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A review by _artemis
Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross
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? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Anyone who has read this book will pity the fact that I thought this book was a STAND ALONE!!!! Imagine my freaking surprise when Rebecca "Break my heart and stab my brain" Ross pulls out that mf-ing ending.
In truth, I was so swept up in everything that happened in the third act of this book (perfect, intense, beautiful, i cried) that I hadn't been thinking about all the "Chekov's Guns" that hadn't gone off yet -her brother, the gods, getting out of the literal eye of the storm, etc. . Of course, this not being the end end lines up with how well this book was written and constructed... would I have guessed more of the twists and turns had I known this was just book one in a series? Perhaps? I usually do? But who can say? So being absolutely bamboozled was immensely successful and it's safe to say I just had a manic expression and a dropped jaw for the last >100 pages. I really don't get to be properly swindled very often so I delight in it when an author pulls it off.
I'm always skeptical of the big booktok books — I think we all get that way now — but I also worried that the vibe and pacing was going to be an issue for me. So many folks, who I follow and love and trust had called this their #1 read of the year (so far) and I hate going in with that much pressure on a book. So I can't even say I went into this with a great attitude...
But a friend who'd already read this book checked in on me when I was more than halfway through, asking how I was liking it, to which I responded, "I think I love it! I've never read a cozy fantasy before." And she reasonably responded, "Girl, this is about trench warfare?!??!" She was right and I have something to discuss with my therapist this week! But I'm not entirely wrong, at least not for the grand majority of this book. The vibes are sweet and lovely and sad and messy and scary and tense and romantic and even sexy sometimes.
We're talking pining pen pals (10/10) and admiring, but sassy, rivals (say less). It's something every girl raised on a healthy diet of Dramione fanfic yearns for. And there is so much delicious, perfect yearning in this book. I don't know if this book is categorized as NA or YA, but considering our leads are teenagers I'd guess it's in the YA category. I definitely felt this belonged to the camp of YA books that's written at the ~adult~ level... whatever that means. It definitely has light and sparkly bits that you might not find in an adult fantasy... tho... idk... the NA genre really blurs that line now. And of course, because we're really talking about letters, language, grief, memory, and who writes our stories... there's a gentle pace with the romance and we take our time escalating the stakes in a way that only YA does... and frankly, everyone in the genre could stand to take notes. This was a master class in pacing, in scene setting, in writing craft. I could see it perhaps getting slightly to saccharine at times for some folks, but I'd also say get over yourself haha. And trust me those moments of sparkly cotton candy feelings will be quickly dismantled by PAIN. For as much as this is about rival journalists with magical typewriters... it is also about war correspondents on the frontlines.
As for the magical world building... it was an unexpected and refreshing change of pace. I feel like so many of the big (and wonderful) fantasy series out there right now have moved to the very heavy world building of high fantasy. I love it, have always loved it. But I'm also often exhausted by it. The magic in this book is both central to the plot and somehow also exists in the peripherals of this story. Our characters themselves aren't magical (as far as we know) and the gods' war they're in the middle of is being delegated and witnessed from afar. So most of what we're dealing with is a kind of historical setting (somewhere in the first half of the 20th century) with magical components coming into view every so often. It's much easier to effortlessly sink into the world design Ross paints with such beautiful writing for this reason. It's not too foreign feeling.
I almost forgot how lovely it can be to have an author who creates space to just... flood you with beautiful, beautiful prose that you just want to stop and reread several times over. Especially when it comes to the big and popular fantasy series... sometimes literary writing isn't at the top of the list of priorities. This book somehow manages to perfectly balance craft and story without ever feeling like one is sacrificed over the other.
And then of course there's our characters. Huge, passionate nerds who feel their age and like honestly moved me to tears with how tenderly they take time to just... hear one another. And when their chemistry ramps up I was genuinely blushing and like... "damn, good for you two." Roman is a brunette Draco and I didn't expect it and was over the moon about it. I love Iris and she's just a delight to read on the page. I'm also glad our 3rd act complication situation wasn't dragged out in a completely insufferable way. At one point you are like... "girl, for someone who's supposed to be detail oriented you sure are missing the plot here." But, I feel like she kind of addresses that in her admission to not knowing how to accept she deserves good things and just would rather kind of bolt or be in denial. We've all been there babe, proud of you!
Anyway, read this book. It is not the kind of book I imagined two chapters in that I'd speed read in a day and I actually managed that task with such ease it gutted me to get to the last page. A last page, I'll remind you, I did not expect to leave me absolutely thirsting for answers and I suppose an entire additional book like... NOW!!!
Also, I tend to be super annoying with ratings. I fret over giving anything a perfect 5 stars because what is perfect anyway? And when I debate it too long I just inevitably end up giving it 4.75 in the end. I did that for about a second here. Is this book perfect? God, what even is perfect? No? Close? But when I ended it, I felt a post-reading euphoria I haven't felt in a long time. One that is so wrapped up in everything the characters were going through, the kind of joy you only get from reading something really beautifully written, and feeling desperately hungry for the next chapter. I don't know if a book has to live up to any sort of list of perfect benchmarks to get a 5 stars for me (in the end)... I think it just needs to make me feel like that.
Can't wait for book 2 and already dread the waiting game!!!!
Also, Rebecca Ross what the fuck was that ENDING?!?!?! FOREST? EVIL GODS?? AND THEN YOU DID THAT TO ROMAN??? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU??? We're gonna have to be in pain for so long!!!
In truth, I was so swept up in everything that happened in the third act of this book (perfect, intense, beautiful, i cried) that I hadn't been thinking about all the "Chekov's Guns" that hadn't gone off yet -
I'm always skeptical of the big booktok books — I think we all get that way now — but I also worried that the vibe and pacing was going to be an issue for me. So many folks, who I follow and love and trust had called this their #1 read of the year (so far) and I hate going in with that much pressure on a book. So I can't even say I went into this with a great attitude...
But a friend who'd already read this book checked in on me when I was more than halfway through, asking how I was liking it, to which I responded, "I think I love it! I've never read a cozy fantasy before." And she reasonably responded, "Girl, this is about trench warfare?!??!" She was right and I have something to discuss with my therapist this week! But I'm not entirely wrong, at least not for the grand majority of this book. The vibes are sweet and lovely and sad and messy and scary and tense and romantic and even sexy sometimes.
We're talking pining pen pals (10/10) and admiring, but sassy, rivals (say less). It's something every girl raised on a healthy diet of Dramione fanfic yearns for. And there is so much delicious, perfect yearning in this book. I don't know if this book is categorized as NA or YA, but considering our leads are teenagers I'd guess it's in the YA category. I definitely felt this belonged to the camp of YA books that's written at the ~adult~ level... whatever that means. It definitely has light and sparkly bits that you might not find in an adult fantasy... tho... idk... the NA genre really blurs that line now. And of course, because we're really talking about letters, language, grief, memory, and who writes our stories... there's a gentle pace with the romance and we take our time escalating the stakes in a way that only YA does... and frankly, everyone in the genre could stand to take notes. This was a master class in pacing, in scene setting, in writing craft. I could see it perhaps getting slightly to saccharine at times for some folks, but I'd also say get over yourself haha. And trust me those moments of sparkly cotton candy feelings will be quickly dismantled by PAIN. For as much as this is about rival journalists with magical typewriters... it is also about war correspondents on the frontlines.
As for the magical world building... it was an unexpected and refreshing change of pace. I feel like so many of the big (and wonderful) fantasy series out there right now have moved to the very heavy world building of high fantasy. I love it, have always loved it. But I'm also often exhausted by it. The magic in this book is both central to the plot and somehow also exists in the peripherals of this story. Our characters themselves aren't magical (as far as we know) and the gods' war they're in the middle of is being delegated and witnessed from afar. So most of what we're dealing with is a kind of historical setting (somewhere in the first half of the 20th century) with magical components coming into view every so often. It's much easier to effortlessly sink into the world design Ross paints with such beautiful writing for this reason. It's not too foreign feeling.
I almost forgot how lovely it can be to have an author who creates space to just... flood you with beautiful, beautiful prose that you just want to stop and reread several times over. Especially when it comes to the big and popular fantasy series... sometimes literary writing isn't at the top of the list of priorities. This book somehow manages to perfectly balance craft and story without ever feeling like one is sacrificed over the other.
And then of course there's our characters. Huge, passionate nerds who feel their age and like honestly moved me to tears with how tenderly they take time to just... hear one another. And when their chemistry ramps up I was genuinely blushing and like... "damn, good for you two." Roman is a brunette Draco and I didn't expect it and was over the moon about it. I love Iris and she's just a delight to read on the page. I'm also glad our 3rd act complication situation wasn't dragged out in a completely insufferable way. At one point you are like... "girl, for someone who's supposed to be detail oriented you sure are missing the plot here." But, I feel like she kind of addresses that in her admission to not knowing how to accept she deserves good things and just would rather kind of bolt or be in denial. We've all been there babe, proud of you!
Anyway, read this book. It is not the kind of book I imagined two chapters in that I'd speed read in a day and I actually managed that task with such ease it gutted me to get to the last page. A last page, I'll remind you, I did not expect to leave me absolutely thirsting for answers and I suppose an entire additional book like... NOW!!!
Also, I tend to be super annoying with ratings. I fret over giving anything a perfect 5 stars because what is perfect anyway? And when I debate it too long I just inevitably end up giving it 4.75 in the end. I did that for about a second here. Is this book perfect? God, what even is perfect? No? Close? But when I ended it, I felt a post-reading euphoria I haven't felt in a long time. One that is so wrapped up in everything the characters were going through, the kind of joy you only get from reading something really beautifully written, and feeling desperately hungry for the next chapter. I don't know if a book has to live up to any sort of list of perfect benchmarks to get a 5 stars for me (in the end)... I think it just needs to make me feel like that.
Can't wait for book 2 and already dread the waiting game!!!!