The Wrath and the Dawn is a "reimagining of Arabian Nights" written by Renée Ahdieh. It opens with it's female protagonist, Shahrzad's plot to overthrow a homicidal ruler, Khalid, and turns into the simplest of stories: the story of just one girl and one boy.
Khalid is an 18 year old "boy-king" and a merciless madman. Every night he marries a new young woman, then every morning he has this new bride murdered: strangled with a silk cord. Shahrzard vows to avenge the death of her best friend an unfortunate victim of Khalid's violent ritual, so she volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzard is determined to outlive the dawn and bring an end to Khalid the Caliph of Khorasan's reign of terror.
Ahdieh's novel is simply beautiful. She crafts a world you can't help but be drawn into and poses questions in a way that separates good authors from literary masters.
The first priority of literature is to entertain or inform. The second and most important job of literature is to force the audience to evaluate their everyday lives and choices. So, here is a book written by a very talented woman that forces you to question the weight of love. How much do you have to love someone to knowingly sacrifice the lives of others? How many lives can be sacrificed for the betterment of a community? How much do you have to love someone before it outweighs your need for retribution? Ahdieh's ability to manipulate her audience is what truly makes her a fantastic author and what will grant her staying power in a genre with so many other great and well known writers.
Her novel flows beautifully and is written in multiple points of view, which allows the figurative technique of dramatic irony to be employed at its finest. The audience knows more than each individual character causing best of struggles. Being privy to so many character's thoughts grants the reader the opportunity to justify the more unsavory actions of some and anxiously anticipates the movements of the more tenacious characters.
Renée is a supporter of the increasing need for diversity in Young Adult books, which is incredibly relevant in this day and age. The Wrath and the Dawn's heroine is a magnificent woman of color, a trait that makes this book unfortunately unique in the YA genre.
The Wrath and the Dawn is about a love that's stronger than vengeance.
Do yourself that favor and give it a chance. I doubt you'll be disappointed.
