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Renee's writing is enchanting, magical, evocative, and contains such detail of food that your mouth will literally water.
When I found myself with the sequel to The Wrath and The Dawn between my hands, I was both nervous and excited to read it. I was skeptical that the sequel would be able to live up to the sheer awesomeness of The Wrath and The Dawn. I really wanted to believe that it could, but I didn't think it could really happen. Oh boy was I wrong.
The Rose and The Dagger is very much worthy of Renee's debut, and did not fail to disappoint me and my almost unsurmountable expectations for this book. The writing, the story, the characters and the climax were delivered flawlessly.
The writing flows, the characters flow, but the story doesn't flow quite as well throughout the entire book as it did in the Wrath and The Dawn. I cannot reveal my reasons without spoiling the book, so reveal at your own risk.
Jahandar was too starkly departed from his previous undying devotion to freeing his daughter in the Wrath and the Dawn than in The Rose and The Dagger where he is literally in the same camp as her for half the book but cannot be bothered to get out of bed. Secondly, I didn't completely Enjoy Omar's camp. Omar himself is a great character, but too much of the story was spent just sitting in that encampment and it felt as if Shahrzad had lost some of her spark.
That being said, the beautiful and evocative writing that we know from Renée was not missing in The Rose and The Dagger, and it had some spectacular jaw-droppers. I would argue that The Rose and The Dagger had even more surprises, and at times Renée turned my heart into an acrobat. It's ladened with betrayal, romance, suspense, twists and turns. The book flows with writing that rarely surfaces in YA fiction.
The relationship between characters is flawless, and I particularly enjoyed the shifting tension between Khalid and Tariq. You cannot miss this duology if you enjoy YA.
“So I'm The Darkling's Prisoner?”“You're under his protection.” “What's the difference?” Ivan's expression was unreadable. “Pray you never find out.”
Review: 4.8 Stars
It would be impossible to start a review of Shadow and Bone without blurting the “The Darkling”. He is a phenomenal villain, and breathes darkness into the book that would have been missing. Wrapped in a layer of seduction and charm, you can't be sure of what to make of the elusive man, and like all good villains he is shrouded in unpredictability.
World building was done well . The countries were richly imagined, deeply crafted but not overdone you aren't bombarded with place upon place and history upon history, but each section of the continent seems to find a meaningful entrance into the story, wether it be the politics of the Shu Han and Fjerda or the unforgiving land of Tsibeya. However, this book is not an epic fantasy read and should not been considered one, but moulds better into a light fantasy and romantic YA novel. The history and lore of the book is simply not extensive enough for true fantasy status, and the influences Ravka's neighbours are too non-existent apart from brief mentions of diplomats and assassins.
Another issue is The Shadow Fold. It disappointed me in it's meekness to really be a place for pure darkness. The Volcra are cool, but they seemingly just spur up to kill anyone when our fabled Sun Summoner is not around. If The Shadow Fold itself was a threat, then it would have been worthy of its title.
The heroine herself scrapped by as interesting. Mostly just because I was waiting to be awed by the epicness of her power and a reversal of some of the stupid decisions she made that seemed to remove her from a position of power.
That being said, the plot and climax did not disappoint. With that being said, if you still haven't read Leigh Bardugo and interested in a YA blend of action, romance and fantasy, this book is for you. When it shines as brilliantly written and captivating, you won't put it down.
