Review: Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1)
Divine Rivals (Letters of Enchantment #1)
By Rebecca Ross
Published By: Magpie Books
Publication Date: April 13, 2023
Date Read: December 27, 2023
Genre: YA – Fantasy
Source: Bought
Format: Hardback
Pages: 368
From Goodreads:
When two young rival journalists find love through a magical connection, they must face the depths of hell, in a war among gods, to seal their fate forever.After centuries of sleep, the gods are warring again. But eighteen-year-old Iris Winnow just wants to hold her family together. Her mother is suffering from addiction and her brother is missing from the front lines. Her best bet is to win the columnist promotion at the Oath Gazette.
To combat her worries, Iris writes letters to her brother and slips them beneath her wardrobe door, where they vanish—into the hands of Roman Kitt, her cold and handsome rival at the paper. When he anonymously writes Iris back, the two of them forge a connection that will follow Iris all the way to the front lines of battle: for her brother, the fate of mankind, and love.
Shadow and Bone meets Lore in Rebecca Ross’s Divine Rivals, an epic enemies-to-lovers fantasy novel filled with hope and heartbreak, and the unparalleled power of love.
Divine Rivals is a book that I have been dying to get my hands on from the moment I first heard about it. Last year in 2022, I read my first Rebecca Ross series, The Elements of Cadence, and I fell head over heels in love with her world building, her characters and her absolutely stunning writing style. So when I heard all the ARC readers raving over Divine Rivals, I couldn’t wait. And then I heard them saying how heartbreaking it was, so I put it off. Fast forward a number of months, when the sequel is just about to come out and I decided it was finally time to pick this one up. I am so glad I finally did as this book is just absolutely stunning.
Divine Rivals was everything I could have possibly wanted and more. Rebecca Ross has proven herself yet again as a phenomenal fantasy writer. I honestly cannot praise her writing style enough. It is so beautiful and lyrical and I find it so easy to fall into. Due to my demanding job it usually takes me around a week or two to finish reading a book, if I’m reading it physically. I devoured Divine Rivals in two days. I was supposed to be buddy reading it with my good friend Asis (who has been recommending Rebecca Ross’ books to me for years) and I just left her behind while I absolutely devoured every word. I honestly love Rebecca’s books so much and she is finding herself at the top of my favourite authors list as I just cannot get enough of her phenomenal books.
One thing I adore about this book is that while we have the setting of a war between gods, it does not focus on the ins and outs of it. We experience the myths about the history of the gods, but the focus of the book is on the impact the war is having on the families of those fighting on the front lines. I found this so refreshing as many books regarding wars and gods, we usually see them first hand. In this book we don’t and I just found the focus of the story being on the bigger impact of the war on the communities and families etc. so heartbreaking, in the best way.
Iris and Roman are just the most gorgeous couple you could ever imagine. Their love story is so adorably sweet and so romantic. If you’re a movie buff think You’ve Got Mail but with magic. I just loved every single moment of it. And while this is fantasy and set in a fantasy land the magic is so subtly woven into this story, it’s not in your face obvious magic. It’s just an accepted part of the world that some things are magical… like a magical typewriter. I just loved absolutely everything about it.
Divine Rivals is without a doubt the best book I have read so far this year (and I’m writing this on December 27th after reading 75 other books). I loved every single moment of it and I will be diving straight into Ruthless Vows as I need to see what is going to happen to my beloved characters. If you’ve been putting this one off… don’t. It’s absolutely gorgeous and it has me, a series non-finisher, diving straight into the next book. I never usually read more than one book in a series at a time as I get bored, so the fact I am diving straight into book 2 really says a lot!
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I’m Kayleigh, a teacher and blogger who is obsessed with all things bookish. I love reading YA books of all genres and I am happiest when sharing my love and passion for books.