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takarakei's review against another edition
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.
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
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Death of parent
twistykris's review against another edition
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
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Blood, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Sexual content, Vomit, and Death of parent
julells's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.75
An amazing book with a lovely writing style that had me holding my breath until the very end.
However I feel like at some points it couldn't quite keep up with the magic of the first book. I would have wished for more scenes with Iris and Roman, since I loved them so, so much together.
However I feel like at some points it couldn't quite keep up with the magic of the first book. I would have wished for more scenes with Iris and Roman, since I loved them so, so much together.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Torture, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and War
Moderate: Genocide, Slavery, Medical trauma, and Gaslighting
Minor: Alcohol
amy_in_the_city's review
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? No
3.5
I liked this book well enough as long as I didn't think about the plot and how it made no sense. I still loved Iris and Kitt and their love, but the weaknesses of the first book were amplified here. In my review for Divine Rivals, I said I wanted to know more about the gods and that I wanted more worldbuilding. This book tried to expand on those things but unfortunately did not do it well.
I spent the entire book wondering why the gods care about two teenagers so much and why they needed these teens to do anything for them. Why did it have to be Roman and Iris specifically and not any of the other soldiers or journalists out there? Dacre seems pretty persuasive and good at using words to communicate, so why couldn't he write his own propaganda? It also felt like Roman was mostly just typing up what Dacre said, not really writing much, and it seems like anyone could have done that job. It just felt like a weak excuse to necessitate keeping Roman and Iris apart for more drama. Similarly, there was no real reason why Enva needed Iris tokill Dacre and why none of her actual soldiers who know how to fight could do it instead.
Most things seemed too easy for the protagonists. Dacre makes stupid decisions like trusting Roman entirely with important information and letting him live somewhere that was definitely going to help him recover his memory. The characters were protected by some extreme plot armor, like when Iris was somehow literally dodging bullets. I kept hoping that maybe things were only seeming too easy because Dacre was setting a trap for them and there would be an interesting twist in the middle, but apparently this evil and bitter god just was really trusting. Because it was so easy to sneak around behind Dacre's back and because we didn't really see Dacre do anything awful for most of the book, he just didn't feel menacing enough, and it killed the tension.
I had kind of forgotten the story of Dacre and Enva and why they were at war and this book didn't provide a good reminder or any further explanation. It kind of just felt like the war was because of a bitter divorce. Enva seemed really shady and even at the end, she seemed ominous. I was half-expecting there to be a twist where Enva was revealed to be more evil than Dacre.
The ending felt rushed. The Graveyard plotline kind of just fizzled out.Why weren't they trying to kill Enva still? Did they get control of the government? Who was the new chancellor and is she good or is everyone left to live in a dystopian society ? I didn't like that Roman was left with a condition that will probably shorten his life and there was no mention of a solution for that problem in the future. It makes it difficult to fully believe in him and Iris really having an HEA if he's likely to just drop dead at any given moment, maybe even just 5 years after the book ends .
I still loved the prose, the letters, and the romance between Iris and Roman. I grew to love Roman and Iris even more as individual characters in this book, and I loved seeing them find their way back to each other. I love angst and drama and this book definitely delivered that with the couple being separated and Roman trying to get his memory back. The little heist plot was also fun. Even with all its flaws, I still had an enjoyable time reading this book.
I spent the entire book wondering why the gods care about two teenagers so much and why they needed these teens to do anything for them. Why did it have to be Roman and Iris specifically and not any of the other soldiers or journalists out there? Dacre seems pretty persuasive and good at using words to communicate, so why couldn't he write his own propaganda? It also felt like Roman was mostly just typing up what Dacre said, not really writing much, and it seems like anyone could have done that job. It just felt like a weak excuse to necessitate keeping Roman and Iris apart for more drama. Similarly, there was no real reason why Enva needed Iris to
Most things seemed too easy for the protagonists. Dacre makes stupid decisions like trusting Roman entirely with important information and letting him live somewhere that was definitely going to help him recover his memory. The characters were protected by some extreme plot armor, like when Iris was somehow literally dodging bullets. I kept hoping that maybe things were only seeming too easy because Dacre was setting a trap for them and there would be an interesting twist in the middle, but apparently this evil and bitter god just was really trusting. Because it was so easy to sneak around behind Dacre's back and because we didn't really see Dacre do anything awful for most of the book, he just didn't feel menacing enough, and it killed the tension.
I had kind of forgotten the story of Dacre and Enva and why they were at war and this book didn't provide a good reminder or any further explanation. It kind of just felt like the war was because of a bitter divorce. Enva seemed really shady and even at the end, she seemed ominous. I was half-expecting there to be a twist where Enva was revealed to be more evil than Dacre.
The ending felt rushed. The Graveyard plotline kind of just fizzled out.
I still loved the prose, the letters, and the romance between Iris and Roman. I grew to love Roman and Iris even more as individual characters in this book, and I loved seeing them find their way back to each other. I love angst and drama and this book definitely delivered that with the couple being separated and Roman trying to get his memory back. The little heist plot was also fun. Even with all its flaws, I still had an enjoyable time reading this book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Animal cruelty, Animal death, and Confinement
Minor: Child death, Sexual content, Vomit, Car accident, and Death of parent
mssophie_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Had to convince myself to start reading it, but it was very worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Chronic illness, Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Vomit, Police brutality, Medical content, Grief, Mass/school shootings, Medical trauma, Murder, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, Hate crime, Slavery, Torture, Death of parent, Alcohol, and Classism
bhard07's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Grief, Alcohol, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Cursing, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
jaspreet31's review
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
Ruthless Vows was kind of a mixed bag for me. I think the plot development was great and I enjoyed the storyline; however, I was bored throughout the book as I found the story just dragged on. I found myself wanting more romance to keep me hooked. I just kept counting the pages left which indicated to me that this was not a good book for me. Also, I really wished there were more letters in the book between Roman and Iris. It had its moments, but overall, it didn't quite hit the mark for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: War
Minor: Grief
kbowles24's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Violence, and War
Minor: Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Blood, Vomit, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
thestarsaresad's review
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
4.25
Why must I read such depressing stories? Not to say that this book is entirely depressing, but there certainly are enough depressing parts. I guess that's just the truth about war, no matter what war it is. When I was on Reddit reading reviews about this book trying to decide if I should actually read it, I was scared by the reviews saying that they didn't like this book as much. However, for me, I actually quite enjoyed it. Even though there was less page time for Roman and Iris together, I thought that the moments they did have together were worth the wait and that their actions apart spoke for their love for each other. It helped that I really enjoyed reading about Roman and Iris's respective journies throughout this part of the war. And one more thing, I LOVED the new characters and old characters who we got to learn more about: Attie, Marisol (although I certainly wish we'd been given one last scene with her and Iris), Keegan, Forest, Sarah, and Tobias! Even though I accidentally got a spoiler that Forest dies before I actually got to that scene, it still absolutely gutted me that neither he nor Sarah survived. Divine Rivals and Ruthless Vows are an absolute roller coaster, it's crazy how much happens throughout and how much their lives change. Overall, I think this is a rare occasion where I'm in need of a sappy romance novel to forget about everything and to pretend for a few hours that everything is happy and light.
P.S. Just like in Divine Rivals, there were so many typos, but I suppose that I overlooked it for the plot and the characters.
P.S. Just like in Divine Rivals, there were so many typos, but I suppose that I overlooked it for the plot and the characters.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Blood, Grief, Murder, and War
Minor: Vomit and Stalking
nataliealane's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
inspiring
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? No
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, War, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Chronic illness, Sexual content, and Grief
Minor: Vomit and Medical content