.
I read The Wrath and the Dawn last year
and I think I mentioned it in my Most
Favorite Books of 2015 video, but yeah, I
really, really enjoyed that book, so The
Rose and the Dagger was one of my most
anticipated releases of this year: 2016.
So for those who don't know, this is The
Wrath and the Dawn, the first book in
this duology and it's a retelling of
One Thousand and One Nights. And there's a caliph who
marries a new bride
every evening and has them executed at
dawn. And our main character is named
Shahrzad spelled like this (and I still
don't know how to pronounce it even
though I'm done with the series now but)
she volunteers to be the caliph's bride
because the caliph has previously killed
her best friend and she is seeking
revenge.
So that's what the first book is about
and I'm not going to go into what the
sequel is about just in case there are
people who haven't read The Wrath and the
Dawn. I don't want to spoil anybody
unintentionally.
So The Rose and the Dagger is the sequel
of course and it took me a very very
very long time to read and that's not
really the book's fault. I think it was my
fault.
I guess I just wasn't in the mood for
this book or maybe I just wasn't in the
mood to read in general. But yeah, I read this book very very slowly and I wasn't ever
that invested in the story, which was
very very weird for me because I had
enjoyed the first book so much. I would
only read a few pages, if any at all, of
The Rose and the Dagger a day, and when I
put it down for the night, I wouldn't
feel very compelled to pick it back up
again. And it wasn't like I disliked the
characters or anything, because I really
do like the characters. I think I just
wasn't interested in the storyline
itself.
I thought that the stakes, although they
were very high, didn't feel very real to
me,
so there wasn't exactly a moment I felt
worried for the characters' well-being
because I just felt like everything was
going to be okay by the end.
Renee Ahdieh has a very very flowery
writing style and it can be really
beautiful, but also at other times, it
kind of irritated me personally.
The flowery writing style just wasn't a good
combination with my impatience with the
storyline because when you're wanting
the pace of the plot to pick up,
flowery writing kind of emphasizes the
slowness of the plot, and so all the
flowery writing kind of makes it feel
like the plot is moving even slower than
it is.
She also has a heavy tendency to write
in fragments and had it only been an
occasional thing, I don't think I would
have paid that much attention to it but
she would employ the same syntax over
and over and over again.
Often times, she would make one fragment
its own paragraph. Its own paragraph! It's not
even its own sentence! I don't know why
you would make it its own paragraph.
I mean, yeah, it's for emphasis and it
also ensures the stylistic structure of
the writing, but I also feel like there's
a point where you should just let the
readers read your writing in their own
way, like finding their own rhythm in the
words. I think one of the best examples
of this was this following passage that
I'll read to you, and I'll let you know
when there's a new paragraph.
So, new paragraph: "But once Shahrzad found a solution
she could tell Tariq the truth." New
paragraph:
"Perhaps then his hatred for Khalid would
begin to dissipate."
New paragraph: "And reconciliation could
begin." New paragraph: "For ending this
curse was not simply about ending their
suffering."
New paragraph: "Shahrzad had to put a stop to the war she had set in motion."
New paragraph: "It was not just a matter
of love.
It was a matter of life." New paragraph: "And she meant to right it once and for
all."
Wh-why did each of those sentences
have to be their own paragraph? I don't
understand. Maybe this kind of thing
doesn't bother you, but once I start
noticing it
I get so distracted by it and every time
I see it, it's like a big red flag. If you
don't mind that kind of writing, then
good for you, but for me, I just find it
very disruptive.
Renee Ahdieh's writing also borders on
cheesy, particularly when she's writing
romance. And when you're into the romance, it's okay, it's cute, and it works for me.
But when you're not feeling the couple as
much, then it can be a little jarring,
because it's very Disney-
one-true-love, kind of romantic dialogue
and writing that she's putting into this
book and if you're not really connected
with that romance--if you're not, like,
rooting for them or supporting the
characters--then it feels a little forced.
Like I mentioned before, her writing can
be very very pretty and she does have a
certain lyricism to her writing style. 
But also, sometimes she sacrifices
rationality for her lyricism. An example
of this is when she writes: "The girl's
eyes flashed through a myriad of colors
before settling on green," and that sounds
really nice and I love the idea of
things flashing a myriad of colors, but
not when it's eyes, and not what the
sentence ends as if it's the eyes that
are testing out all these different
colors and then finally choosing one
that they like the best or something.
I--what? Moving forward, for a conclusion,
I think this book did its job. It wrapped
things up nicely--really really nicely in
a way that I personally thought was a
little too neat, but I'll talk more about
that in the spoiler section. I think
readers will be satisfied with the end. 
They're not going to be mad at it, I'm
not mad at it. I was just hoping for
something a little different.
Overall, I thought The Rose and the Dagger
was pretty good, but not really good.
I thought The Wrath and the Dawn was
really good and so I was disappointed
with The Rose and the Dagger.
I'm kind of upset with myself that I
wasn't able to lose myself in the story,
and again, it's very possible that I just
wasn't in the proper mood to read this
particular book.
Nonetheless, I would still recommend this
duology to people, to anybody who's
interested in reading it, because I do
think it's very good. I think it's very
satisfying.
I really like the first book a lot and I
think Renee Ahdieh is a very very
talented writer.
I think it's incredible that The Wrath
and the Dawn was her debut novel because
it was so good.
So Renee Ahdieh shows a lot of promise
and I'm looking forward to seeing her
future projects. But now I'm going to go
into some spoilers for The Rose and the
Dagger, so if you haven't read this book,
then I would advise leaving in 3... 2... 1...
Bye. Goodbye. Bye... bye... So touching upon how I was never worried about any of the
characters, there are two sides to this.
It was either that I didn't even care
that much
about the character, or I thought that
the character would end up being okay.
An example of the first part would be
Rahim, so when Rahim died,
although I found him a very likeable
character, I literally did not feel a
thing, and that's very abnormal for me
because I get very emotional about, like,
any kind of character death and I'm
always the first to cry in a book or a
movie, but Rahim's death did not move me
at all.
An example of the second part of this,
where I like the character and care
about what happens to them but I thought
they would be okay in the end no matter
what, was when Khalid got stabbed by
Shahrzad's father.
I didn't care that much about that part
either, and it's not that I don't think
his death is important. It was that his
death didn't feel permanent to me.
There's something about this story that
makes you feel like all the characters
are going to be okay by the end, that all
the issues are going to be resolved and
that you don't need to really stress
yourself out about the well-being of
these characters because they're covered.
Maybe that's because in this book,
the line between good and evil is pretty
black and white. You know that any
character that's allied with either of
the main characters is going to be good,
and that anybody who's bad will be
suspiciously painted, you know, chapters
in advance, so that you know, you have a
heads up.
And so that suspense or that worry
about the characters wasn't necessarily
there for me.
The ending was so neat. Besides Irsa
and Rahim (#RIP), all the romantic
pairings ended up together or, like,
they're a budding romance like Tariq and
Yasmine. The bad guys surrendered so Khalid didn't have to spill innocent blood.
The bad guy was taken off his throne and
was replaced by a good ally.
Everything was so happily ever after and
granted, this is a retelling of a fairy
tale
-esque kind of story and so I guess it has
a little bit of an excuse, but the thing
about retellings is that I would like
retellings to be refreshing and unique
and I like when they subvert the source
material in a way that's surprising and
innovative. So I wish that I was
surprised at the end of the book or at
the very least, I wish that it had pulled
something emotionally out of me. I also
wish that magic
was explored more in this book. I
think one of my minor issues with the
very first book was that the appearance
of magic wasn't consistent and you
didn't really get to explore that
magical element. I wish in this book,
Shahrzad had developed her magic more,
instead of just recognizing that she
needed, like, an outside source for her to
work her magic.
I also wish Art-ahn? Ar-tan? Art-in? was
more of a prominent character because I
thought he was so interesting and he's set
up as such a big mystery--him and his
family, especially his aunt and their
relationship with that magical book--it's
set up with so much
enigma, I guess, and so I wanted that to
be also developed or explored further in
this book and it wasn't. I feel like what
we saw of him in this book
barely scraped his history, so I would
consider that maybe a loose end that
Renee Ahdieh didn't really tie up, but maybe
she's planning on expanding that
storyline in a different series or
something.
Anyway, I spent a lot of time talking
about things that I didn't like and I
don't want you guys to get the
impression that I didn't like this book,
because I did!
For example, I like Shahrzad. I like
Shahrzad a lot. I think she's strong.
The thing I like the most about her is
that she's very very flawed, so she's not
perfect by any means. She has a lot of
good qualities, but she also has a
handful of really bad qualities, and so
she feels like a balanced character to
me. I don't like what she does
one hundred percent of the time. I think
she can be stupid or naive or
irritating, but I also think she can be
strong and smart and wonderful. The series of
short, it's only two books, it's a duology, 
but still Renee Ahdieh manages to give
Shahrzad her own small little character arc.
I like Khalid (and I still don't know how
to pronounce his name either, I'm sorry),
and I like that he tries to be a better
leader.
What I really like is the small details
that Renee Ahdieh puts in. I love that
all the other adults in this book call Khalid a "boy-king" and it's to emphasize
his youth and his inexperience and it's to
make him feel bad about himself, like he
doesn't belong on that throne. And so I
like how his youth makes Khalid want to
work harder and to overcome his
shortcomings. What I think is really
impressive is that I can actually,
genuinely see Khalid as a ruler, and as
a pretty good ruler.
It's not like Maxon from The Selection
series, where I would be scared for my
life if I ever had to be governed by him.
Like, I wouldn't even put that kid in
charge of a school group project.
Another thing I like about this book is
the relationship between Khalid and
Shahrzad. They have a lot of mutual
respect and admiration between them and
I think that's very important.
They exist in a state of almost complete
comfort around each other at all times,
so they're always very comfortable with
each other. They know each other very
well. And I think that's very important too. And yeah! I think that's all I have
to say about The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh. I know I spent so much of
this video talking about my criticisms,
but please don't let that lead you
into thinking that I didn't enjoy this
book, because I did. It just was a little
bit of a disappointment compared to the
first book. I didn't hate this book at
all.
I liked it, I just didn't really like it.
Please let me know what you thought of
The Rose and the Dagger in the comments.
Did you like it? Did you dislike it? Did you
think that Renee Ahdieh should have
expanded more on things? Did you find it a
very satisfying conclusion? I would
really really love to know. Thanks so
much for watching, I hope y'all have a
fantastic day, and happy reading!
Goodbye!
