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A review by nerdyforbooks_
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
adventurous
emotional
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
This book is solid, yes in a good way. While it didn’t totally knock it out of the park for me - this book has its issues - it’s a solid YA without feeling childish.
Does it lack some world building? Yes, but I have a feeling a lot of that is to come in the next book. There’s a lot we don’t know about why this war started. Is it a spurned lovers thing or something else? This world also generally isn’t that complex right now. It’s a world set in the equivalent of Earth’s 1940s (which some tweaks). Their tech isn’t fancy, their world isn’t fancy, and the magic isn’t their doing.
The romance is very YA in nature where they kinda do a quick enemies to lovers deal, or others have said - you’ve got mail. Does that make it bad? IMO no, we know the characters have about 5-6 months history with each other already. There is already some attraction there as well. It wasn’t this totally unexplained whirlwind.
All-in-all, I thought it was a solid read. Does it fall into some YA “issues”? Sure, but overall I thought they were navigated decently to not make me constantly eye roll or want to step away. I’ll be excited for the sequel to see what happens to our MC’s.
Does it lack some world building? Yes, but I have a feeling a lot of that is to come in the next book. There’s a lot we don’t know about why this war started. Is it a spurned lovers thing or something else? This world also generally isn’t that complex right now. It’s a world set in the equivalent of Earth’s 1940s (which some tweaks). Their tech isn’t fancy, their world isn’t fancy, and the magic isn’t their doing.
The romance is very YA in nature where they kinda do a quick enemies to lovers deal, or others have said - you’ve got mail. Does that make it bad? IMO no, we know the characters have about 5-6 months history with each other already. There is already some attraction there as well. It wasn’t this totally unexplained whirlwind.
All-in-all, I thought it was a solid read. Does it fall into some YA “issues”? Sure, but overall I thought they were navigated decently to not make me constantly eye roll or want to step away. I’ll be excited for the sequel to see what happens to our MC’s.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, War, Gun violence, Medical trauma, and Gore