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A review by claragweny
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
adventurous
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I love an epistolary novel so Divine Rivals was of immediate interest to me. Beyond the magical letter writing component of the book I really had no idea what it was about before reading. I also didn't realize it was YA which was a little bit of a bummer, if I'm honest. As someone who's nearly 30, I don't particularly reach for novels about 18/19 year olds and I pretend they're older most of the time (example: Feyre in ACOTAR) but Iris and Roman read like their age so I couldn't do that in this case.
Rebecca Ross' writing style is very poetic and almost musical. I found myself re-reading lines because they were beautiful and powerful. However, I did find a lot lacking in this book.
Firstly, the world building. While reading it felt like Ross was saving much of the world-building for book 2 and focused more on character development in book 1. The story between Dacre and Enva seems very inspired by Persephone and Hades which could lead me to several different conclusions but the book gave me nothing to work with.
Second, I found the development of Iris and Roman's relationship really rushed. They both barely acknowledged their feelings but then suddenly they were in love. I think if there had been more of the story devoted to Roman and Iris actually talking about their feelings it wouldn't have felt so rushed.I don't think the marriage feels rushed though. This would be a believable development for any couple in love on the brink of war and death. You just have to pretend that you really believe Roman and Iris are in love.
All things considered, I still enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and I enjoyed lots of things about it. I hope that Ruthless Vows delves more into the world of the gods.
Note: I know people think the title refers to Iris and Roman being rivals-to-lovers but I think the title is actually referring to Enva and Dacre. But I also didn't go into the book thinking this would be an enemies-to-lovers or even really rivals-to-lovers so 🤷🏻♀️
Rebecca Ross' writing style is very poetic and almost musical. I found myself re-reading lines because they were beautiful and powerful. However, I did find a lot lacking in this book.
Firstly, the world building. While reading it felt like Ross was saving much of the world-building for book 2 and focused more on character development in book 1. The story between Dacre and Enva seems very inspired by Persephone and Hades which could lead me to several different conclusions but the book gave me nothing to work with.
Second, I found the development of Iris and Roman's relationship really rushed. They both barely acknowledged their feelings but then suddenly they were in love. I think if there had been more of the story devoted to Roman and Iris actually talking about their feelings it wouldn't have felt so rushed.
All things considered, I still enjoyed this book. It was easy to read and I enjoyed lots of things about it. I hope that Ruthless Vows delves more into the world of the gods.
Note: I know people think the title refers to Iris and Roman being rivals-to-lovers but I think the title is actually referring to Enva and Dacre. But I also didn't go into the book thinking this would be an enemies-to-lovers or even really rivals-to-lovers so 🤷🏻♀️
Content Warnings
Graphic: War, Alcohol, Violence, Alcoholism, Death of parent, Blood, and Injury/Injury detail