pagesofaina's reviews
18 reviews

this romantasy book put me in a slump. maybe it's my fault that i had high expectations for it, but i really did try to like it (i could show you my annotations in part one of the book as proof).

this direct quote from the book really convinced me that this book will revolve around iris and roman unravelling the true mystery behind the myth about the god and goddess—why and how the war happened, but i was really wrong.

storyline
the beginning was super promising; the author tells the readers about the five gods (dacre, enva, mir, alva, and luz), the fight that happened between dacre and enva, about skywards (enva's family) and underlings (dacre's family). how could you not get intrigued with all these elements?the way the author portrays the myth piqued my interest, but that's that. the myth is never mentioned again in the rest of the book.

the book instead focuses on the slow-burn romance between iris and roman, surviving the war as journalists, the war that was incited by the gods (that we never knew what actually happened). the myth is what encouraged me to continue reading so i was left anticipating something that never appears in the book. the tiny sprinkle of fantasy in this book is only the gods' myth, the magical typewriter and buildings in the town, and the creatures that dacre use in the war. i think that's it.

nonetheless i still tried to enjoy the romance, but i just couldn't. although iris and roman's interactions as office rivals are cute in the beginning and i genuinely enjoyed it, it eventually lost me as the story progressed. roman's feelings towards iris are well-written (though i think it could've been developed further) and carver's words on the letters gave me hope for their romance

(though an "i love you" from carver feels too sudden for me)

.... iris's feelings however didn't do it for me. there were inadequate scenes and emotions between iris and roman before coming to the war, so for her to yearn that much for roman, for her to think that she “couldn't bear to live in a world without him", i feel that their chemistry is under-developed and the connection that iris has towards roman felt forced. there were many wasted potentials—scenes that i feel the author could further develop, to expand the slow-burn, tension, and yearning between iris and roman.

writing and pace
the writing in general is flowery and beautiful. the prologue of iris sending her brother, forest, to the war hooked me straight away. Ross has a whimsical writing from the start and i was really convinced that i would enjoy the book. but the story is too slow-paced for me that i couldn't help but began to read the lines as merely words and sentences, rather than as a story; i noticed some scenes written come off a bit two-dimensional.

e.g., roman requesting to join iris as war correspondents at the front line but there's only one available seat, but somehow with just a *little* convincing to the captain, roman got the chance to join iris.

maybe because it's a YA fantasy? but some scenes really feel rather too cartoonish for me.

depth of the story
it also doesn't sit right with me when some (potential) important scenes lack descriptions, such as the scene where attie (a fellow war correspondent) got the opportunity to be in the front line but when she got back to iris and marisol, the only conversation addressed about it is attie saying the front line was grueling and that she didn't want to talk about it yet, "not now", she needs to process it first and that's that. yes, attie did indeed explain to iris that she finally understood, 

i apologise for being a visual-person, but attie doesn't picture anything about the situations currently happening in the front line. it's like delivering emotions without context. another potential wasted because it could've been a pivotal scene or a moment of realisation that this war is real, that this war is not something happening faraway and it could reach you in any second, that this war kills people, real person. i think this was my final straw before i began to wonder if the author actually only wanted to write a romance book where the love interests anonymously send letters back and forth, but comes up with a romantasy instead with very tiny bit of fantasy and little to none world-building.

with all these being said, this book really had potential, but the execution was a miss for me. if you're interested to read divine rivals, just be sure that you're in for the right plot, that is a slow-burn ROMANtasy (upper caps because it's really focused on romance) in a war setting. i'm happy for you if you end up loving the book, happy reading!

a quick and fast-paced read, with great autistic rep. this book raises my awareness about asperger’s syndrome and it was eye-opening to perceive everyday life from the lens of people with asperger’s syndrome (stella). 

i adore michael’s mẹ (mother), i teared up at one of the scenes because mẹ is a wonderful human being and i wish i could hug her.

there are some instances where i think a meaningful conversation could develop the chemistry and connection between stella and michael (so it doesn’t just revolve around them on the bed), but i do also understand that maybe that’s the point of their miscommunication etc.

while this book is about a son—malik—losing his father, it also ends with a heartbreaking reminder that a mother loses her husband too. the ending was painful because i don’t think that’s included when i read Surat Untuk Azazil (the original shorter version of Pada Masa Yang Terhenti, which is no longer published).

just like the author has mentioned when i met him at PBAKL 2024, PMYT is relatively relaxed and slow-paced (since i’ve read SUA). but if you’ve never read SUA, i think you’ll cry and hug this book close to your chest. or hug your father.

this is a book you should read.

brigid kemmerer never miss! this was such a good one and the plot is well-written—not just some jumbled YA high school romance.

this book touches on privileges, wealth gap, prejudice, etc. it’s such a good thought-provoking YA that i feel like everyone should read.

um.. what was that ending..?

i actually feel kinda bad saying this, because the author himself mentioned that writing The Maidens (his second book) was different than writing The Silent Patient (his debut). unlike The Maidens, Alex Michaelides had no audience to please and expectation to meet for TSP. and i completely understand that. so just to be clear, my review is objectively on The Maidens on its own (as much as i could) and not comparative to his debut.

The Maidens follows Mariana, a group therapist, with a grief of her own that she carries with her, who is set to unravel the mystery behind the tragic death of a close friend of Mariana’s beloved niece, Zoe. as the murder took place in Cambridge, and Mariana herself being Cambridge alumni, she is fixated in discovering the truth behind the mystery, especially when Zoe seems to know who the killer is.

firstly, the thought-provoking discussions about family institutions are my favourite one. it’s eye-opening, how an environment as small as, and as early as a family instutition and upbringing could impact and pave the way of one’s decisions and life. i’ve always enjoyed this kind of discussion in book.

i’m also a fan of alex michaelides’s writing; the way he approaches a situation or expresses an emotion allows me to get a grasp on the topics, often he does it in a beautiful and reflective way.

honestly, the pace for The Maidens was painfully slow. but considering that it’s a psychological thriller—in which authors usually had to instil the necessary emotions in the readers’ mind from the very beginning—i still gave it a go and continued.

the plot was a bit messy here and there, so i was expecting the ending to be a conclusion that oh, everything makes sense now, but it wasn’t what i expected.

it’s as if the plot twist moved entirely away from the whole plot of the book..? like if you take only the beginning and the ending and put them in any other thriller books where a dead body was found, you could literally get the same outcome. i understand how the author might’ve intended it to be like a red herring kind of twist, but the supposed twist in this book doesn’t really do it for me. it feels as though it’s disconnected from the whole plot of the book.

not to mention that i also think this book could’ve been shorter in a way. nonetheless, a part of me feels like it was the execution of the ending that didn’t go well; that if the same concept was to be executed in a different way, it might’ve worked out better.

some scenes that didn’t sit right with me are when Mariana was

kissed by Fosca and Fred, both without her consent, yes it angered her at the moment but apparently she just brushed it off and continued meeting them for the plot as if nothing ever happened

, and nothing was addressed about the issue.

you might enjoy The Maidens if you love Greek mythology. you don’t need to have prior knowledge about it (i didn’t at all and it’s still fine) but i guess you might enjoy it better if you did know some of the Greek mythology in the book.

p/s: i love reading the

cameo from TSP

, which honestly.. the author GOT me there!! i spent an additional time reading because i was flipping over the pages

of my TSP copy ahahaha because i was 80% convinced that the characters from these two books could possibly be related?

i was wrong though, but this didn’t affect my review or rating on this book, i just think that’s interesting to see

some character crossover.

ok i cheated. i (properly read until page 23 then) skipped through the pages just to the important parts and to get to the ending. the plot was interesting but i guess Katy Loutzenhiser’s writing isn’t for me, so it feels slow-paced to me.

i got really invested with the plot (as i jumped page to page), and i even got GOOSEBUMPS (i was genuinely scared pls im a scaredy cat) reading some parts. but the reveal behind the mystery didn’t wow me. 

still, read this if you love a YA suspense + a lil bit of romance book, who knows if the author’s writing might be for you.

yall this is my comfort read yall dont understand i’m rereading it again NOW in 2024/25

2nd read: 5 ⭐️ COMFORT READ. i blushed i cried i smiled i frowned i feel everything with this book. i love this book i love shirin i love ocean

okay wow!!!!!!! this was an amazing read!!!! the concept for this middle grade book is unique and reminds me of alice in borderland, i was smiling in awe when i finished this book!!!!! okay worth it please read this book!!!!