Reviews tagging 'Classism'

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

31 reviews

spaghettii's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful mysterious 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

5.0

Any words I can find to describe this book would be an understatement. To put it simply, this was a beautiful and emotional book that reminded me why I love historical fantasy.

Spoiler

I found the plot endearing. It could be considered predictable, but I think the best written stories are where you know inevitably what will happen, but watch it play out anyways.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Religious bigotry, Murder, Medical trauma, Alcoholism, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Classism, Cursing, Gun violence, Medical content, Death, Blood, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Alcohol, Death of parent, War, Vomit, and Violence

jilliri's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring sad 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

5.0

“You are worthy of love. You are worthy to feel joy right now, even in the darkness”

The way this book has me in a chokehold 😭 This book masterfully balances contradicting themes through out:

Peace in war times 
Life in times of death
Joy in darkness
Comfort in times of sorrow

And all woven into Roman and Iris’ deep connection. From their playful rivalry to their inevitable love for one another. 

Just beautiful. This one will sit with me for a long time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Blood, and Violence

Moderate: Alcoholism, Classism, Death of parent, and Medical trauma

Minor: Sexual content

vj_thompson's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

This was just beautiful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, Death, Violence, Child death, and Medical content

Moderate: Alcoholism, Addiction, Blood, Panic attacks/disorders, Alcohol, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content, Misogyny, Cursing, Bullying, Kidnapping, Vomit, and Classism

nebraskanwriter's review against another edition

adventurous emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Vomit, Alcohol, Abandonment, Alcoholism, Blood, Grief, Medical content, Medical trauma, Sexual content, Cursing, Death of parent, War, Death, Car accident, Classism, Addiction, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence

lenchen25's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War, Grief, Drug use, Classism, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, Alcoholism, Blood, Drug abuse, Addiction, Death of parent, Death, and Violence

kirstenf's review

adventurous dark emotional hopeful sad 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Blood, War, Grief, Child death, Death of parent, and Alcoholism

Moderate: Violence, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Sexual content

Minor: Classism

radiantgeode's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad 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

4.75

I really enjoyed this book. It took a bit for me to really start liking it, but once I got into the pace, I began to love it. I love the romance through letter writing. It was different from what I’m used to and I found it a unique way for characters to fall in love.  I do wish there was a bit more world building and I hope to see more of that in the next book. 

The way Ross describes the feeling of grief, loss, and abandonment is so incredibly accurate. It left me so emotional at times that I had to stop and soak it in. 
I will definitely be reading more books by this author. I can’t wait to see what happens next and I already pre-ordered the next book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death of parent, Violence, Abandonment, Addiction, Alcoholism, Medical content, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, Vomit, Mental illness, Panic attacks/disorders, War, Classism, and Fire/Fire injury

lunaisreading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful 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? No

5.0

The plot, the setting, the pacing, the beautiful writing, the endearing characters, it all worked for me. It's a YA novel, so don't go into it expecting extremely intricate world-building (although that might change in the second book), but what it did introduce was good enough to set the scene and get you engaged in the story. I understand the criticisms in some reviews, but I believe it's one of those cases where you either connect with the book and absolutely love it, or you don't. Rarely happens for me, but in this case I really grew attached to the world and the characters. Overall, I got a very warm and cozy feeling while reading it (despite all the heartbreaking scenes and war setting) and didn't want to leave this world. Can't wait for book two! 

Spoiler

Roman is such a refreshing mmc, an extremely lovable person who's not afraid to be vulnerable, which is hard to find sometimes in "romantasy". I found his thoughts and behaviour towards Iris so wholesome to read about, and their romance was paced nicely and was not insta-lovey at all.

 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, War, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Grief, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, and Panic attacks/disorders

Minor: Classism and Sexual content

moonchild_cos's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Classism, Death of parent, Blood, Addiction, Alcohol, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and War

Moderate: Grief and Child death

Minor: Abandonment, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Vomit, and Medical content

wrensreadingroom's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

5.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Abandonment, Medical content, Mental illness, Murder, Sexual content, Vomit, War, Addiction, Classism, Death, Fire/Fire injury, Toxic relationship, Blood, Grief, Gun violence, Alcoholism, Alcohol, Cursing, Gore, Body horror, Death of parent, Panic attacks/disorders, Violence, Bullying, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, and Kidnapping