A review by michellefromsomewhere
Ruthless Vows by Rebecca Ross

slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

 

I really liked Divine Rivals, and was looking forward to this book, but Ruthless Vows was a letdown. I felt that Rebecca Ross had a lot of ideas, and didn’t want to narrow them down, so she attempted to include everything without fully developing most of them. I was never fully sucked into the story, and didn’t feel excited by the plot or invested in any of the characters. I picked it up several times hoping I would get more into it. I considered DNFing and felt like I was pushing through it. SPOILERS BELOW. 

I think Roman should have taken longer to remember Iris. It would have been fun if they had been writing for different papers, and Roman viewed them as rivals again, feeling like some of her articles seemed to be directed at him, but then convincing himself that was crazy. 

I never felt connected to Iris and Roman in this story; it felt like they were sidelined until the end when it was evident that Iris would be the one to save everyone. After Roman’s rant to Dacre about how he betrayed Dacre for love, why wouldn’t Iris and Attie find Roman in the underworld and free him, so that moment could come back in a final taunt about how choosing his love for Iris was always his strength? 

Dacre is the least impressive god ever? He freely gives away his plans, has no knowledge of schemes behind his back and is overall a very unscary big bad. I think the story as told would have made more sense if Dacre and Enva were fae and not gods, because then the vows they made to each other being unbreakable would have made more sense, and because them being gods doesn’t really serve a narrative function without there being a religion. It could have been powerful for the realization of “we don’t need any gods at all” if there had been a religious element introduced. Book one also raised the question of if Dacre was truly the bad guy and Enva was truly the good guy. This book made some VERY strong points for Enva being at least morally grey, but the narrative always viewed her as the good guy. Dacre was completely right that she sent people to die for her while she was nowhere to be found. Enva showing up at the end to help save the day was so frustrating. It was so unsatisfying that the reason she couldn’t help more was she couldn’t leave the city because of some deal made. It was even MORE frustrating that at the end she was like “oh maybe I can explore after all.”