Rival journalists. A war between two gods. Letters to and from an unnamed pen pal. Divine Rivals by Rebecca Ross stands out for its setting—fantasy set in a mostly realistic world laced with historical energy—and its unique implementation of the enemies-to-lovers trope. Despite the blurb selling it as another cookie-cutter novel, the first book of Ross’s trending duology is more than just a pretty cover: it is a unique novel in a densely populated genre.
Fantasy novels usually contain substantial world building, as the setting is completely different from reality. For example, the Sarah J. Maas series A Court of Thorn and Roses is set in the fictional Faerie-controlled country of Prythian. While the land is shared with humans, the focus is on the magical beings. However, Divine Rivals strays from this norm, introducing a mostly realistic world with some fantasy elements and main characters that remain completely human. Characters travel on the railroad and drive trucks along dirt roads. Though there is a war that ensues between two gods, humans are the ones doing the fighting, and they use guns, rather than swords and spears, as many fantasy characters do if they don’t use magic. With other fantasy novels, such as J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, all the main characters are witches and wizards. Though there are humans—Muggles—they mostly stay out of the main storyline and are side characters if they do appear. On the other hand, Divine Rival’s two main characters, Iris Winnow and Roman C. Kitt, are human and remain human for the entirety of the novel. Rather than resolving issues with magic, they are fighting against the magic that opposes them. This distinction allows Divine Rivals to stand apart from the many books in the genre and makes it more inviting for readers looking to get into fantasy novels.
Although the setting is mostly realistic, Divine Rivals is rightfully classified as a fantasy novel with elements that would entice seasoned fantasy readers. Similar to some books, the story takes place in a fictional country, in the city of Oath. The way Ross describes the city conjures images of wide cobblestone streets and the crowded London streets. She never explicitly mentions the time period; however, you can tell that the story takes place in a historical setting through Ross’s choice of words and some components of the story, like the typewriters Iris and Roman use as they work as journalists for a newspaper, the Oath Gazette. Though many high fantasy novels take place in a historical time period, Divine Rivals is one of the few that take place post-Scientific Revolution. Looks are always deceiving because while the exterior of Oath’s buildings are reminiscent to New York’s older buildings, some are enchanted, as demonstrated when Iris enters an enchanted supermarket and it pushes only the products she can afford toward her.
The focus of the fantastical setting is the war between Dacre and Enva, two gods of opposing origins: the former an Underling god and the latter a Skyward goddess. In a rather clunky fashion, Ross explains the backstory of why there is a war in the form of a story within the story. This mythical conflict allows for other fantasy elements, such as the monsters that Dacre unleashes on towns close to the frontlines of the war, like Avalon Bluff (the town that Iris stays in when she becomes a war correspondent). Another enjoyable magical element—which also advances the romantic plot of the story—is the personal typewriters that Iris and Roman own, enchanted two generations ago to ensure that letters written by these devices would be received by the other person.
The timeless enemies-to-lovers trope has been overdone, making it hard for one book to stand out among the rest. While keeping the elements of a good enemies-to-lovers trope the same, the process in which Iris and Roman fall in love is rather distinct. Face-to-face, the two are rivals for the position of columnist at the Oath’s Gazette. Through letters, they write more intimate words and trade bits of their weakness that hide beneath the armor that they show to the world every day because of a connection forged by accident. The twist with their relationship is that Iris does not know she is writing to Roman.
Iris began writing letters to her brother who was fighting in the war. Because she had no idea where he was stationed, she placed the letters under their shared wardrobe where they would mysteriously disappear and reappear on the floor of Roman’s bedroom, unbeknownst to Iris. Although Roman deduced who these letters were from, as the two trade letters, they agree to stay unnamed (as Iris never signed her name on the letters she wrote). Unlike A Court of Thorn and Roses by Sarah J. Maas or Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, where the relationship develops through face-to-face interactions, Iris and Roman’s slow-burn romance develops through the beautiful words and the heart-ripping stories they share. As their relationship continues by exchanging more letters, both Iris and Roman’s feelings grow: Iris falls in love with someone she believes is a stranger, and Roman falls in love with Iris. As the suspense-filled plot reaches its climax, Iris and Roman’s relationship also meets a turning point when Iris finds out who she’s been writing to.
Within a highly populated genre, it is hard to find stand out books or books without repeating concepts. Picking up steam in the fall, Divine Rivals soon showed it was a standout book and left thousands of readers on a steep cliff as the first installment of Ross’s duology came to a close. The second and final book was released in December of 2023. As Ross types this story closed, it will surely leave readers fulfilled, yet wishing for more of this epic fantasy romance.
