The Wrath and the Dawn

#1 New York Times Bestseller\n\nA sumptuous and epically told love story inspired by A Thousand and One Nights\n\nEvery dawn brings horror to a different family in a land ruled by a killer. Khalid, the eighteen-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 sixteen-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.\n\nShe 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.\n\n*The book is a Rough Cut Edition (pages are deliberately not the same length).*\n\nEditorial Reviews\n\n04/06/2015\nWhat does one make of a man forced to murder dozens of women in order to save a city from a curse--who then stops killing, dooming the city anyway, because he's fallen in love? It's a tricky ethical conundrum to build a love story on, and Ahdieh's debut, a reimagining of the tale of Scheherazade, dances around it. Shahrzad, 16, decides that she is the one who will stop the murderous caliph, Khalid, by destroying him to avenge the death of her best friend. Shazi marries Khalid and entices him with a cliffhanger story, persuading him to allow her to live one more day to finish the tale as she races to devise his assassination. Day after day together adds nuance their relationship beyond what either could have imagined; as they hesitate in their separate resolves, other plots are set in motion. Lushly imagined and powerfully characterized, it's a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance. With a premise this loaded, though, Ahdieh sets herself a big challenge in the second, concluding volume. Ages 12-up. Agent: Barbara Poelle, Irene Goodman Literary Agency. (May)\n- Publishers Weekly\n\nPraise for The Wrath and the Dawn:\n#1 New York Times Bestseller\nOne of TIME Magazine's 100 Best Fantasy Books of All Time\n#4 on the Summer 2015 Kids' Indie Next List!\nAn Amazon Best Book of the Year for 2015 - Young Adult\nA New York Public Library Best Book for Teens for 2015 \nA Seventeen Magazine Best Book of 2015\nA YALSA 2016 Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick\n\n"Lushly imagined and powerfully characterized, it's a potent page-turner of intrigue and romance."--Publishers Weekly \n\n"This inventive young adult retelling of The Arabian Nights walks a delicate line in its depiction of such a monstrous man, but puts the power in the hands of a courageous heroine who is determined to stop the senseless brutalities inflicted upon so many women."--TIME Magazine\n\n"This book is a fairy tale, a mystery, and ... promises to become a classic tale of its own."--VOYA\n\n* "Set against a backdrop of political intrigue and a simmering revolution, this is a carefully constructed narrative of uncertain loyalties, searing romance, and subtle magic in a harsh desert city."--Booklist, starred review\n\n* "The rich, Middle Eastern cultural context adds to the author's adept world building... a surefire hit with teens."--School Library Journal, starred review\n\n* "Renée Ahdieh's lush debut novel, The Wrath and the Dawn, is a suspenseful and beautiful reimagining of The Arabian Nights, with an edge."--Shelf Awareness, starred review \n\n"Dreamily romantic, deliciously angst-y, addictively thrilling."--Kirkus Reviews\n\n"Sumptuous detail ... satisfyingly steamy scenes, along with some angsty push and pull moments between the two for optimal romantic tension."--BCCB\n\n"Don't be surprised if the pages melt away and you find yourself racing through warm, golden sands or drinking spiced wine in cool marble courtyards. This is an intoxicating gem of a story. You will fall in love, just as I did."--Marie Lu, New York Times bestselling author of the Legend series and The Young Elites\n\n"In her absorbing debut, Renée Ahdieh spins a tale as mesmerizing as that of her heroine Shahrzad, filled with lush details and brimming with tension. The Wrath and the Dawn is truly an exceptional story, beautifully written."--Carrie Ryan,New York Times bestselling author of The Forest of Hands and Teeth\n\n"Ahdieh weaves a world that is lush with detail. You will want to hear, taste, and touch everything. But it's not just the world that is vividly alive. The characters are fascinating too: I loved the friendships, romance, and shifts in feeling. A beautifully written book, The Wrath and the Dawn is a story I could not put down."--Marie Rutkoski, author of The Winner's Trilogy\n- From the Publisher\n\n*04/01/2015\nGr 9 Up--A reimagined tale based on One Thousand and One Nights and The Arabian Nights. In this version, the brave Shahrzad volunteers to marry the Caliph of Khorasan after her best friend is chosen as one of his virgin brides and is summarily murdered the next morning. She uses her storytelling skills, along with well-placed cliff-hangers, to keep herself alive while trying to discover a way to exact revenge on the Caliph. However, the longer she stays in the palace, the more she realizes there's more going on than just a murderous prince. While her feelings for the Caliph grow and change, the first love she left behind is busy plotting to overthrow the entire palace. When the various plotlines come together in a final conflict, the story is brought to a satisfying, if unexpected, ending. A quick moving plot and sassy, believable dialogue make this a compelling and enjoyable mystery, with just the right amount of romance and magic. The main characters are well drawn and surprisingly likable, while secondary characters also develop in endearing ways. The rich, Middle Eastern cultural context adds to the author's adept worldbuilding. Intimacy is dealt with in a straightforward way, without graphic details, and a subtle message of strength is portrayed through the brave independence of the protagonist. VERDICT This well-written mystery will be a surefire hit with teens.--Sunnie Lovelace, Wallingford Public Library, CT\n- School Library Journal\n\n2015-03-03\nA lush, hypnotic, swoony re-imagining of the "Arabian Nights" framing story.Sixteen-year-old Shahrzad jilts her sweetheart to wed the "murderer, monster, madman" Khalid Ibn al-Rashid, Caliph of Khorasan, planning vengeance for his serial murders of his brides, including her beloved cousin. Clever, stubborn, and reckless, Shahrzad wields stories like weapons as she piques her new husband's interest and maneuvers through palace intrigue. But she never envisaged that the cold, brilliant, tortured boy king could kindle her desire, nor that her spurned betrothed would raise a rebellion to rescue her. Redolent of perfumes and spices, luxuriant with jewels and silks, this debut pulls authentic details from across cultures and centuries and mixes them with magic and mysticism to concoct an exotic storybook world--albeit with violence and candid sensuality that take it well out of the realm of children's books. While the steamy love triangle takes center stage, secondary characters add excitement with their treacherous schemes, murderous plots, and soapy melodrama. Witty, brash, and passionate, Shahrzad makes a good foil for both her impossibly valiant and infatuated first love and for the angry and self-loathing Khalid, cursed to make impossible choices. As the disparate plot threads intertwine to a heartbreaking climax, the conflagrant cliffhanger will leave those readers enthralled by the forbidden romance both yearning for and dreading the concluding volume. Dreamily romantic, deliciously angst-y, addictively thrilling. (Fantasy. 14 & up)\n- Kirkus Reviews\n\nThis lush reimagining of the fabled ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS (aka THE ARABIAN NIGHTS) is told from the perspective of a determined teenager. The feisty Shahrzad volunteers for the sultan's service to avenge the death of her friend. Her personality is vividly characterized by Ariana Delawari. As narrator, her success is in her ability to emphasize Shahrzad's grit and passion. Listeners are drawn in as Shahrzad fights for her life-and struggles to overcome a growing love for her sworn enemy. At times, the drama falls heavily on the ear because of a lack of variety in pace and tone. But, overall, Delawari's voice has a youthful quality that captures the age of the characters, both the storyteller and her young caliph. M.R. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine\n- NOVEMBER 2015 - AudioFile