Divine Rivals

By: Rebecca Ross

Narrated by: Alex Wingfield, Rebecca Norfolk

Length: 10 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

NO GOD

NO CREATURE

NO WAR

CAN COME BETWEEN THEM

The epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak from number one SUNDAY TIMES bestseller Rebecca Ross

Eighteen-year-old Iris dreams that one day her writing will make a difference. A war between gods is raging, and she’s landed a prestigious job at the Oath Gazette.

But at home, she’s barely holding it together. Her brother is missing on the frontline. Her mother is lost in a haze of addiction. And each night Iris pours her heart out in letters to her brother.

Letters that will never be answered. Or so she thinks…

They’ve made their way into the hands of the last person Iris trusts: Roman Kitt. Her cold, unforgiving rival at the paper.

Drawn together by fate and magic, they form an unlikely connection. They say love conquers all… but can it triumph in a war between gods?

©2023 Rebecca Ross (P)2023 HarperCollins Publishers Limited

Critic reviews

“Rich and romantic – if stories had scent, this one would smell like a mug of black tea, the ink ribbons of a typewriter, and that addictive spice called enemies to lovers." (Shelby Mahurin, New York Times bestselling author of Serpent & Dove)

"A sweeping start to a beautiful and romantic new series. Ross weaves her stories in such a vulnerable and delicate way, truly with a style all her own. I adored this book." (Adalyn Grace, New York Times bestselling author of Belladonna)

Goes downhill after the first half.

The first half of this book we’re introduced to this world, and characters without a lot of information.
The story has a lot of potential, and the first half shows it, however as you near the last few chapters the author doesn’t explain further the world or ideas. The second half seems rushed, the characters are thrown together without much explanation, *spoilers from here on out* and the war seems like an excuse to show “their undying love”.
We go from a nicely paced story to a quick resolution of problems going against the nature of the characters introduced to us. And the world around them is used as a device plot to further their romance, instead of the other way around.
Iris quickly falls for Roman, whereas a couple pages before she can’t forgive him for lying. Roman is shown as this knight in shinning armor, who’d do anything for Iris, without telling her.
Overall, this book pushed what was supposed to be the main plot (the war and Iris searching for Forest) aside in favor of a quick love story that doesn’t dwell too much on the resolution of the conflicts (Roman lying to Iris, and her forgiving him).

Overhyped BookTok

I am so tired of BookTok recommendations being so overhyped. Let me start by saying the book was fine. I would not normally be this inclined to leave a review of a book I thought was average if it were not for the mass rave reviews. I am adding mine for readers with similar taste who, like me, go through reviews to look for its worst criticism to decide whether they will enjoy the story or not. I will also not go into the performance which I thought was fine, too.

I read somewhere that someone called BookTok favourites "trope vehicles" and I completely agree. Most of the books I've disliked that I discovered on TikTok start with a good premise but don't execute. All I need from a book is really good character development and the ONLY books I have liked from BookTok were The Hating Game and Emily Henry's books which were able to build tension through the slow development or reveal of characters. Divine Rivals depends only on plot points to build tension. There is a TikTokker that makes skits about authors holding the characters hostage to make them do what she wants and I think this book falls into that because characters don't make decisions based on who they are (I still don't know who they are), but rather what the plot wants.

The romance plot was cute and I enjoy the idea of the magical letters (besides this and the gods, there is one early mention of magic in another situation, but that is it) and some of them made my heart skip a beat, they are so adorable. My gripe is with the insta-love aspect and lack of romantic tension. I adore "enemies to lovers" when it is done well. I love The Hating Game and Pride and Prejudice which add tension through their banter or make the MLI a bit unlikable at the beginning. I personally think dual POVs can remove tension because we know what the LI is thinking. I think this story could have benefitted from a single POV so that the requitedness of feelings at least has some tension (especially because the letters can give his POV). This "enemies to lovers" SAYS they are enemies but from the start, it is clear they are infatuated (they just don't know it yet). The narrator tells us they are bitter rivals but once again depends on plot (the competition for the same job) to be the only "show" (tension). But neither of them are actually invested in getting the job, so there goes that tension and with it the "enemies to lovers". Except for the characters sometimes mentioning that they are rivals, they spend more time missing each other and feeling things than being rivals. But, you know, enemies to lovers sells.

The next issue is probably tied to the world-building criticism. It is revealed early on that Roman is receiving her letters, so the tension now depends on his reveal. This is also resolved quite quickly once it comes out and is not really used otherwise (except for a moment in the trenches which was one of my favourite parts). We learn early on that his family has certain expectations but that is wiped away easily when the time comes and it is never really understood how or why they have those expectations. She experiences terrible loss but that is only used to get her to move on to the next plot point.

All this lack of tension and character development means that the MC makes certain decisions that make me want to punch her (a family trait, I think). The whole premise of why she stays behind is ruled out almost immediately and she risked everything for nothing, which you would think would be used for character development, but no, that would tarnish how good she is (someone else is blamed). I have nothing left to care about because she is so perfect and does not think she made any mistakes. I don't know why she makes certain decisions ("love for your brother" is not a character trait, it's supposed to be indicative of... what? Her empathy?). Her worst fear is realised in the end, but I am sure we won't see her character actually develop from it other than the narrator telling us it does. What exactly was I supposed to take from the story other than a few butterflies about a cute couple? I enjoy full-on romances that only focus on the relationship, but this story seems to want to be more without the legwork. War and death = sad. Period. So detached.

The war sub-plot is also a bit negligible. It's such a big topic with so many potential themes but it is clear that it is used as a backdrop for events to occur rather than adding to the story. Maybe it's a personal preference, but why include war in a story if it is not going to add something more than 1) occasions for the MCs to show how brave they are for showing up, 2) caring for the soldiers (off-screen), 3) creating the vehicle for the cliffhanger and 4) that's about it. If the theme is too heavy to explore, why use it? The detached tone around war wants to be the same as in Hunger Games, another YA novel with a war subplot, but that is a reflection of Katniss who is dissociating, and this MC is not supposed to be detached (I don't think). There are more hints that the war aspect was influenced by Hunger Games (I won't spoil), but again, Hunger Games is a really good example where war is used as a subplot but also as a vehicle to explore certain themes (pointlessness of war, what we do to survive, power, violence, etc.) which are additional vehicles for character development. I digress, but as someone who teaches about history, this seems to touch on WWI-like warfare too lightly for the sake of a story vehicle. Sidenote: Hunger Games is a completely different genre and not comparable, I use it to illustrate my point.

That being said, I found myself wanting to skip the scenes in battle. I felt myself getting annoyed with the scenes in the war with thoughts like "please don't tell me this is going to happen". And then it happens. Tropes and tropes without the build-up. I don't care about the war and the gods and even the soldiers because why should I? Please just get up, take your loved ones and get out of there. We are never shown why we should care except for a glimmer near the end when we realise how the "other side" have been fighting, but I've already dragged myself through those battle scenes. Unnecessary bad things are happening without my investment.

Not a criticism, but more an observation. There are some purity themes present, though the characters do have physical intimacy. The Bible is quoted (Song of Solomon) and looking back, the characters are pure romance coded. I love Sarah M. Eden, Julianne Donaldson and Annette K. Larsen (pure romance authors, I highly recommend Edenbrooke if you like this kind of romance) and have no problem with modest themes, I just have not seen anyone mention it so here it is; mentioned.

All in all, it is not a bad novel, it just lacks substance. I am also so sick of bad BookTok recommendations. I get that it is YA, but I don't think we should underdevelop something because people are younger. Even Winnie the Pooh has strong themes. So that is my personal analysis of why I was taken with the story initially but eventually disappointed.