Iris Winnow’s life is a mess. Her brother, Forest, has recently enlisted in a divine war she knows very little about and her mother has taken to drinking and is useless in supporting her. She works at the Oath Gazette with her rival, Roman Kitt, who is competing with her to get the coveted position of sole columnist at the newspaper. Roman is always trying to best her and get their boss’s attention, but what he doesn’t understand is that Iris needs this job.

Every night when she returns home from work, in broken shoes, to a home that is cold and covered in cobwebs, Iris writes a letter on her typewriter to her brother and pushes it into her wardrobe where it disappears. Her letters always disappear into a void… except one night someone responds and it’s not her brother.

Divine Rivals is an upper Y.A. novel that leans into historical fiction and fantasy. Iris and Roman are in their late teens and early twenties, and the world it describes with radios, typewriters, bombs, and electricity reads like historical fiction. Except, there is a war that has been brewing for centuries between two gods, Enva and Dacre, which brings in a dash of fantasy as well.

This is not my first book by Rebecca Ross, nor will it be my last. Her writing is beautiful and atmospheric, and she is so skilled at creating characters and stories that leap off the page. It captivates the reader as they follow Iris’s journey when she leaves the Gazette and the only life she’s ever known to become a war correspondent. In this new chapter of her life, she befriends other women who are on the front lines and learns things she never knew before. Her rival, Roman, incidentally follows her on this journey, for reasons of his own. Their forced proximity forces Iris to question everything she’s ever known about her sworn enemy as she can’t help but fall for him.

The world that Ross creates is magical, enthralling, and tragic. It harkens back to an older, war-torn time when the characters live each day without knowing what tomorrow will bring. Iris and Roman’s experiences on the front line are harrowing and tragic, and brought tears to my eyes more than once. Ross weaves in a thread of mythology too, which gives the war higher stakes, as it has ancient roots.

Divine Rivals takes the reader on an epic voyage that is equal parts enchanting and heartbreaking, as love binds two people together who were sworn rivals, until war irrevocably changes who they are. Put a copy on hold before the sequel in this spellbinding duology comes out in December!