Review: The Wrath and the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

★★★★★
Source: galley from Penguin
Publication: May 12, 2015, Putnam

Well, I figure I should write an actual review instead of just lamenting the fact that the book had to end. [note that all quotes are from the uncorrected galley.]

"It would not be a welcome dawn.

Already the sky told this story, with its sad halo of silver beckoning from beyond the horizon."

Now THAT is how you start a book. Don't you just want to eat those delicious sentences? Don't you just want to keep reading? Do it. Keep reading, because this book is just as mesmerizing as its first sentences. It's a wonder of writing and character, of magic and politics, of love and hate. Mesmerizing, luminous, romantic, heartbreaking, lyrical, beautiful, dangerous, funny, feminist (!!!!), endearing, and so many other adjectives that I thought of and then replaced with others when I turned another page. To be honest, I haven't felt this particular way about a book since I first read The Scorpio Races, which is a high compliment indeed. They're not similar at all except in the most important way: how they make you feel. 

Shahrzad is the heroine of heroines. She's fierce, stubborn, and good with a bow & arrow, yes, but she's also sentimental and "girly" and jealous and flawed. She doesn't let anyone think that being a girl means she isn't strong, and she doesn't let being strong stop her from being a girl. Girls have to put up with a lot of crap, and Shahrzad isn't afraid to call the world out on it. 

"Is that kind of disrespect . . . normal?"

Shahrzad lifted a shoulder. "It's not normal. But it's not unexpected. It's the curse of being a woman," she joked in a morose manner. 

Basically Shazi is fantastic and everyone should be more like her.

Khalid. Okay, so here's the thing about Khalid. Somewhere between pages 1 and 115, I kind of fell in love with him and I couldn't put my finger on why. I mean, the dude has killed dozens of women. That is not a thing that usually works for me. But something about him had me swooning harder than I've swooned in a long time. Before Khalid, I wasn't even sure I did swoon anymore, having become accustomed to dreamy male characters, especially of the let-me-hug-you-and-keep-you-happy variety. I've got plenty of characters who hold my happiness inside theirs—if they aren't happy, I can't be either—but not many who are distinctly unhappy and somehow manage to make me happy anyway. That was what Khalid did.
By page 200, I had figured out the secret ingredient that made me love him.
He's a feminist. A raging, vocal feminist who respects women not because they are women, not because they are someone's mother, wife, sister, etc., but because they are people. While he often wants to stand up for Shazi, she can stop him with a single hand on his chest or arm, because he knows that she can fight her own battles. Heck, he knows that she can fight pretty much anyone's battles.

My favorite thing about this, though? His feminism is learned. It is actively achieved; he hasn't always been this way. He was raised by a father who thought of women as property, and I can't tell you what impact that had on Khalid as a husband because it's a major spoiler, but trust me when I say that he had some poor, ingrained behaviors to outgrow. And he did outgrow them. Which is a beautiful thing.

"You are—remarkable. Every day, I think I am going to be surprised by how remarkable you are, but I am not. Because this is what it means to be you. It means knowing no bounds. Being limitless in all that you do."

"Shahrzad al-Khayzuran! You are not weak. You are not indecisive. You are strong. Fierce. Capable beyond measure." 

Naturally with these two awesome characters (who are both supposed to kill each other haha oops), the romance is off-the-charts amazing. It doesn't sneak up on you the way some of my favorites do, but that doesn't mean it isn't well developed and believable. If anyone tries to claim instalove on this one I will personally fight them on it because it was so slow and steady it was almost torturous. You just want to smash their faces together, to be honest.

Oh, and the side characters are great. I love that Shahrzad could have so many enemies in this book, considering her position on both the inside and the outside of two warring systems, but nobody was unnecessarily cruel to her. She made friends tentatively but easily, and Despina was such an asset to both her and the story itself. Jalal was an asset to Khalid. Everybody loves each other and nothing hurts okay some things hurt, but you'll like it. When people were cruel to Shazi, absolutely nobody was having it, least of all Shazi herself. God, I love her so much.

I've provided a few samples of how flawless the writing is, but what you can't tell from those samples is that the entire book is written that way. The whole book is earth-shatteringly stunning, with descriptions and lines and emotional punches that will knock you over repeatedly. Allow me to flip to a random page and find an example: "He smiled a smile to shame the sun." WHAT IS THIS WORD-SORCERY?

I love this book so much. Good luck finding a copy when it comes out because I'm going to buy all of them.

Now, you say I have to wait HOW LONG for the next one?