Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross: a review
Stop what you’re doing and read this book.
I literally just finished this, so forgive me if I’m a bit emotional, but I am just thrilled. Hurt, but thrilled. What a tender and beautiful story. It’s basically what if You’ve Got Mail was set against a war of gods, and instead of Meg Ryan being afraid her bookstore would get bought, it’s what if they all get bombed instead? And what if the male lead isn’t Tom Hanks, but the most handsome, cleverest boy you ever did read? For real, this is now an Iris and Roman stan account.
Oh, my heart.
Overall: 9/10
Prose: 10/10
Main character likability: 10/10
Am I digging the romance: 10/10
Dialogue: 10/10
World building: 7/10
Does the magic system make sense: 6/10
Likelihood to continue the series: 10/10
Will I recommend this book to others: I will force this book into people’s hands
Iris and Roman
Yes. This is what I’m talking about. I came out of this book feeling like I spent SO much time with these two, and I already miss them now that I’ve finished. They’re both very pleasant, and their interactions are endearing and fun. It’s easy to buy into their love story because we get to be there for every second of it, and by the time I reached the end of the book, it hurt how emotionally invested I was. The book spends fairly equal time from both Iris’s and Roman’s POV, which normally I’m not crazy about, but in this case it was done very well and I didn’t mind at all.
The prose
It was easy to get lost in the lovely words of this story. I actually started the first chapter with the intention of coming back to it later, but even from the first few pages, it was evident Rebecca Ross was about to tell me a finely crafted story, and I had better sit down, so I did. I think I read this in two days? I just couldn’t stay away. At certain points, the prose is downright lyrical, even when the subject matter turns pretty dark. I enjoyed the dialogue as well, which I tend to be pretty critical about. The banter is witty without being annoying, and when it turns sweet, it avoids being too saccharine.
The world-building
Here is where I have to raise some concern, unfortunately. I found the whole war-of-gods- backdrop to be a bit strange. Besides that and the magical typewriters Iris and Roman use, there is no trace of magic or supernatural activity in the story, at all. Really, it almost felt like two different stories. I found any mention of the gods to be quite jarring at times because the rest of the elements of the world and story were so mundane and normal. I don’t want to judge too quickly, because perhaps the second book will delve more into this and the world as a whole will make more sense. But for now, with the information I do have, the war seems to be very silly and I’m not quite sure why humans are involved at all, and I find the Enva/Dacre story to be all too similar to Hades/Persephone, which is a bit of a let down. Besides that, there’s supposed to be other gods as well, but they’re sleeping? It’s all just a bit vague and abstract, and I’m not sure why it’s necessary. Often, I found myself wishing that the war was just a normal human war and the typewriters were the only magical element.
Other takeaways:
Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt are both excellent names.
I often get nervous when characters get built up to be excellent writers, but the letters these two write to each other had me downright weepy. Bravo.
The cover of this book is S T U N N I N G.
What a great transition from summer —> fall read.
I feel like there are a lot of heavy subject matters here (grief, survivor’s guilt, WAR) and they are all handled with a lot of care and kindness.
The cliffhanger at the end of this book is pretty cruel, so if you want to wait until closer to December (Ruthless Vows release), that is probably wise. Or you can suffer like me. :)