Divine Rivals
Divine Rivals Book Review by Rebecca Ross
I have a feeling this book review might be short and sweet (quite unusual for me).
Divine Rivals is one one of those books that I avoided reading because it had so much hype. It’s been topping the New York Times Bestseller’s List for weeks and I just…couldn’t believe that it was worth all the attention it was getting.
I was wrong, but in my defense, the last book I read with tons of praise and accolades was Fourth Wing and that book was certainly not worth the recognition in any way, shape, or form.
Divine Rivals, however, to my utmost surprise, was a super enjoyable read, probably one of the best that I’ve read in awhile.
My school librarian (I work at a high school) finally convinced me to read it as she flew all the way up to Washington to attend Rebecca Ross’ book signing and couldn’t stop singing its praises.
As a fellow YA reader inspired by her dedication, I finally bought Divine Rivals with lingering reluctance. Very quickly though, that reluctance turned into relief and then that relief transitioned into a rave review. That brings us to the present.
Divine Rivals is a true enemies-to-lovers. I feel like YA has been so over saturated with enemies-to-lovers lately, but they’ve all been subpar and disappointing.
The so-called “enemies” stage lasts all of five minutes before they immediately become lovers. Divine Rivals actually was a true enemies-to-lovers, and a good one at that.
Additionally, the main characters, Iris and Roman, don’t suddenly change their feelings for one another overnight. It’s a slow realization of coming to terms that the vitriol they felt for each other was always a razor’s edge away from love.
They’ve always had passion, always driven each other, and that is what makes the best enemies-to-lovers: the deliberate and almost imperceptible change of hating one another to loving one another and then realizing it’s not all that different in the end.
Speaking of Iris and Roman, I like them as characters. Were they the best, most amazing characters of all time? No. But they were genuinely good.
Iris is passionate, caring, and brave. Roman is dedicated, persistent, and loving. My only gripe is that I do think Iris and Roman are a little too perfect.
The worst thing Roman did was fall asleep while his little sister was sleeping, only to have her drown. While this is terrible, it was also an accident. It wasn’t actually anything intentional on Roman’s part.
I do think Iris has more moments of selfishness perhaps, especially when thinking about Forest and how she’s been left alone, but even then it’s very understandable and not even that bad to begin with.
They’re both almost unflinchingly brave, kind, and altruistic, which is quite bothersome, but in this case it’s not a huge gripe that I have.
Other than the actually good enemies-to-lovers story device, my other favorite part of the novel was the plot, which astonished me, especially considering that this is a war novel.
I don’t like war. It’s violent, brutal, and heart-wrenching. Thinking about it, I don’t believe I’ve actually read a YA novel centered around war before.
For that reason, I appreciated its uniqueness, especially in the sense that Roman and Iris were war correspondents and not soldiers.
I thought that was an interesting detail to include, one for the better as then we got to see the cruelty and ferocity of war, but it didn’t take up the entire book and we got to explore other avenues as well—like the support side of war, their life before the war, etc.
Iris looking for her missing-in-action older brother was a great plot point as well, one that really drove her character and fueled a lot of her actions. Roman’s motivations were a bit weaker, as the unwanted arranged marriage as a device is a bit overused in my opinion.
He essentially just followed Iris because he liked her, but it would have been good if he had other reasons to motivate him other than his feelings for Iris.
The other characters in the novel are fine and play their roles well. However, I will make the blanket statement that they don’t really matter in any significant way.
Marisol, Attie, any of the soldiers—they’re stock characters without too much development.
But that’s okay. While I would have liked a little more development of Attie’s and Iris’ friendship, the focus really is on Roman and Iris and I accept that.
One facet of the novel I really liked was the small, almost easy-to-forget casual moments of magic. Fantasy elements are present throughout the whole novel, but they’re small, curious tidbits instead of huge game-changing elements—until the very end at least.
For example, the whole war is between two gods. You get this backstory as a reader that there used to be hundreds of gods, but that humans banded together to kill them.
Eventually, only the most powerful gods remained until they were murdered as well, put to rest, and buried in graves…until now. Two gods, Enva and Dacre, have risen and are ranging war, gods with a twisted past and even more twisted feelings.
The backdrop of the war is unique and interesting, but never too heavy. You get some exposition here and there, the occasional myth that crops up, but that’s it.
I cannot state how much I appreciate Ross’ world-building here. It’s light, but intriguing. It molds the story, but doesn’t require massive amounts of chapters of mundane explanation.
It’s perfectly well-executed.
Even the magic part is interesting. It’s mentioned here and there that magic exists, but in small, unceremonious doses. An odd door here, an alley there, a magical typewriter—nothing huge, but instead these small details that just add to the world and make it special.
I have a feeling that we’re going to learn more about the gods, their backstory, and the magic system in the next book and I can’t wait.
One of the only things that downgraded this book for me was the ending. Spoiler alert for moving forward, as I will be discussing the conclusion in intricate detail.
It is beyond frustrating to me when authors take the whole book to finally get two characters together, two characters that they know their readers are rooting for and can’t wait to see, and then finally deliver it only to shatter it one second later.
For instance, it takes Roman and Iris nearly the whole book to come to terms with their feelings and be shaped by world events before they finally unite in holy matrimony (literally). It’s beautiful. As a reader you are overjoyed at finally having reached this point.
Then, through flimsy excuses, Ross separates the two almost immediately with the insinuation that Roman will turn into Dacre’s war puppet and they will once again have to fight to find each other and be together. It’s my guess that this will take the entire next book.
It is so baffling and aggravating to me when authors do this. We want to see Iris and Roman together. That’s why we’re reading. Let me see their relationship blossom. Just because they got married doesn’t mean the story is over.
Marriage is hard. Let me see them navigate this new stage of their relationship. That would be so interesting and just as complex.
When you separate them literally a few hours after they get married we get to see nothing.
What is the point?
You’ve undermined all the progress you’ve made throughout the whole book and now we’re back at square one.
Iris literally is back in Oath, her hometown, living in the apartment where she started, working a journalist’s job.
It is beyond excruciating to feel like the progress, feelings, and events of the first book are all but wiped away just so that Ross can have something to write about again?
I’ve said it before and I'll say it again: couples can get together and still be interesting. It’s not just about getting together, but staying together.
Urgh.
Up until the ending, I was so into this book. While the ending didn’t ruin things, it really annoyed me to know that we will now take the whole next book to find Romana and he probably won’t even be his full self.
I can see it all clearly laid out. If this is not the case, I will be pleasantly surprised, but I don’t count on it.
I didn’t even get into the bit of Iris not recognizing Roman and mistaking him for Forest, but I’ll leave at: it was stupid and not believable, even with circumstances presented.
In general, other than the ending, Divine Rivals is fantastic. The morsels of magic that leave you wanting more, the successful enemies-to-lovers with a payoff (until it’s immediately ripped away from you), the background of war and raging gods—it’s all sublime in the best way possible.
Recommendation: If it gives you any indication on how I felt about this book—I already started reading Ruthless Vows and I can’t wait to sink my teeth into it and devour it from beginning to end.
Score: 8/10 (would have been higher without the idiotic and cliched ending).
P.S. (Turns out my book review was not short and sweet. Whoops.)
Score: 8/10
