Soooo I didn’t love this as much as The Wrath and the Dawn…
This book continues straight after the last book finishes off. Tariq has whisked Shazi off into the desert after the storm that has razed Rey. Shazi has to deal with the consequences of loving the Caliph and siding with the murderous boy king.
Don’t get me wrong it was still a great book regardless yet it didn’t completely meet my expectations. This has kind of been happening to me a lot as well, I will start a new series and the first novel will sweep me off my feel and then as I continue on the rest of the books don’t give that same feeling.
Shazi though still being very witty and tenacious I felt like at times she kind of acted a bit arrogantly. Like when she first met the Sheik and she refused to relinquish her weapons and demanded the guards to let go of her. I just felt like that was totally unnecessary and made a big fuss over nothing. She was in the presence of Tariq who would let nothing happen to her and she was a guest of the Badawi Clan who had housed and protected her family. Also when she first met Artan someone Musa said could potentially help her break the curse she was rude too as soon as she met him. Granted he was discourteous at the time but she took offense too quickly and that grated me nerves a little.
I liked Isra a lot, I enjoyed that we get to delve a lot deeper into her character and get a feel for who she is. I loved her honesty and compassion for her family. She is very loyal yet will still question her sisters’ motives and wants to be treated as her equal not her little sister.
The book was still very entertaining and the pacing was pretty good. At some stages it was a little slow and I did find myself skimming a little just to get through certain scenes. Though there were a lot of twists and shocking revelations thrown in throughout the plot and that kept me invested and reading on.
The magical element still wasn’t thoroughly explained either. There was no reasoning as to why Jahander and Shazi have this power and not Isra. Where it comes from or really what it is, just that it exists. I liked that there was a little bit of a history told about Artan’s family and the lore behind their magic but still it wasn’t enough for me.
All the elements are there, the characters, the plot, the setting, yet it wasn’t executed enough for me. I appreciated the ending, I liked that I was totally blindsided by several character and their motives, yet I wasn’t left with any overwhelming feelings at the end like I did with The Wrath and the Dawn.
⭐️3/5 Good not great!
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