The Righteous by Renee Ahdieh – ARC Review

Thank you to Hodderscape and Netgalley for sending me this arc in exchange for an honest review.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Pippa Montrose is tired of losing everything she loves. When her best friend Celine disappears under mysterious circumstances, Pippa resolves to find her, even if the journey takes her into the dangerous world of the fae, where she might find more than she bargained for in the charismatic Arjun Desai.

This is the third book in The Beautiful Quartet and each book just keeps getting better and better! These books can be read in any order but I do recommend reading them in the order they are released to get a rich experience.

I absolutely adored this book and I was so happy to see that we would get to see Arjun and Pippa’s point of view as they were my favourite side characters in the first two books. We also see more of Celine, Bastian, Michael and Emilie from the first two books.

Each book expands the world of The Beautiful more and more and in this book we get to spend a lot more time in the world of the fey, we see how they live and how different they are from the human world and we see their politics and the rising tensions between the summer and winter courts. It was so interesting to see this world though I did miss the New Orleans and especially the court of lions. Maybe we will see them again in the next book.

Love was for the foolish. And Arjun Desai was no fool.

This book has a marriage of convenience, only one bed scene and multiple interactions between Arjun and Pippa where he calls her a term of endearment in Urdu and she doesn’t understand! Every time he did I would just have a big goofy grin on my face because it was the sweetest thing ever! I loved the dynamic between Pippa and Arjun so much and how well they compliment each other. How they understand each other so well in such a short time and the secret pining for each other almost killed me! They notice the smallest things about each other like how Arjun promises to not let her ever go hungry in their marriage vows when she reveals that she often went hungry growing up.

Conquering a man’s country does not mean you have conquered his soul.

I loved their development throughout the book and one of the things I loved most was that Arjun was not afraid to call Pippa out on her colonialist thinking and her white privilege and Pippa took the time to listen, apologise and learn from it. We do see this discussion happen throughout the series and it is so well done.

One of my favourite things about these books is how we get fae and vampires but they’re people of colour and their cultures are shown in their courts. It was so nice to be able to see that in the story especially when we usually see fae and vampires they are always white but now we get to see people of colour and ourselves in the story.

Men had been given access to power all their lives. It was their so called birthright. Maybe it was time for them to see what a woman could do.

We also see more of Celine and Bastian in this book and it’s so interesting to see how Celine is the one who is drawn to power and Bastian doesn’t want it. Bastian has always had power, but Celine hasn’t and now she realises she can have that freedom and choice she is often denied because she is a woman. The ongoing discussions around women and how the patriarchal society pushed them down and caged them in certain roles is one I have loved seeing throughout the books. We also see how the patriarchy hurts men too, like Bastian and how he must unlearn so many toxic ideas.

We get a few chapters from Michael’s point of view too in this book and let me just tell you that I completely and entirely hate this man. He has nothing but the audacity and if Celine doesn’t slap him, I will. In the first two books I was indifferent towards him but now we see how entitled he feels and how he puts blame on others instead of taking responsibility and it infuriated me.

The writing and the story is absolutely incredible and had me completely and entirely hooked to the point where I was up late at night to read just one more chapter. The tension that built up slowly throughout the book and then chaos ensued at the end with the ending being left on a cliffhanger left me screaming. And a cameo from one of Renee’s previous books that left me shook and so incredibly happy to see!

I need everyone to go read these books because they are incredible and deserve all the love.

Secondary Characters Who Deserve More Love

Sometimes I completely fall in love with secondary characters in books, ones who don’t always get their own story or point of view. The one’s who deserve to get their own story and would happily read their book.

So here are some characters who I think deserve more love:

Zaynab al-Qahtani from The City of Brass – I would love to see the events in The Empire of Gold from Zaynab’s point of view. She goes from a pampered princess to a resistance leader and I would love to have seen that.

Luca from Nocturna – He is always there with Finn and Alfie and suffered with them and he honestly deserves all the love. I really hope we get to see more of him in the third book!

Muhammad from Misfit in Love – He is such a wonderful older brother! I loved his relationship with Janna and how smitten he is with Sarah

Muntadhir al-Qahtani from The City of Brass – Look this man was a whole disaster and yet completely took me by surprise and I really wish we could see in his head.

Despina from The Wrath and the Dawn – I loved her from the moment we met her and I just want a story from her and Jalal’s point of view.

Odette from The Beautiful – I just loved her so much and the friendship she built with Celine and how she did not care about societal norms for women and I just want to know more about her!

Kestrin from Thorn – We don’t get to see much of Kestrin as the book is from Thorn’s perspective but I really wish we got to see more of him and his reasonings for doing things. I hope we get to see more of him in the sequel of Theft of Sunlight

Dawud from City of the Plague God – I really loved him in the story and how at first you may think he’s a bit shallow but then as the story goes on you see there’s more to him than we first think. I really want to see him with Muhammad too

My Favourite Quotes from The Damned by Renee Ahdieh

To say I adore this book is an understatement. I love everything that Renee writes, and The Damned was so good and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since I read it.

You can also read my post where I shared my favourite quotes from The Beautiful.

So here are some of my favourite quotes from The Damned and I hope they entice you all to go read this wonderful series!

People tended to recall things not as they were but as they wished them to be.

But the best heroes possessed flaws. And the best mortals never forgot that fact.

Men were the worst kind of heroes. Riddled with flaws they refused to see.

Feel your anger, but do not succumb to it.

If a mediocre young man could crow to the world about his mediocrity, then why should a superior young woman not do the same?

I don’t want someone who understands and accepts the world she is given. I want someone who expects more. Who fights for it and isn’t afraid to dirty her sleeves in the process.

Food is life, after all.

Life is not a given to any of us. Neither is love. A hundred thousand years will not teach you that truth. You must accept it for yourself.

This is what it means to live. To choose a path and face the consequences.

I am tired of allowing society to dictate my behaviour.

When had justice ever prevailed when it came to a richly entitled young man and a young woman of modest means?

It was easy for a man to be kind and generosity in times of plenty. The real measure of a man was what he did and said in times of difficulty.

She was not a damsel in distress, waiting to be rescued by a knight on a shining horse.

This is the life I chose. It is mine and no one else’s.

So these are just some of the many quotes I highlighted when I was reading The Damned and this is how you know Renee’s writing is incredible because I just want to highlight so many poignant moments in the book and omg I just love these books so much!

PS. Here is my review for The Beautiful and The Damned

My Favourite Quotes from The Beautiful by Renee Ahdieh

I absolutely adore every single book Renee has written and one of the things I especially love is her beautiful vivid writing. The way she immerses you into the world she has created. I never want to leave. Just reading some of my favourite quotes from The Beautiful to write this post had me wanting to go reread the whole book and all the emotions I felt reading came rushing back. I really need you all to go read her books because they are incredible and we are sleeping on these amazing books.

PS. If you want to know more about The Beautiful you can read my review

So anyways back to why I wrote this post, the amazing quotes that were in this book! Honestly I was tabbing away as I was reading but I only chose some of my favourites to share here because well, you need to go read the book to find out the rest.

She was no lamb. She was a lion.

I’m a girl who would rather experience life than watch it pass by from my window.

I imagine it would be freeing to care only about oneself. Alas I am not a man.

Sometimes a girl must make her own magic.

Then know this: the truth is not always what you see.

For if we do not understand fear, how are we to cherish safety?

Though I’ll admit I’ve never fancied the top hat. Men have no need of the extra height; they lord over everything enough as it is.

The mind is a sword. Knowledge is its whetstone.

The men enjoy keeping us in cages at every waking hour. That way we’re contained. They’re afraid of what would happen if we’re free.

No it wasn’t just her pride. She was simply tired of being told what to do.

Knowing who you are is necessary in order to determine who you want to be.

Rage is a moment. Regret is forever.

Love is looking at someone as if the stars shine in their eyes

Hope was its own kind of magic.

So these are some of my favourite quotes! Have you read any of Renee’s books? Do you have a favourite quote?

The Damned by Renee Ahdieh – ARC Review

Thank you to Hodder Books for sending me an arc in exchange for an honest review.

I am part of The Damned Blog Tour and I will be sharing my review of The Damned with you all. I absolutely adore everything that Renee writes and The Damned is no exception. This is the sequel to The Beautiful which came out last year and quickly became one of my favourite reads of 2019 and The Damned is definitely become a favourite this year!

You can read my review of The Beautiful here

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Synopsis from Goodreads:

Following the events of The Beautiful, Sébastien Saint Germain is now cursed and forever changed. The treaty between the Fallen and the Brotherhood has been broken, and war between the immortals seems imminent. The price of loving Celine was costly. But Celine has also paid a high price for loving Bastien.

Still recovering from injuries sustained during a night she can’t quite remember, her dreams are troubled. And she doesn’t know she has inadvertently set into motion a chain of events that could lead to her demise and unveil a truth about herself she’s not quite ready to learn.

Forces hiding in the shadows have been patiently waiting for this moment for centuries. And just as Bastien and Celine begin to uncover the danger around them, they learn their love could tear them apart.

We pick up where The Beautiful ended and what an ending it was! We get to see several points of view in the first half of this book which I loved because I really love these vampires, especially Odette! Her friendship with Celine was everything!  

This book takes the world we are introduced to and expands it so we see so much more of the world hidden from humans. We get to go to the world of the fae and we learn more about the history of the vampires and werewolves and I loved it so much. It made me see things that happened in The Beautiful in a new light. I love the incredible world building and how it was incorporated into the story so it didn’t feel like it was just info dumping. We are introduced to new characters and we get to see more of some of the characters in the first book. One of my favourite side characters is Arjun and I just hope we get to see more of him in the next book!

For far too long, Celine had looked to others for answers. It was time for her to look within herself.

Celine starts this book so unsure of herself because she has lost her memories and doesn’t know what has happened to her and she hates how everyone thinks they what’s best for her so she goes looking for answers and ends up learning so much about herself and her history. I loved seeing how she didn’t let anyone dictate her life and took charge of it herself.

It is was easy for a man to be kind and generous in times of plenty. The real measure of a man was what he did and said in times of difficulty.

While The Beautiful was Celine’s story, this book is Bastian’s. He has such wonderful character development in this book. Through Bastian we also get lots of discussions of toxic masculinity and what truly makes a man great. I loved seeing how he has to unlearn all the things that have been drilled into him by his uncle and he has to consciously choose to be better. It was so wonderful to read and see his development and the choices he makes, especially when it comes to Celine. Everyone insists on knowing better for her but he trusts her to make her own decisions and supports her in those decisions. I just loved it so much!

Renee’s writing is so beautiful and the vivid descriptions were so wonderful and I could really see the world that Renee has created. I loved the vampires who were dark and seductive and you’re just instantly drawn to them and it was also interesting to see how they were different yet similar to the werewolves especially considering their shared history and why they don’t like each other.

If a mediocre young man could crow to the world about his mediocrity, then why should a superior young woman not do the same?

I love how diverse the characters are and how Renee has so many cultures seamlessly incorporated into her world and it’s one of the things I love about her books especially that I can see myself in her worlds. There are discussions of how being a person of colour affects how you are treated and it was so wonderful to see this in a book but also people like Arjun, make the best out of their situation.

I absolutely adore this series and I cannot wait to read the next book! I am so happy that we get another book because I am not ready to leave this world and I’m excited to see where the story will go next and who it will follow.

Make sure you check out everyone else’s posts too!