Gripping.
That’s the word I would use first to describe By Divine Rage. I could feel the power radiating from the pages. I was absolutely engrossed in it from the very first lines.
I know this book is going to be the next big one because I haven’t read such a strong and compelling story with the most amazing set of characters in a very long time.
By Divine Rage by Roseanne A. Brown
BY DIVINE RAGE follows Cleio and Eulia, two Black women raised as pawns in a corrupt empire of eternal winter who must join forces with a mysterious warlock and a scheming bodyguard to harness their fury and break the generational system that would sacrifice, not save them.
Oh, the hot girl urge to burn it all down…
– from the author’s website
About By Divine Rage
This romantic fantasy is a dance between the sweetness of finding your place in the world and the brutality of having to fight for it. Although there are romantic interests for our two main characters (and what a beautiful and fitting match they are!, to whatever end), what stood out to me the most are our two main women.
Their drive, how they hold themselves against the world, their strength, and their agency were beautiful to read. They seem so different from one another, but are they really? They both present such a clear path to self-determination. What I like about them is that they didn’t turn into fantasy archetypes. There were no stock characters in this book.
Their choices are desperate, human, compassionate, selfish, and afraid, coming from a place of pure survival. But the story twists its vines around them, and that directs their many moves.
The desire to steal these women’s agency and to reduce them to pure carnal sacrifice at the hands of the corrupt and the evil is a major part of this book.
The magical system in the book draws from the existing well of fantasy story-building, with the magic, spell books, warlocks, familiars, coziness, and high stakes, but never once did it feel like any other fantasy book I’ve read. Such originality in conveying, through fiction, how religious systems in place control the masses and how women are made to be pawns.
The Church, which seemingly has all control over the story as we begin to read it, holding it in a tight grip, is demystified. It quickly begins to stand before us as an institution of oppression, guilt, and the role it has in colonization. As the characters, so do we start questioning certain beliefs to see where they really come from. One amazing and important thing the author explores in this book is who the religion/faith is for.
Another major part of this story is bodily autonomy, as these women fight against the constraints imposed on them. Religious guilt, oppression, and societal expectation try to keep a tight rope around their necks, but these women are amazing and beautiful in their power and their claiming of what’s theirs to want.
This is Roseanne A. Brown’s adult fantasy debut, and although I mentioned coziness in certain elements of the story, it is not at all a cozy fantasy. This book is substantive, and it cuts right to the bone of the political and social matters it questions. It doesn’t pull the punches in describing the brutality of the oppressors and abusers. The author really did an exceptional job of balancing everything this story needed.
By Divine Rage is out on April 13, 2027, by Del Ray. There’s still more time for the book to go through possible revisions, but I’m so excited to see the final product as it hits the shelves. Keep an eye out for this one! And also, good news is that By Divine Rage is Book 1 in a duology, so I’m also very excited about that! I’d love to see how some questions I’m left with are answered in Book 2.
Anyway, since there’s still enough time before this book hits the shelves, I’ll leave it at this for now and come back to remind you of it when it’s closer to the publication date because you really don’t want to miss out on this one! For now, I want to avoid spoilers, so my main goal was to put By Divine Rage on your radar! You’re welcome!
One more thing! Click here to check out the author’s website for some amazing art and to meet the characters!
Okay, thanks, bye!
Thank you to Del Ray for offering me a complimentary early digital copy of By Divine Rage! The review is voluntary, and all opinions are my own.
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Have you ever helped someone who later turned around to betray you? What did they do? You were there for them when nobody else was, you gave them money when you didn’t even have, you gave them food, you gave them shelter, you gave them your time, your advice, your connections, you even fought for them. You treated them like family, you trusted them with your secrets, you opened your heart for them. And when they finally stood on their feet, when they got what they wanted, they turned around and stabbed you in the back. They gossiped about you, they lied against you, they took your kindness for weakness. Who was that person, what did you do for them, and what exactly did they do to betray you?
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