This is the second/ final book in the Letters of Enchantment duology and it picks up soon after the ending of the first book. I really enjoyed this story. I believe it was a wonderful continuation of the story as well as a great ending. Again this story has a way to drag you in, makes you feel like you can feel the story they are experiencing. This story takes us back to the town of Oath where there is magic, war, and gods who have awakened. Two weeks since Iris returned from the war front, without Roman. One upset that I had with Divine Rivals was that I felt like it lacked the more fantastical element, this book brought that in full force. I think it gave us back ground into the god characters, it made us understand the war and what was truly being fought for which I loved. The story made me love Iris and Roman even more and helped me to appreciate what the pull and power of love is for these characters. Iris was strong, yet open, she was cunning yet trusting. Iris felt real, like all she wanted was to report the truth and find Roman. Roman felt down to earth, I felt like his personality was believable and perfect balance for Iris. I loved the inclusion of more on the gods that they are fighting for. I feel like we got a deeper look into the world outside of just the romance and the war front.

I loved this book because even though the romance was toned down, I loved learning about the whole purpose behind this war in the first place. I loved seeing us travel with Dacre, meeting Enva, seeing how Iris and Attie grew into themselves as writers for the paper and being in the middle of the biggest war they’ve ever had. The action in this story is much more, more deception, more explanation, more understanding of the characters that are placed in the story and the parts they play from beginning to end. Parts that I didn’t necessarily like are by far clouded by the ones I did. I felt like there were a few plot holes and a few things that they could’ve further touched on but all in all I have no complaints.

Though the story starts off a tad slow, it quickly is soaring by the end. I found myself not wanting to lay my book down and see what was to be found on the next page. If you look for a bit of romance but still enjoy the inclusion of gods, war, corruption of a city, then this book might be good for you. I felt like this book was easy to get sucked into for me and had a conclusion that of course I wish there was more but it was nonetheless a perfect ending. I could easily read this book over again and find something new to love every time.

Content Warnings

takarakei's review against another edition

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slow-paced

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

3.0

Unfortunately this did not live up to my expectations or caliber of the first book.

My main gripe with the first book was that the lore behind the gods wasn’t explained basically at all, but I was able to forgive that a bit because it was more focused on the romance. But because of the lack of worldbuilding in book one, there was a lot of catch up to on in this book in building a foundation to stand on for this war and the sides. And despite this, the beginning of this book is sooo slow. I think there was far too much time spent on everything that happens in the first probably half of the book that could have been condensed down. At 85% in we were still getting new lore which is just not the time to be introducing new things. Ultimately I didn't think the villain was all that scary, I did not even truly understand WHY the war was even happening besides: gods on opposing sides. All the issues and obstacles were very easily solved, nothing felt earned. I truly didn't even really understand the WHY of certain outcomes in the book.

On top of all that I dislike the “two MC/lovers are separated” trope and while it makes some sense here, it also felt like that was the only way to build romantic tension again.

Content Warnings

kerryamchugh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

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

3.5

A good sequel to wrap up this romantasy duology. Appreciate the historical + fantastical bent in the setting, but not one that confines itself to old straight white men in power and women being exploited, *cough* GoT *cough*.

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twistykris's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

4.75

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yureisilhouette's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful lighthearted mysterious sad 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? No

4.25

It was a slow start so I had a hard time continuing; I was even planning to DNF the book until someone persuaded me to finish it, which I'm glad that I listened to.

Part 3&4 of the book were the intense part. I like the what's-gonna-happen-next story. It makes you crave for what the end is gonna be

I already knew that someone was bound to meet their end, but I was not expecting it to be him.

There was a scene that was lacking for me. The two mortals against a god. Who are they, you ask? You'll need to read Ruthless Vows to find that out. [wink]

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boothdwellerbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.75

Content Warnings

carlyjoann's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional 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

4.5

This was a great follow up and end for this duology. I enjoyed getting more lore of the gods in this book. The first act of this book I was nervous, it felt like the same story all over again but it improved as it went along.
I fell in love with Roman and Iris in this one. Their belief in one another and struggles to get to each other had me plowing through the pages. I liked the supporting characters a lot in this one, even if it felt a little forced to pair them all off. I really enjoyed not knowing if I should trust Enva completely throughout as Dacre got more desperate for power. Getting to see so much of Dacre and Enva helped this book immensely where they felt more like just ideas in the first book.

Tears were shed for those characters lost but it felt like some characters would have to go with the level of war being portrayed.

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