My Start to Romantasy
Rebecca Ross’s Divine Rivals was my introduction to the romantasy genre. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, romantasy is simply a novel where the fantasy and romance are equal parts required for the plot. You won’t be able to extricate the romance and the story still work.
When I read it, I loved Divine Rivals. I loved Ross’s writing style, the vintage vibes, and the subtle magic in her world. It inspired the magic and setting of my own novel Shift.
However, as I’ve read more romantasy since then, I’ve learned I truthfully don’t like the genre that much. There are aspects I enjoy, but other key parts of the genre and the books that I simply don’t.
Ross’s Wild Reverence released several months ago, and I knew I wanted to try it! Here are my thoughts…
Summary
Wild Reverence returns readers to the world of Divine Rivals and its gods. Readers follow the story of Matilda, the youngest goddess in her family and a herald of humble magic. As herald, she carries messages and letters between realms. As she grows, she discovers she possesses a greater magic; and it’s one she must conceal, for gods kill for power.
There is a mortal boy who dreams of Matilda, although they’ve never met. One fateful day in his youth, he wrote to this goddess of his dreams for help. And his plea went unanswered. Ten years passed, and Vincent is now the hardened lord of the river with a battle on the horizon.
Matilda and Vincent’s fates are intertwined, far beyond the realm of dreams.
My Thoughts
Ross is masterful at writing beautiful prose, swoon-worthy romance, and crafting an incredible setting. Wild Reverence is absolutely a well-crafted romantasy.
However, as I mentioned above, I’ve learned I simply don’t love the genre. Therefore, I didn’t love the book.
I personally have discovered about myself that I consider romantasy tropes predictable, and the romance often feels unrealistic. For a mom and wife, I have a hard time getting past that.
Other Qualms
- Prose felt forced at times: there were phrases and descriptions that were unnecessarily flowery to me. Flowery prose is not my thing to begin with, so this made it harder for me to enjoy the book in general. There were descriptions used that didn’t make sense to me and, thus, pulled me from the story as I tried to figure out what Ross meant.
- Pacing: Wild Reverence was poorly paced, in my opinion. We spent 30% of the novel in Matilda’s childhood (a strange choice for a romantasy), and it dragged. I struggled to persist through it! Once it picked up, there were sections packed with action and portions that felt slow.
- I didn’t like Matilda: the gods aspect of the story was interesting, but I didn’t particularly enjoy it. The gods were cold, calculating, and hard to relate to. This makes sense… they’re gods after all! But it made Matilda and Vincent’s relationship a little strange to me. I liked Vincent and his character, but I was disconnected from Matilda and her godlike behavior. She seemed cold and distant.
- Struggled with romance: This is a me-issue, not a book issue. But Vincent and Matilda’s relationship really felt like trope after trope and therefore not very unique or original.
Content
There was little language and no gratuitous violence. However, fans of Divine Rivals need to be aware that there were several non-explicit sex scenes. These were not graphic, but they were not “closed-door” or “fade-to-black” as it was in Divine Rivals and its sequel Ruthless Vows.
Final Thoughts
I gave Wild Reverence three stars, due to the above mentioned dislikes. I would still consider this a good book and would absolutely recommend it to lovers of romantasy.
For this reader, it was just okay. It was not the book for me, as much as I enjoyed Ross’s other work.
If you like romantasy, beautiful prose, gods, fated lovers, fake marriage, then Wild Reverence is a perfect fit for you!
Content Rating: Moderate
due to non-explicit but open-door sex scenes
Copyright Rebecca Ross and Saturday Books. Image from Amazon.