3.5 stars 
 I didn't know what to expect from The Rose & The Dagger, romance of course but not this wonderful mix of love, magic, betrayals and jaw-dropping twists *nope I didn't see it coming*I loved it from page one. 
 THE PLOT 
 While TWATD concentrated more on the romance TRATD has much more to it than one could expect. The romance, of course, is still there but since the main OTP is now solidified, there is now space for much more than romance... oh boy---you're in for a hell of a ride! 
 The romantic scenes disseminated throughout the book are well worth swooning over, especially those with Shazi & Khalid 
 THE CHARACTERS 
 Shazi confirms herself to be one of my favourites; I adore her stubbornness and silver-tongue. 
 Khalid well...what can I say? The only thing left to do is to swoon *haha!* 
 Jalal and Despina were amazing as usual even if they didn't have much space on this book, which made me sad. 
 Tariq, finally (after like 300 pages) started to get some sense into his head *Thanks God! Better late than never, huh?* Still, I really wanted to slap him for most of the book.*I hope youe falcon shits on your head haha* 
 Irsa and Rahim weren't bad characters either. (view spoiler)[ Thank you Renee for making us like Rahim just to kill him off soon afetrwards *cries*. At least his death wansn't without purpose (hide spoiler)] 
 In short, I liked everyone in various degrees except Salim, Shazi's dad and Reza (view spoiler)[ in short: Reza is an asshole and Shazi's father is basically a demented fool and a big one at that *shakes her head* (hide spoiler)] 
 THE ENDING 
 The last chapters were sprinkled with jaw-dropping twists and were a flurry of events, so much that my mind was reeling and my head spinning. 
 At first I thought the ending was quite rushed but on a second thought--there wasn't much left to say and I do appreciate authors that don't overdo it, wasting words when there is nothing left to say. Still, I would have preferred a couple of chapters more before the epilogue) In the end, I concluded that the ending was if not "perfect" at least "fair enough". 
 Everything begun with a story and with a story everything ends. 
 Some Little Complaints: 
 (view spoiler)[ 
 I would have liked to: 
 - see a bit more of Jalal & Despina (I suppose they had their show time in TWATD but still...) 
 - too see/read Shazi reaction to the events of the chapter "The Power to Love" and to see what the hell happens after Jalandhar's death 
 - one or a few more chapters before the epilogue 
 - a longer epilogue that also included Despina, Jalal, Irsa & Artan 
 (hide spoiler)] 
 THE WRITING 
 Renee writing style flowed flawless and lyrical to a fault. Some of her sentences are written pieces of art. 
 (view spoiler)[ 
 It was a face marred by indolence. Riddled by insolence. 
 she no longer belonged there. She belonged in a palace of marble and stone. A queen, in her own right. With a boy-king who loved her, as she loved him. The boy-king she'd turned to tonight, at all times. 
 Her heart was boundless as the ocean. As vast as the sky 
 (hide spoiler)] 
 TRATD is a rightful conclusion to an awesome duology and I loved it.