The Wrath and the Dawn Audiobook By Renee Ahdieh cover art

The Wrath and the Dawn

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The Wrath and the Dawn

By: Renee Ahdieh
Narrated by: Ariana Delawari
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A sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights.

Every dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the 18-year-old caliph of Khorasan, takes a new bride each night only to have her executed at sunrise. So it is a suspicious surprise when 16-year-old Shahrzad volunteers to marry Khalid. But she does so with a clever plan to stay alive and exact revenge on the caliph for the murder of her best friend and countless other girls. Shazi's wit and will, indeed, get her through to the dawn that no others have seen, but with a catch...she's falling in love with the very boy who killed her dearest friend.

She discovers that the murderous boy-king is not all that he seems and neither are the deaths of so many girls. Shazi is determined to uncover the reason for the murders and to break the cycle once and for all.

©2015 Renée Ahdieh (P)2015 Listening Library Action & Adventure Ancient Civilizations Fantasy Fiction Historical Fiction Literature & Fiction Romance Science Fiction & Fantasy Ancient History
Captivating Retelling • Beautiful World-building • Melodic Voice • Compelling Love Story • Mesmerizing Romance
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Good take on a classic story. A bit heavy handed with the SAT vocabulary. But mostly, the narrator is terrible! She sounds like a 6th grader learning to read out loud dramatically.

The reader ruined the book.

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I was hoping it would be a one and done but looks like it will be a series. If the rest of the series is as good as the first book it will be a good one. I plan on replaying the book as the names are hard to follow at times .

Very good

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I would definitely recommend this book to those whose hearts long for a beautiful love story full of wonder and desire. The story was beautifully written and the performance was somewhat well done. I think there could have been more verity to the voices and more passion in the tone at some points of the story to give it more meaning, but overall a beautiful story worthy of a motion picture and a thousand fans, but most of all the recognition it deserves.

Beautiful story...

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It was difficult at points to understand which character was talking as the narrator didn’t do much to change her speech to indicate different speakers, so dialogue kind of ran together. Story was fabulous though.

Narration could have been better

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I was completely captivated by this book. I don't usually read books of this genre but I was instantly hooked. The story had me glued to my earbuds from start to finish. I loved it and I immediately downloaded the next book when it ended. The other reviewers were correct when they talked about the narrator being confusing. She was definitely not my favorite. It is so very hard to distinguish between characters when she talks. I feel it's especially important in a book like this when the names are hard to pronounce, the world/setting in which we are trying to visualize ourselves in is so foreign, and the characters dialogue is so quickly back and forth. Not a deal breaker but it does require a closer listen at some points.

Enchanting!

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I enjoyed this book, but it did a horrible job keeping my attention for the first half. Maybe it was because I chose the audio-book as the medium to read this on. Regardless, the first half of this book was really hard for me in general, mostly because of Shahrzad.

This is actually a wonderful One Thousand and One Nights retelling. In case your memory is hazy, One Thousand and One Nights is a beautiful story about a man who takes a new bride each night, but they lose their life by the next day. One woman tells such a beautiful tale to this man that he keeps her alive the next day, then the next day, then the next day, and so on and so forth because he is so enthralled by her story. She lives for 1,001 nights, telling this tale, but he chooses not to kill her when it has ended, because by that point he is in love with her.

Well, The Wrath & the Dawn retelling is actually very similar. The twist this story has on One Thousand and One Nights is that Shahrzad, the girl telling the tale, is on a revenge mission because her best friend was taken and killed the following morning. But that sounds like a pretty cool twist, right? Right! That is, until Shahrzad starts falling in love with the man, Khalid, Caliph of Khorasan, two days after meeting him, for literally no reason other than him being good-looking.

“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.”

Like I said, only the first half was somewhat disappointing for me, because after that I started to see behind the scenes and see Khalid's worth. But Shahrzad went into this mission thirsty for blood, and it was too unbelievable for me to imagine she would jeopardize her mission because her best friend's killer is handsome with a nice smile.

That being said, after that first fifty-percent, I became complete Khalid trash, too. Be still, my heart. I seriously fell in love, and some of the things that came out of his mouth made me melt into a puddle on my bed. Yet, then I couldn't help but question why he was so interested in Shahrzad. Why was she so different than all the others? I understand she was telling him a story, and that reminded him of his mother, but he seemed to instantly fall in love with her before she even opened her mouth to begin her plan.

“It's inevitable. When you meet the one who makes you smile as you've never smiled before, cry as you've never cried before... there is nothing to do but fall.”

Oh, but heads up, there is a love triangle. Well, for me, personally, there was never any competition on who I would pick, but I feel it's worth noting for people who hate that type of angst.

The imagery in this book was close to perfection. I've seen this said before, but the statement holds true: this book makes you feel like you can taste the food they are eating, hear the music they are listening to, completely picture the palace they are in, see the clothes they are wearing in great detail. Renee Ahdieh really does a phenomenal job doing this, and you will feel completely immersed in this world she created.

The final twenty-five perfect of this book was, also, perfection. I actually even cried, not just for Khalid, but for Shahrzad, too. Hell, I even cried for Jalal and Despina! Then my heart started breaking a little for Tariq! I was a blubbering mess, but it's totally because this story is told so magnificently that it was impossible for me not to feel everything imaginable that these characters were feeling.

I could also probably highlight this whole book, because it is that beautifully written. I had so many quotes highlighted by the time I was done with this book, and many of them I will keep with me forever.

“I love you, a thousand times over. And I will never apologize for it.”

4/5

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Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

I would recommend this to fans of YA fiction.

What does Ariana Delawari bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

She did an excellent job with the voices of the characters, making each of them feel believable

Do you think The Wrath and the Dawn needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

It was obviously written with the idea of a sequel in mind.

YA Retelling of the Meta-narrative of Arabian Nigh

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The story took a while to develop. But once you get through it is great:)

good book, but it took a while

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I hope there are more to come! A lot of original ideas in this story. A really good read!

Wrath and the dawn

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I love this Book it was like music to my ears (:
I was very glad To have heard it as I got it with Audible
Loved it

Awesome

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