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nicleeci's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
slow-paced
3.0
Possible Spoilers Below!!
It's a wonderfully written book, just didn't capture me like the first book did. It felt like I was pushing myself to finish because there were many slow moments. I do like that there was more emphasis on the Divine, and them being present in this book, but something still felt lacking, I wish we could have gotten more depth between Enva Dacre. Also, Dacre's death felt very anticlimactic.
I do like the mix of plot and romance. Sometimes in a book, the romance takes too much away from the plot, but I do wish we got to see Roman and Iris together more. They didn't come together until the very end of the book, and they saw each other three times before that.
Otherwise, beautifully written! The letters, the side characters, and seeing more of the war and unground realm were fantastic!
It's a wonderfully written book, just didn't capture me like the first book did. It felt like I was pushing myself to finish because there were many slow moments. I do like that there was more emphasis on the Divine, and them being present in this book, but something still felt lacking, I wish we could have gotten more depth between Enva Dacre. Also, Dacre's death felt very anticlimactic.
I do like the mix of plot and romance. Sometimes in a book, the romance takes too much away from the plot, but I do wish we got to see Roman and Iris together more. They didn't come together until the very end of the book, and they saw each other three times before that.
Otherwise, beautifully written! The letters, the side characters, and seeing more of the war and unground realm were fantastic!
jwkingsley's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 stars I loved this one— such a good ending to the duology. The prose is so beautiful and RR does such a wonderful job of painting a vivid picture. It started a little slow for me (Divine Rivals did as well though) but picked up and I raced through the last half.
bek67's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
2.5 stars rounded up to 3. Again, narrators were great! Storyline, meh, not so much. I loved the characters (Iris and Roman) in the first book and loved their storyline! They are pretty much apart this entire book. This book focuses on Dacre and Enva (the gods). And although I think some info is necessary, I just felt like there was too much of a shift on secondary characters. This book did not feel as enchanting as the first book to me.
tnttnt29's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
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
harning12's review against another edition
adventurous
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? No
4.75
Ugh I still love these characters and am so sad this was a duology and not like a 10 book series!!! I only knocked off 0.25 stars bc there is much less letter exchanging in this one
jputnam3's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
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? Yes
3.0
onnedhiell's review against another edition
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
2.5
awesomeeallyson's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
One of the main reasons I liked Divine Rivals was because it had such a strong character arc. Watching Iris and Roman fall in love was such a journey and I think their character growth is what really drove the book. Ruthless Vows, however, really relied on the plot to drive the story forward. We already knew everyone and they already went through so much, I'm not sure another burst of character growth would have made sense. But that inherently made this book a little harder for me to enjoy.
Iris and Roman have their trials and issues, yes, but the big element of this book was the war which just felt...not as exciting. The Gods themselves didn't feel and fully fleshed out as I would have wanted them too be. This was more a battle between people and the Gods by proxy. All the characters overall felt more flat than in the first book and, like I said, the plot of the story is what really drives this book forward. Which isn't to say this is a bad book. I did enjoy the plot and while I wanted more magic, the story overall is really well written and concludes nicely - or at least in a way that feels genuine to what the characters faced. This book just didn't hit as hard as the first in the duology did. This was a rare case of the first book being better, to me personally.
Iris and Roman have their trials and issues, yes, but the big element of this book was the war which just felt...not as exciting. The Gods themselves didn't feel and fully fleshed out as I would have wanted them too be. This was more a battle between people and the Gods by proxy. All the characters overall felt more flat than in the first book and, like I said, the plot of the story is what really drives this book forward. Which isn't to say this is a bad book. I did enjoy the plot and while I wanted more magic, the story overall is really well written and concludes nicely - or at least in a way that feels genuine to what the characters faced. This book just didn't hit as hard as the first in the duology did. This was a rare case of the first book being better, to me personally.