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A review by britley_adler
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Iris and Roman are rival writers, both vying for the same coveted position of columnist at their local newspaper. They're opposites in every way, the most important being, perhaps, that their families support different sides of a war between two gods, Dacre and Enva.
After a century of sleep, Dacre rose and declared war on the eastern boroughs. In opposition, Enva calls people to fight for her through music. Iris's brother, Forest, answers this call. When Iris doesn't hear from Forest, she assumes the worst and writes letters to him that she slips under her wardrobe, where they are whisked away by magic not to Forest, but to Roman.
What worked for me:
This was a difficult book to dislike, simply because the writing is exquisite. Between word choice, plot structure, and description, Ross's writing is captivating and grounding, providing a viscerally perfect picture of what's going on in the story, and even though I didn't really vibe with the plot or some of the narrative choices, I stuck with this book for that reason.
I resonated with both Iris's and Roman's struggles with their family: guilt, grief, and warring priorities in a family are things I think everyone can relate to. I also personally resonated with Iris's struggles with poverty and caring for an ailing parent. If Ross doesn't have personal experience with these things, then she must have done very diligent research because she nailed it.
The side characters were interesting, the love story was romantic, and the twist at the end was not one that I saw coming.
That being said, here's what didn't work for me:
I'm not a fan of stories told through correspondences. Too often, these stories fall into a pattern of using letters as opportune moments for info-dumping. Important scenes are told in reverse or addressed in a letter after the fact. Information in the letters is too convenient, too believable. There are few misunderstandings, and somehow, everything in a letter is said just right. DIVINE RIVALS falls into some of these traps, but not all. The letters are used for info-dumping and the information contained within is too conveniently exactly what the other character needs.
While the side characters were interesting, I didn't feel like they had enough depth to them. This is a common issue I had with this book in general, actually. Unlike most books of the "Romantasy" genre, which often feel like they could have been cut down much shorter, I would've liked to see a version of this book that was a bit longer, which I think would have allowed for more character development all around. The romance was interesting but a little too fast for me.
I enjoyed the plot twist at the end but didn't feel like there was enough lead-up or hints dropped throughout. By the end, the characters were so different from the beginning of the book that they felt like different people entirely, and the plot twist, while interesting, was very confusing because there had been few hints throughout the story that the plot twist was possible. Again, I think this is the result of a ruthless editor who perhaps cut too many words, and I think it could have been solved if DIVINE RIVALS was 5,000-ish words longer.
All in all, I would give DIVINE RIVALS a solid 3.5 stars. I will likely read the sequel to see how the story is resolved, but this doesn't make the list of my favorites.
After a century of sleep, Dacre rose and declared war on the eastern boroughs. In opposition, Enva calls people to fight for her through music. Iris's brother, Forest, answers this call. When Iris doesn't hear from Forest, she assumes the worst and writes letters to him that she slips under her wardrobe, where they are whisked away by magic not to Forest, but to Roman.
What worked for me:
This was a difficult book to dislike, simply because the writing is exquisite. Between word choice, plot structure, and description, Ross's writing is captivating and grounding, providing a viscerally perfect picture of what's going on in the story, and even though I didn't really vibe with the plot or some of the narrative choices, I stuck with this book for that reason.
I resonated with both Iris's and Roman's struggles with their family: guilt, grief, and warring priorities in a family are things I think everyone can relate to. I also personally resonated with Iris's struggles with poverty and caring for an ailing parent. If Ross doesn't have personal experience with these things, then she must have done very diligent research because she nailed it.
The side characters were interesting, the love story was romantic, and the twist at the end was not one that I saw coming.
That being said, here's what didn't work for me:
I'm not a fan of stories told through correspondences. Too often, these stories fall into a pattern of using letters as opportune moments for info-dumping. Important scenes are told in reverse or addressed in a letter after the fact. Information in the letters is too convenient, too believable. There are few misunderstandings, and somehow, everything in a letter is said just right. DIVINE RIVALS falls into some of these traps, but not all. The letters are used for info-dumping and the information contained within is too conveniently exactly what the other character needs.
While the side characters were interesting, I didn't feel like they had enough depth to them. This is a common issue I had with this book in general, actually. Unlike most books of the "Romantasy" genre, which often feel like they could have been cut down much shorter, I would've liked to see a version of this book that was a bit longer, which I think would have allowed for more character development all around. The romance was interesting but a little too fast for me.
I enjoyed the plot twist at the end but didn't feel like there was enough lead-up or hints dropped throughout. By the end, the characters were so different from the beginning of the book that they felt like different people entirely, and the plot twist, while interesting, was very confusing because there had been few hints throughout the story that the plot twist was possible. Again, I think this is the result of a ruthless editor who perhaps cut too many words, and I think it could have been solved if DIVINE RIVALS was 5,000-ish words longer.
All in all, I would give DIVINE RIVALS a solid 3.5 stars. I will likely read the sequel to see how the story is resolved, but this doesn't make the list of my favorites.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death of parent, Injury/Injury detail, War, Blood, Violence, Medical trauma, and Death