Book Review: The Wrath and the Dawn

The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
Published:  May 12th 2015 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Books for Young Readers
Format: Hardcover
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Summary:
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?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end.

Review:
I’m going to be perfectly honest with you and say that I do not know how to review The Wrath and the Dawn. This book blew me away so much that I didn’t even notice where it took me until I reached the end and realized that my life will never be the same. A whole new standard has been made. Nothing short of throwing the book in your face and screaming “READ THIS” will do The Wrath and the Dawn justice. Or maybe I’ll throw it softly at your face, letting you catch it and feel satisfied, before I punch you in the face BECAUSE THAT’S WHAT I FELT HAPPEN TO ME. It started as a soft blow that suddenly tore up my heart with its lyrical writing.

The thing is Khalid probably feels the same way I do. The only way to describe Shahrzad is that she’s a force. She’s unlike any other female character I’ve ever read. There’s so many powerful female protagonist out there but Shahrzad stands out. She’s unique.  She’s insecure yet confident. She’s all these things that you can’t quite know her exactly; which is what drew Khalid to her. He can’t explain why but he knows he wants her. He knows she must be in his life. This tortured soul wants to have a touch of light in his life even though he doesn’t deserve it. And before he knew it, he was invested in this plague of a girl.

For nothing, not the sun, not the rain, not even the brightest star in the darkest sky, could begin to compare to the wonder of you.

I’ve read so many books with cold-hearted turned good guys. And I admit, I have a type. I enjoy those kind of boy characters, it’s enjoyable. I was expecting Khalid to be this kind of boy but I was wrong. Khalid is so different. I don't even think he turned totally good at the end. He's a man of many faults but becomes better because of Shahrzad. This relationship didn’t go from hatred to love in a few pages. Khalid was uneasy to put himself fully into the relationship. I’m so obsessed with the dialogue. His lines starts off subtle as he tries to sort out his feelings, to sweet and heartbreaking. They didn’t come off as cheesy or eye-roll worthy. It was natural. I wish I could write the entire book in my quote notebook.

“And how will you know when you’ve found this elusive someone?” Shahrzad retorted.
“I suspect she will be like air. Like knowing how to breathe.”

Even with the book's magical writing, I admit it was hard to connect to. I remember reading the first half and thinking, “I know this is a good book, it’s easy to read and flows well, but for some reason I can’t get a feel for it. I can’t decide if I like it.” I kept thinking I can’t decide until I reached about the last 100 pages of the book. This part shines out to me the most and is what made me love it. It pulled the whole book together. The story got exciting and felt like a fire was lit inside me. I got emotionally involved and made me confident to ship Khalid and Shahrzad.

I am so excited for the sequel, The Rose and the Dagger. I can’t wait to see where the relationship goes. There’s (unfortunately? I can’t decide.) a love triangle with a childhood friend named Tariq. But I can’t decide how I feel about him. I liked him in the beginning but started get annoyed at the end, however, that might have been because I started to like Khalid A LOT and didn’t like that Tariq was getting in the way. I am looking forward to learning more about Tariq so that I can make a more firm decision. Though I doubt I can ship Tariq after THE ENDING. It broke my heart. The book leaves off on one of the best cliffhangers EVER. PLEASE READ THIS BOOK!!

Sorry that there hasn't been much going on on my blog! If you didn't know, I started college on Thursday and am scrambling to find time to write reviews. For those of you who are in school or have a job, how do you put aside time to write reviews?
I WILL be trying to post more reviews soon. I just finished Wendy Darling: Stars and I LOVE IT. I am looking forward to writing that review and can't wait for you to read it! Hopefully it will be posted soon. :) You can always find me on Twitter (@booknadventure) to find out what I'm doing and probably my struggles in college. See you soon!

Middle Grade Monday: Inside Out & Back Again

This week's Middle Grade Monday will be on the book Inside Out & Back Again about a Vietnamese family immigrating to the U.S. on a boat. Honestly, this is more of me fangirling about finding a book about a Vietnamese girl. The summary of the book tells it all. Nothing that I say will be meaningful for this book. I'm going to let it's own words speak for the book.

Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai
Published: February 22nd 2011 by HarperCollins
Source: Library
Format: Paperback
Rating: 4 out of 5

Summary:
Inside Out and Back Again is a New York Times bestseller, a Newbery Honor Book, and a winner of the National Book Award! Inspired by the author's childhood experience of fleeing Vietnam after the Fall of Saigon and immigrating to Alabama, this coming-of-age debut novel told in verse has been celebrated for its touching child's-eye view of family and immigration.

For all the ten years of her life, Hà has only known Saigon: the thrills of its markets, the joy of its traditions, and the warmth of her friends close by. But now the Vietnam War has reached her home. Hà and her family are forced to flee as Saigon falls, and they board a ship headed toward hope. In America, Hà discovers the foreign world of Alabama: the coldness of its strangers, the dullness of its food . . . and the strength of her very own family.

Review:
I am lucky to have found this book at the library. I picked it up because of the cover but stayed because of so much more. I was excited to have found a book about a Vietnamese family fleeing the country to escape the war. This is my family's story. However, my parents never like to talk about their experience and I hoped that this book would help me understand our history.

The emotional aspect is important because of something I noticed in my nieces and nephews. They may know in general where their parents came from, but they can't really imagine the noises and smells of Vietnam, the daily challenges of starting over in a strange land. -From the Author's Note

The book is a historical fiction story that educates it's readers on the hardship of the refugees to teach compassion. I think that it is great to have a middle grade book on this topic, because it gives children the opportunity to turn to a book when they want to get a deeper understanding of their homes and family. I couldn't stop paying attention to this book. The book did the purpose I hoped for and after reading I felt more grateful of my family.

Everybody knows the ship
could sink
unable to hold
the piles of bodies
that keep
crawling on
like raging ants
from a disrupted nest.

But no one
is heartless enough
to say
stop
because what if
they had been
stopped
before their turn?

Lai writes the book in verse, which I'm usually not a fan of, but it worked well here. It allowed her to put emphasis on words and fully showed the frustration of Hà in the U.S. I'm amazed at how much emotion the author was able to fit into minimal words. The broken language even further emphasized Hà's struggles as she learned English and placed me in her shoes.

I count up to twenty.
The class claps
on its own.

I'm furious,
unable to explain
I already learned
fractions
and how to purify
river water.

So this is
what dumb
feels like.

I hate, hate, hate it.

Inside Out & Back Again is obviously more easy to read than a Wikipedia page and much more tolerable than a history class. I learned so much in an enjoyable form. There's a reason why diversity in books are important, especially access to it to children. I never knew how many Vietnamese books I lacked in my life until I felt like crying when I read Vietnamese words and names. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand the Vietnamese culture and the story of the refugees.