Book Review: Wild Reverence

I am a big fan of Rebecca Ross’s Divine Rivals duology so, of course, I had to read her latest book – Wild Reverence because it is a sort of prequel.

The novel follows Matilda and Vincent. Matilda is a goddess of Underling and Skyward. Her mother is the goddess of winter in the under realm and her father is a god in Skyward. When gods and goddesses are born, the Goddess of Death looks at the constellations that form with the birth to determine their fate and powers. Matilda is named a herald and is given the task of carrying messages. She grows up in the under realm, learning from her mother and her mother’s allies, Bade – God of War, Alva – Goddess of Dreams, and Phelyra – Goddess of Revelry and coin.

Vincent is a mortal and the third son of four to the lord of the river.

As a child, Matilda would receive scrolls from Alva. The scrolls were dreams a mortal boy named Vincent would have, usually nightmares where he was drowning and Matilda would save him. Through these dreams they formed a connection. But when Matilda’s mother is betrayed by someone she is close to, Matilda flees to Skyward hoping her father will give her shelter. Now that she isn’t in the under realm anymore nor receiving the dream scrolls from Alva, she cannot see Vincent in his dreams anymore.

10 years pass and Matilda goes back to the under realm and learns that Vincent wrote to her years ago asking for help. His father had been betrayed and most of his family had been killed. Matilda is given a letter to deliver to him as herald. When she learns that Vincent and his people are in danger of being overthrown by their traitorous enemy, she takes his message to her 10 years ago to heart. She will do whatever she can to help to fulfill his prayer to her for help. Will they succeed in protecting Vincent’s home and people? Can their love for each other survive Vincent’s mortality and the gods who would try to kill Matilda for her constellations and power?

This book was so beautiful. The descriptions and imagery were a work of art. The love between Matilda and Vincent was beautiful. There were a lot of bittersweet moments throughout the book and it really was a soul stirring novel. At times, the book felt a little too long and like it was going a bit too slowly, but I was hooked and wanted to know what would happen. There was a healthy dose of anxiety too because I wanted a happy ending and wasn’t sure it would happen!

I recommend this book to anyone, but if you’ve read Divine Rivals then this is a must read! It is Matilda’s magic as a herald that lets Iris and Roman talk to each other through their typewriters in their books!

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