57 pages • 1 hour read
Divine Rivals
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Background
Series Context: Letters of Enchantment
Letters of Enchantment is Rebecca Ross’s newest duology, which began in April of 2023 with the release of Divine Rivals and concludes in December 2023 with the release of Ruthless Vows. The Letters of Enchantment series is a historical high fantasy set in a world with five sleeping gods intent on war.
Divine Rivals follows Iris Winnow and Roman Kitt. Initially nothing more than rivals at work, they soon become mystery pen pals via their rare, enchanted typewriters and later become war correspondents in west Cambria. Cambria is at war following the awakening of two enemy gods: the Skyward Enva and the Underling Dacre. Iris seeks her brother, Forest, who is one of the soldiers missing from the front. As Iris develops a romance with Roman—who eventually reveals himself as her mystery pen pal, Carver—and finds a found family among the citizens of Avalon Bluff, the war crawls further east. Forest locates Iris in Avalon Bluff shortly after her wedding to Roman, ultimately saving her from Dacre’s encroaching forces by fleeing to their old home in Oath. However, Forest forces Iris to desert an injured Roman with the enemy.
Ruthless Vows continues where Divine Rivals leaves off. Two weeks after returning to the safety of Oath with her brother, Forest, Iris is heartbroken to have stranded Roman in Avalon Bluff with Dacre. Oath continues to remain blissfully ignorant of the war rapidly approaching its doorstep as Iris continues to search for a way to contact her missing husband. After reuniting with Attie, Iris and her friend reenlist as war correspondents to spread awareness about this war, which Cambria is in great danger of losing. Meanwhile, Roman has been magically bound to the Underling god and is now tasked with writing war propaganda for Dacre, who healed him from the brink of death in the golden fields of Avalon Bluff. His memories have been stripped, yet magical letters that appear through his wardrobe door urge him to betray Dacre and follow his heart to Iris.
While the first installment is heavily focused on humankind, with a character-driven plot and a nuanced exploration of relationships that form in wartime, Ross focuses the sequel on mortal longing and the lore of the gods.
Authorial Context: Rebecca Ross
Rebecca Ross is a #1 New York Times bestselling author who has written several highly acclaimed fantasy duologies, including the Elements of Cadence and The Queens Rising, along with two stand-alone novels called Dreams Lie Beneath and Sisters of Song and Sword. Ross’s books have been published in 13 different languages.
Rebecca Ross grew up as an avid reader, and her love for fantasy led her to pursue an English degree at the University of Georgia. She also worked as a school librarian, but in 2014, she finally decided to pursue her dream of becoming an author. From that dream grew her first fantasy novel, The Queen’s Rising (2018), which was written in a mere 48 days. Since her first novel, Rebecca has become a New York Times and Sunday Times bestselling author of fantasy novels for both teens and adults. Her published works include The Queen’s Rising (2018), The Queen’s Resistance (2019), Sisters of Sword and Song (2020), Dreams Lie Beneath (2021), A River Enchanted (2022), A Fire Endless (2022), Divine Rivals (2023), and Ruthless Vows (2023).
Much like Iris and Roman, Ross also has a penchant for vintage typewriters. She has expressed how much she loves character-driven stories with a dash of romance and a family focus, all of which apply to her Letters of Enchantment series. As noted in the novel’s acknowledgments, the idea for Divine Rivals began with a “what-if” sentence that she wrote in a journal in November 2020: “A girl who writes letters to her missing brother, and the boy who reads them” (355).
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