Reviews tagging 'Medical trauma'

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

56 reviews

lizzydreadful's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful informative sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Panic attacks/disorders, War, Medical trauma, Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Death, Grief, Death of parent, Classism, and Alcohol

kds247's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

This book was quite entertaining. It had decent world building and I loved the letters sent between the characters. The romance was also fun and I thought the story got better as the book went on. However, I felt like the author had a tough time with the delivery of exposition with characters, instead of it being spread out evenly in the story, having multiple pages  of a singular monologue to explain everything which I found very bulky. I also think she had trouble finding the characters’ unique voices at times. At certain points in the book I had trouble distinguishing who was saying what, especially quick dialogue between Roman and Iris. Though overall, it’s a solid book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, War, Gun violence, Blood, Body horror, Violence, Vomit, Medical trauma, Death, Gore, and Murder

laneyreadz's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I LOVED this book. It falls outside of my usual preferences since it’s YA and the characters are so young, but it ended up being a wonderful and meaningful read. I’m so glad I picked it up and gave it a try! It’s a blend of fantasy and realism and the mythology of the story is seamlessly tied in. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Abandonment, Death of parent, Grief, and War

Moderate: Blood, Alcoholism, Vomit, and Medical trauma

callmelncole's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, Transphobia, War, Sexual content, Medical trauma, Injury/Injury detail, and Child death

britley_adler's review against another edition

dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Iris and Roman are rival writers, both vying for the same coveted position of columnist at their local newspaper. They're opposites in every way, the most important being, perhaps, that their families support different sides of a war between two gods, Dacre and Enva.

After a century of sleep, Dacre rose and declared war on the eastern boroughs. In opposition, Enva calls people to fight for her through music. Iris's brother, Forest, answers this call. When Iris doesn't hear from Forest, she assumes the worst and writes letters to him that she slips under her wardrobe, where they are whisked away by magic not to Forest, but to Roman.

What worked for me:

This was a difficult book to dislike, simply because the writing is exquisite. Between word choice, plot structure, and description, Ross's writing is captivating and grounding, providing a viscerally perfect picture of what's going on in the story, and even though I didn't really vibe with the plot or some of the narrative choices, I stuck with this book for that reason.

I resonated with both Iris's and Roman's struggles with their family: guilt, grief, and warring priorities in a family are things I think everyone can relate to. I also personally resonated with Iris's struggles with poverty and caring for an ailing parent. If Ross doesn't have personal experience with these things, then she must have done very diligent research because she nailed it.

The side characters were interesting, the love story was romantic, and the twist at the end was not one that I saw coming.

That being said, here's what didn't work for me:

I'm not a fan of stories told through correspondences. Too often, these stories fall into a pattern of using letters as opportune moments for info-dumping. Important scenes are told in reverse or addressed in a letter after the fact. Information in the letters is too convenient, too believable. There are few misunderstandings, and somehow, everything in a letter is said just right. DIVINE RIVALS falls into some of these traps, but not all. The letters are used for info-dumping and the information contained within is too conveniently exactly what the other character needs. 

While the side characters were interesting, I didn't feel like they had enough depth to them. This is a common issue I had with this book in general, actually. Unlike most books of the "Romantasy" genre, which often feel like they could have been cut down much shorter, I would've liked to see a version of this book that was a bit longer, which I think would have allowed for more character development all around. The romance was interesting but a little too fast for me. 

I enjoyed the plot twist at the end but didn't feel like there was enough lead-up or hints dropped throughout. By the end, the characters were so different from the beginning of the book that they felt like different people entirely, and the plot twist, while interesting, was very confusing because there had been few hints throughout the story that the plot twist was possible. Again, I think this is the result of a ruthless editor who perhaps cut too many words, and I think it could have been solved if DIVINE RIVALS was 5,000-ish words longer. 

All in all, I would give DIVINE RIVALS a solid 3.5 stars. I will likely read the sequel to see how the story is resolved, but this doesn't make the list of my favorites.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Violence, Medical trauma, and Death

finnzebelle's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Death of parent, Classism, Grief, Mental illness, Blood, Alcoholism, Abandonment, Addiction, Death, Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: War, Violence, Panic attacks/disorders, Medical trauma, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: War and Sexual content

lakinglaze's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

Dear Roman C. Kitt, you are the sun, the moon, the earth, and the stars, and I thank Rebecca Ross for making you!

This book was beautiful. It grabbed my heart with the very first line and never let it go. These characters and this setting are so rich and just feel like a warm embrace. And Roman, well, Roman was perfect. 

I can’t wait to devour Ruthless Vows and see where this journey ends! 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcohol, Classism, Gore, Alcoholism, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Abandonment, Vomit, Grief, Sexual content, War, Blood, and Death

lindseyhall44's review against another edition

emotional medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

I absolutely loved everything about Divine Rivals. The romance, message, and characters were all beautifully done. I don’t know how I’m supposed to wait for the next one.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Addiction, Medical trauma, Death, Abandonment, Death of parent, Alcohol, War, Violence, Murder, and Grief

kayceeisbookish's review against another edition

dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, Blood, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Medical content, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, War, and Death

celery's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Genocide, Grief, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, War, Classism, Gore, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Murder, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Body horror, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Medical trauma, and Violence