A review by amy_in_the_city
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

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 to
kill 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. 
Expand filter menu Content Warnings