zahraimaan 's review for:

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
2.5
adventurous reflective medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: No
this book had so much potential, but really disappointed me. it just felt tame and i get that this is a YA book, but it could have delved into the atrocities of the war much more than it did. the war in the book is supposedly inspired by world war I, which was gruesome and horrific, and yet the book doesn't even include anything meaningful the soldiers say?

the main characters had so much chemistry in the beginning, and their rivalry didn't feel unbelievable but the romance wasn't developed enough for their ending. i think roman needed more chapters too, because
having him just show up to avalon bluff and pretty much declare his love for iris when he hadn't really talked about it himself was very odd. and his father would never have allowed him to call off the engagement and just leave for war like that. roman should have either mentioned how difficult it was to fight his father or said he wrote a letter and just left.
it also felt sort of insta-lovey? like i believed they had potential in the beginning, and yet iris never really talked about her romantic feelings until
roman declared his own for her
, and then it was just instantly reciprocated? from iris' perspective you could see roman start to care for her, but roman himself never really talked about his feelings, and then when
his father talked about his "romance" with iris, roman all of a sudden loved iris? enough to join her in the war?
i think their set up in the first act was good, and then it fell off in the later acts. their
marriage
was way too rushed too, they had a couple of days or weeks together and then that happens? i would have loved that in book 2, but it was way too early now, and just felt like the author wanted
them to feel deeply connected so they would chase after each other in book 2.


i also feel like i should mention that these people are
war correspondents
and yet the theme of war is so mild, not a single
significant person dies? they are in the middle of a war, someone should have died. we also get to see many of the letters and titles of articles they write early on, but pretty much none are showed during the actual war. are they there to help or to show the war to the public? iris should have published one of the soldiers' letters in the newspaper, that was a missed opportunity.
it really felt like the author just used the war as a backdrop for the romance, when it had so much potential for more. again, this is a YA book so she had to keep it light, but so is legendborn, and it dealt with heavy topics beautifully. 

honestly, the wrong person was the main character here. what do you mean
forest was fighting for one god, then was mentally compelled to fight for another? that would have been so interesting to read about, and it wouldn't have been difficult to include a romance with another female soldier.


the ending was also really odd, in my opinion.
forest wouldn't have left roman behind when he could have easily helped roman whilst iris ran on her own. and then to just turn around to look for him on the same field later on? especially if he saw roman and iris kissing, he understood that she was in a relationship with roman, he should have grabbed three masks and dash packs. also, how do they still have their apartment when they're poor and i assume haven't paid their rent? iris makes good money as a war correspondent, but just include a line that says how she pays (crying emoji)


still, i think some of the letters were cute and i liked the writing of the book over all. the idea was unique, and i liked act one, but it did go downhill from there. i probably won't read book 2.

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