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A review by awesomeeallyson
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
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.