Reviews tagging 'Chronic illness'

Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

35 reviews

ziracrow's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, War, Confinement, Death, Blood, Medical content, and Vomit

aelytacchan's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.25

Although I liked Divine Rivals better, Ruthless Vows was a good follow-up to the story and the ending was satisfying!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Violence, Gore, Murder, Gun violence, Death, Genocide, Injury/Injury detail, War, Body horror, and Confinement

Moderate: Classism

Minor: Medical content

lakinglaze's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional tense 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

This was lovely. The story came all together in a massive crescendo and I enjoyed every moment of it. I’m going to miss Roman and Iris, but I’ll just keep mentally picturing them from the ending of this book and imagine all the wonderful events of the characters’ lives I’m sure followed this story. 💗

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Stalking, War, Medical content, Alcohol, Violence, Animal death, Medical trauma, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Chronic illness, Confinement, Sexual content, Blood, Death, Grief, and Murder

emilywemily6's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful tense medium-paced

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

5.0

I loved this book like I loved Divine Rivals. There is definitely some heartbreak but the ending had hope as well. Ross’ prose is beautiful and really sucks you in to the story. I liked how I didn’t really know where the story was going so I had a reason to keep reading. The middle meandered a little bit in this sense because the next step in the plot was uncertain, but I loved dwelling with the characters and rooting for them. It was a good end to this duology.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Injury/Injury detail and Death

Moderate: Chronic illness, Medical content, Grief, Stalking, Sexual content, War, Gun violence, and Violence

Minor: Toxic relationship, Vomit, Classism, and Torture

blacksphinx's review against another edition

challenging emotional tense medium-paced

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

4.0

On some level it's really funny that this book had a chance to re-do the worst thing about the first book,

the instant love between our protagonists

, and then chose to do the same exact thing again but even faster. There's also some groan-worthy exposition where it really doesn't make sense that the party in question would stop and willingly monologue. Lastly, this book engages in one of my least favorite tropes,

pair the spades - NO ONE can end this book without a lover!!!111 ugh

 

But... I love historical fantasy and what kept me enthralled in the first book was the up-close depictions of warfare. And there's plenty of warfare, spying, and tense action scenes in this sequel to keep me turning the pages. I'm now left hankering for another book series that blends non-magical warfare with a fantasy setting. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Violence, Grief, Confinement, Vomit, Chronic illness, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Gun violence, Mass/school shootings, Medical content, Kidnapping, Blood, Torture, Medical trauma, and Car accident

Minor: Death of parent, Sexual content, Panic attacks/disorders, Stalking, and Alcoholism

katieklysmic's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious medium-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? No

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: War

Minor: Chronic illness and Death

katelyn11's review against another edition

dark emotional slow-paced

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

2.5

After Divine Rivals, this was a sore disappointment. Slow-moving with little to contribute to the plot or character development. I simply didn’t care about any part of the world or Iris and Roman’s romance. There were a couple of good chapters (chapter 35 did NOT live up to the hype) but it mostly felt like a slog. I finished it only to say I’ve finished it and to read the conclusion of Iris and Roman’s story. I was bored most of the time. The villain wasn’t compelling; the world wasn’t magical; the side characters were unconvincing fillers; there was far too much exposition rather than good storytelling. This is not Ross’ finest work. Also, the editing seemed rushed, as I found at least one spelling error and several punctuation/spacing errors within the narrative. Read The Queen Rising if you want to read Ross’ finer work. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical trauma, Physical abuse, Violence, and War

Moderate: Blood, Chronic illness, Death, Genocide, Kidnapping, and Abandonment

pagesihavenotyetread's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful fast-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Murder, Blood, Death, Grief, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Chronic illness

erinkellyreads's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

 Heartbreaking and tense and lovely, this duology is easily in my top reads from the last few years. I saw a joke on Instagram that "Divine Rivals" is to Swift's Folklore as "Ruthless Vows" is to Swift's Evermore, and, yes, I feel this, haha.

In terms of differences between this and it's predecessor, the stakes are higher and so is the tension. I had to take a couple of breaks from it while reading it simply because I was nervous for the characters and was putting off any potential pain. However, the bonds between all of the character continue, and we add in a few more interesting connections between existing and new characters. The one thing that I didn't love was the final showdown feeling too quick (and not necessarily easy, but... I think you'll see what I mean when you get there). I've seen other people saying that they felt DR was slow, but I didn't feel that way. If you did feel that way, I think you won't for RV.

Overall, the beauty of the writing and the atmospheric nature of the world and the souls of our characters are stunning, and I would 100% recommend this duology to anybody. A fantasy book that feels like contemporary history, a war book that feels like poetry, and a love story that feels like releasing a breath on a sunny, windy day. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Death of parent, War, Gaslighting, Grief, Gun violence, Chronic illness, Medical content, Blood, Colonisation, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping

Minor: Vomit

mysafe_place's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad tense 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? No

4.0

After finishing 'Divine Rivals' last year I could hardly wait for this next book to be published and I can definitely say that I was not disappointed. The chemistry between Iris and Roman is simply unmatched and their love is so pure, sweet and heart-warming.  The story itself is extremel detailed and thought through (as well as the writting) that it makes you sort of addicted to it, you cannot stop reading till you find out what happens next. A heartbreaking, intense and magical book which I highly recommend! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence, Injury/Injury detail, War, Death, and Gun violence

Moderate: Chronic illness, Blood, and Violence