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Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

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The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée AhdiehThe Wrath and the Dawn
Renée Ahdieh
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Published on May 12, 2015

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

About The Wrath and the Dawn
One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

My Review
The Wrath and the Dawn has been on my To Be Read list for SO LONG. I’d heard of it around the time it was published in 2015 because I’m always looking for re-imagined fairytales, but I got even more curious about it after seeing Renée Ahdieh speak on a panel at YALLFest in Charleston in 2016. (She seems every bit as spunky as her heroine, Shahrzad.)

While I think the writing style is a little flowery at times, I LOVE the characters and the story world held some great surprises, like a mysterious magic. One of the most captivating things about The Wrath and the Dawn for me is the way the story follows both Shahrzad and her childhood friend and first love, Tariq’s journeys. Both view Khalid in different circumstances and different ways. The best stories somehow get you to love the antagonist even while rooting for the protagonist at the same time, and this book totally achieves it. Also, the romance is pretty breathtaking.

Fans of fairytale retelling or stories featuring Middle Eastern characters will want this one on their shelves for sure. See below for more details on content.

Recommended for Ages 15 up.

Cultural Elements
Characters are Middle Eastern.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Brief infrequent use of mild profanity.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between a man and woman. Hints at sex—descriptions lead into the act between a husband and wife, but fade to black.

Spiritual Content
Some characters possess a magical ability (including an ability to issue a curse) which sometimes requires a blood price.

Violent Content
Reference to the fact that Khalid’s previous wives were murdered. No descriptions of what happened. One scene shows a girl being strangled with a silk cord. Some practice swordfights.

Drug Content
Some brief references to wine with meals.

Review: The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

Book Review and Content, Dystopian or Post-Apocalyptic, Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, Young Adult/Teen 12-18, , , ,

The 5th Wave
Rick Yancey
G. P. Putnam’s Sons
Published May 7, 2013

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Goodreads

Most of the human population has been decimated by the first four waves of a highly intelligent alien attack. Though no one has learned to identify the enemy, the ominous shape of the mother ship hovering in the sky above the earth strikes fear in the hearts of the few who survive.

Sixteen year-old Cassie trusts no one. She survives by moving from place to place, reliving the past, when the most terrible conflict she faced was her unrequieted affection for Ben, fellow student and popular athlete. Now Cassie simply bides her time until she can no longer run from the last promise she made. A promise to rescue the last person alive whom she loves. When something sinister begins tracking Cassie, she knows she can’t hide for long. Her best option is to find cover and prepare a counter-attack, one that will hopefully end her pursuer before he can end her. But when Cassie finally faces her enemy, she discovers that things are much more complicated than she could have imagined.

Ben has lost everyone dear to him. Then he is rescued by a special forces group and trained to fight the alien invaders. Revenge seems just within his grasp, but something isn’t right. And the more Ben thinks about it, the less certain he is about who he is really working for.

One might think a story which begins with a girl wandering the woods remembering the recent past would be uneventful, but Yancey’s novel is anything but. Though the flashback sequences can be lengthy, they paint a picture of a world totally unprepared for the cunning enemy it faces, a world which quickly falls into destruction. As Cassie and Ben pursue survival and revenge, they learn values of self-sacrifice and trust. The plot is packed with plenty of twists and turns to keep the reader eager for just one more chapter all the way through the end.

Cassie and Ben’s story will continue in The Infinite Sea. The sequel is scheduled for release September 16, 2014.

Language Content
Extreme usage, mild frequency.

Sexual Content
As Cassie and her peers gather in the high school gym and rumors of the end of the world circulate, a friend suggests that Cassie approach her long-time crush and ask him to have sex with her, because, well, the world is about to end, so what does she have to lose? Cassie doesn’t follow this suggestion, but as survival becomes less of a guarantee, many people experience a shift in moral values. Cassie does spend some time kissing a boy and sleeping next to him.

Spiritual Content
The events of Cassie’s life cause her to ponder whether or not God exists. More questions than conclusions.

Violence
Alien attacks become more direct and devastating as the story progresses. One wave consists of a deadly disease which in late stages causes bleeding from all orifices. Yuck. Some battle scenes and weaponry are described in graphic detail. Children are recruited as soldiers and are both treated brutally as well as commit some brutal acts in the course of training.

Drug Content
No recreational drug content.

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