Reviews tagging 'Grief'

Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross

356 reviews

lauramparis's review against another edition

adventurous emotional medium-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

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

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Medical content, and Grief

Minor: Sexual content

emerentina's review against another edition

dark emotional tense

• 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: Child death, Death, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Death, Gore, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, and Death of parent

Minor: Emotional abuse and Kidnapping

melarareading's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

5 stars even though the ending has broken my heart and I now have to rush to read the next one. I have to say, this book is not an easy read, because it describes very heavy topics such as alcoholism and war in a very realistic way. The writing is impeccable and compelling. I never understood what people meant when they said that a book was atmospheric, but I get it now. I felt like I was there in the trenches with them, I felt the anxiety and fear of the war and the happiness and excitement of the romance. 
The only thing I would change is the book description and name, I think they don't match the theme of the book at all. 
All in all, a great book, even if it made me feel anxious and like I had a weight on my chest from time to time.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Grief and Injury/Injury detail

jdjulia96's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Grief and Death of parent

Moderate: Gore and War

elledanie's review

adventurous dark emotional sad slow-paced

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

3.0

Do not recommend—doesn’t live up to all the hype. Where was the fantasy??

Was it seriously only the magical typewriter thing? The supernatural creatures we barely saw? “Divine” being used as simply an adjective instead of referring to anyone’s magic or abilities or anything related to gods/goddesses is so lame.

No one warned us that this was primarily a WWI book like?? No thx!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Medical content, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Violence, Blood, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Domestic abuse and Abandonment

mrsalexisrjones's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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

4.5

A girl writes letters to her long lost brother in war.. except they aren’t going to him.. they’re going to her rival at the newspaper company. With war, news, enemies to lovers, found family, the sorrows of war, and a hope for a better tomorrow, divine rivals is a great read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: War

Moderate: Death, Violence, Grief, and Death of parent

Minor: Child death, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Sexual content, Blood, Medical content, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

karlin0336's review against another edition

adventurous emotional tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Death of parent, and War

Moderate: Alcoholism, Panic attacks/disorders, Vomit, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cursing and Sexual content

xchloe_bxx's review against another edition

adventurous emotional inspiring mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Blood, Grief, Death of parent, Fire/Fire injury, War, and Injury/Injury detail

lncolgate's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional hopeful 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? It's complicated

5.0

Stellar read! Just exquisite! Emotionally wrecked throughout and by the end! 

Rebecca Ross has fantastic prose writing. Beautiful sentences -gorgeous imagery and metaphors. Draws out pure emotion while reading —never forced, never saccharine, never this is how you’re SUPPOSED to feel. You just feel all the characters emotions intensely. 

The book reads as both fantasy  and historical fiction. The fantasy is magical realism rather than traditional swords and sorcery or even steampunk. It’s effortless blend. The world feels so real and akin to our own. I can’t help but think of contemporary events going on and how people experiencing the effects of war directly would feel reading this. 

Every main character is well developed. Hell even the bit characters you remember. There’s not too many and they’re all interconnected with Roman and Iris’s story. 

The letters are so beautifully written. Man haven’t read a contemporary epistolary novel like that in a long time; honestly can’t remember if I’ve read one outside Dracula, Little Women, and Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility. So much thought and care put into them. Again, it all feels so real-ironic given it’s a fantasy novel where I’m not normally looking for realism. Emotions and stories they tell one another are just pure, unfiltered.

The story is tragic, exciting, and full of emotion. I wolfed it down from start to finish. I couldn’t get enough. Felt like  I didn’t want to stop to breathe at times. I forgive even the massive cliffhanger ending because this book is just that good. I feel Ross does close one arc—the relationship and romance between Iris and Roman. The start and the culmination of it. Now we have a trial—a quest. It’s an epic romance sure to endure the rest of time. 

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Content Warnings

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

casey_bloom's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring sad medium-paced

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

4.75

A captivating story that can easily be read in one setting. Ross has a poetic lyrical prose writing style that was magical to read.
Aesthetic and Tropes:

•  Dual POVs
• War - in the trenches
• Gods at war & magic
• Letters/pen pals 
• Workplace rivals -> lovers 
• He falls first 
• Found family 

The letters were my favourite part of the story as they were intimate and raw and showed how two people can form a connection through vulnerability, sharing their feelings of loss and grief with one another. 

I adored the found family aspect of this story, the array of characters that we meet on Iris and Roman’s journey was special and I loved the bond they all formed. 

My only negative is that I would have liked a bit more of an in depth explanation of the world building and magic system as I found it lacked depth at times. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Grief, Death of parent, and War