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A review by nataliestorozhenko
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross
4.0
Oh, this book! It kept me anxious the whole way through and at times, I was really mad at it. I loved the first book because it did not hide that it was mostly about romance. The war and the gods seemed to be mostly in the background, turning our focus to the characters. But in this book, we're definitely in the thick of it all, and somehow everything spun in reverse.
There was very little time exploring Iris and Roman's dynamic, and mostly we follow how Dacre's forces move and how Iris tries to help. Of course, it raises so many questions specifically to the war point. While Dacre is intended to be all-powerful and scary, and I understand that he needed to share his propaganda, it still was very unnatural for him to hold Roman so close. Roman is a very young correspondent with not a lot of experience and without much power. And holding him so close to the war council that he can glimpse all the maps and plans makes Dacre seem so stupid and not like a realistic threat. A lot of things regarding the war seemed to lack logic.
But as I understand this duology is mostly romance than fantasy, I can forgive the plot holes. However, I was just mad that we wasted this time on this instead of spending more time with Roman and Iris. And, oh God, it has taken half a book for him to remember her!! These first 200 pages were so painful to read, and I just wanted to skim over them, not caring what Dacre was doing and who's where doing what.
What I would have preferred is a more realistic approach where we really looked into how propaganda works. It would have been interesting to see the battles between the gazettes, Roman and Iris trying to outsmart each other with words and trying to get hold of the narrative while secretly conspiring to give Dacre a massive blow information-wise using not real weapons but words. It felt like such a lost opportunity to me because rivalry was what started it all, and their job as war correspondents was the most interesting part of this duology.
Because these are just young people, it felt so unnatural to me to see Iris using a sword and Roman going in the first lines of Dacre's soldiers. So I felt like the war and the gods should have stayed in the background like in the first book. We should have followed ordinary people who can change the tide of war using their brains and their typewriters.
Also, did we really need to kill off poor guy Forest? Hasn't he suffered enough? And along with his love? Failing to protect her with his body? I think not.
Overall, I still love this duology with all my heart, and I think I rate this book mostly for the combined experience of both books and also my love for this couple. Those VERY FEW but sweet glimpses of Iris and Roman were very endearing. How they tried to sneak to each other and how they carried the words from their letters within them to remember and support them during the hard moments. Even though I'm frustrated with how long Roman was remembering her, I love the detail that it was now her turn to use her middle name, and their letters to each other never disappoint, which was the main reason I loved this series at all.
There was very little time exploring Iris and Roman's dynamic, and mostly we follow how Dacre's forces move and how Iris tries to help. Of course, it raises so many questions specifically to the war point. While Dacre is intended to be all-powerful and scary, and I understand that he needed to share his propaganda, it still was very unnatural for him to hold Roman so close. Roman is a very young correspondent with not a lot of experience and without much power. And holding him so close to the war council that he can glimpse all the maps and plans makes Dacre seem so stupid and not like a realistic threat. A lot of things regarding the war seemed to lack logic.
But as I understand this duology is mostly romance than fantasy, I can forgive the plot holes. However, I was just mad that we wasted this time on this instead of spending more time with Roman and Iris. And, oh God, it has taken half a book for him to remember her!! These first 200 pages were so painful to read, and I just wanted to skim over them, not caring what Dacre was doing and who's where doing what.
What I would have preferred is a more realistic approach where we really looked into how propaganda works. It would have been interesting to see the battles between the gazettes, Roman and Iris trying to outsmart each other with words and trying to get hold of the narrative while secretly conspiring to give Dacre a massive blow information-wise using not real weapons but words. It felt like such a lost opportunity to me because rivalry was what started it all, and their job as war correspondents was the most interesting part of this duology.
Because these are just young people, it felt so unnatural to me to see Iris using a sword and Roman going in the first lines of Dacre's soldiers. So I felt like the war and the gods should have stayed in the background like in the first book. We should have followed ordinary people who can change the tide of war using their brains and their typewriters.
Also, did we really need to kill off poor guy Forest? Hasn't he suffered enough? And along with his love? Failing to protect her with his body? I think not.
Overall, I still love this duology with all my heart, and I think I rate this book mostly for the combined experience of both books and also my love for this couple. Those VERY FEW but sweet glimpses of Iris and Roman were very endearing. How they tried to sneak to each other and how they carried the words from their letters within them to remember and support them during the hard moments. Even though I'm frustrated with how long Roman was remembering her, I love the detail that it was now her turn to use her middle name, and their letters to each other never disappoint, which was the main reason I loved this series at all.