I'm completely baffled. Was this book truly written by the same author? 
 What I loved in The Wrath and The Dawn absolutely drove me crazy in The Rose and The Dagger. In the first book, Ahdieh's lush, evocative storytelling writing style captured my attention, from her depictions of the food and scenery to her characters' flowery but natural dialogue. The book was a bit more style over substance, as the plot wasn't too complex or expansive, but man oh man was the style absolutely stupendous, enough to override the little voice in my head that normally complains when books that spout interesting character motivations fall to the wayside in the face of--what else--romance. (Girl marries boy to kill him for murdering her best friend, falls in love with him, and half-asses the assassination attempts to the point where boy was never in any real danger.) But romance in Wrath was heart-melting, somehow toeing the line between purple prose and creative imagery. 
 Here, in Rose, Ahdieh steps up the plot a bit. There are quests, betrayals, double betrayals, and Tariq acting rashly and causing and/or directly contributing to half of the tragic events. The secondary characters get more fleshed out, from relative newcomer and Shahrzad's sister, Irsa, to familiar faces like Despina and Musa Zaragoza. There are events that are laughably foreseeable, but also surprises that will cause you to (at the very least internally) gasp. But everything is too easy. There is not a lot of struggle, either internal or external. Khalid still has his inner demons to face, but this book is more about how the other characters come to know and respect him, now that his reputation as a Monster has an explanation. Gone is the sense of danger, though admittedly it wasn't even that present in the first book, when Shahrzad is in the lion's den; even the scene in the beginning was downplayed, such that I never really felt any suspense. Things are settled a touch too simply, like the Curse. Serious wounds are never fatal - oh, except for when they are! I did appreciate the feminine twist to the ending, though it was a touch anti-climactic. 
 But gone is the romantic, flowy text that characterized Wrath. In its place is a bastardized version of style, punctuated by an aversion to commas and an overabundance of clauses serving as sentences. Just flipping to any old random page, you can find: 
 "Khalid couldn't breathe. Couldn't see. The wind and the sand strove to choke him. To steal away his last bit of purpose. To fight for the book's last strength." 
 And then she utilizes a lot of repetitive sentences (and not even sentences, but clauses), like: 
 "It took five tries to light. Five tries to fight against the billowing silt. Five tries to cup the fire close and let the pages catch flame . . . Until the sand swirled back to the ground. Until Khalid finally fell with it, exhausted." 
 The sad thing is, this is not the exception. It's the rule. Ultimately I favor plot over style, though a well executed sentence will carry quite a bit of weight with me. However, when it's not an isolated or sporadic issue, and it gets to the point where you're dreading every short looking sentence, knowing it's going to be either a simple sentence or an awkward series of sentence clauses, it takes away from the enjoyment of the book. 
 I would highly recommend Ahdieh watch the Conjunction Junction video. Connecting multiple clauses with commas is OKAY. 
 Plot wise, the book wasn't so amazing as to rescue the problems with style.