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[0] checkbox [#] position [cover] cover [title] title Words of Divinity [author] author Bain-Vrba, Kayla * [isbn] isbn [isbn13] isbn13 9781620042007 [asin] asin [num pages] num pages 143 pp [avg rating] avg rating 2.76 [num ratings] num ratings 34 [date pub] date pub Apr 30, 2013 [date pub (ed.)] date pub edition May 01, 2013 [rating] Cole's rating 3 of 5 stars [my rating] my rating 1 of 5 stars2 of 5 stars3 of 5 stars4 of 5 stars5 of 5 stars add to shelves [notes] notes Notes are private! [recommender] recommender none [comments] comments 0 [votes] votes 1 [read count] # times read 1 [date started] date started May 05, 2013 [date read] date read May 05, 2013 [date added] date added May 03, 2013 [date purchased] date purchased [owned] owned [purchase location] purchase location [condition] condition [format] format ebook [29] actions view (with text) [review] 
review Review posted at The Armchair Reader. 3.5 stars In many ways this was just the kind of book that I love. A solid fantasy (not high fantasy) that plays w Review posted at The Armchair Reader. 3.5 stars In many ways this was just the kind of book that I love. A solid fantasy (not high fantasy) that plays with alternate worlds, gods/demigods, demon-like creatures, a magical war, and a quest between worlds and back. Though I had a few problems with the book as a whole, for the most part I really enjoyed it. Words of Divinity is told from the opposing viewpoints of Daniel and Liam, a mage and a hunter. We first meet Liam on the streets of the capitol. He's been living on the streets since the age of fourteen, a runaway from an abusive alcoholic father. While wandering the streets at night, Liam is attacked by a giant rat that nearly kills him. But in his fight for his life, Liam is able to kill the rat barehanded, an almost impossible feat that is witnessed by another man who takes Liam to the local regiment's barracks. Liam is extremely distrustful of authority, but he soon learns that he's there to recount his impressive tale and immediately offered into the ranks of a new group of warriors, a special subset of the country's military that has been organized to fight a new menace -- the demon spawn called up from the Underworld by the dark mages of a neighboring country. Liam finds a place among the hunters. Completing training faster than any of the others, he finds that he's exceptional at something and the center of a group of warriors that look up to him. Maybe it's this new respect that inflates his ego, or more likely just part and parcel of how his experiences so far have molded him -- his abusive father, his early sexual experiences and his casual disregard of how he's been used by both people and authority. Whatever it is, this new and cocky Liam is the epitome of a bad boy -- sleeping his way across the regiment, and then into the group of mages traveling with them and the local boys at every village they pass as they march from battle to battle. Liam soon finds that not everyone is susceptible to his charms. Daniel is a mage that the other mages avoid. He's held in high esteem by the Crown Prince Erik who accompanies their ragtag company, and they soon grow a friendship, though Daniel shuns any other company. He's secretive, and for good reason. Daniel is their biggest asset because of his ability to hear the thoughts of the demons they hunt. He has more secret abilities, however, that seem to have a mind of their own, constantly wanting to be used. While he's fighting the demon spawn with the other mages and hunters, he's also waging a war among his own powers and his own history, which he keeps locked away among his deepest secrets. When Daniel first meets Liam, he's taken by his charisma, confidence and sexy swagger. Their friendship, though, is brief when Daniel sees some of his worst qualities -- his endless meaningless conquests and his loose tongue. Liam likes to brag about his conquests and getting prudish Daniel to give it up for him is his goal, including spreading the tales afterward to anyone that wants to listen. Now pitted against one another, they spend quite a long time at odds, only growing in animosity. They're soon thrust into a quest where they have to open up to one another and rely on each other to survive. And even more than that, they are forced to reevaluate their preconceived notions about the other. What Kayla V-B did best in this novella is in these two characters. At times I wasn't quite sure how I felt about them. In fact, for probably the first half of the book I really hated Liam. We don't quite get a lot of his history until much later in the book so even though we know about his asshole father, we don't quite understand his vulnerability, which just makes him seem like an asshole. I think that Daniel (at least for me) is a bit easier to get close to. It's easier to understand him and to really pull for him because his vulnerability is on the surface… he's extremely tormented. The format of the book (the quest is like an obstacle course they have to maneuver, with tests that manipulate them and their feelings) makes the two come together because, honestly, I doubt they would if they weren't forced to. They're so opposed to one another. In fact, I don't know that I've read an m/m romance in recent history that deals with the enemies to lovers trope where the characters hated and misunderstood the other more. And with the world around them manipulating their actions, they constantly seem to come together to be torn apart. It makes for some nice angst that I didn't feel was too overdone. And I really liked the fact that the characters are who they are with a real fierceness, if that makes sense at all. They're both passionate, and that makes them alternately rub each other the wrong way, while at other times they can co-exist. I had a bit of a difficult time getting into the story, though. The first few chapters traverse several years in order to set up the story, introduce both characters and a bit of their history, and then show the few years they travel together and how Liam and Daniel grow to hate one another. I think that it all comes down to pacing. At the start of the story the pace is extremely fast. We're given a lot of information while time speeds forward every few paragraphs to chapters and then when the characters are forced on their journey together the pace changes. Also, while this part of the story is interspersed with skirmishes and battles that we're shown in present time, there's a lot of narration to fill us in on the world and the characters. It wasn't until I finished the book that I could see the jog in the pace and I started to think about the beginning. Rather than telling us about their past, I would have rather been shown those scenes. It would have meant adding quite a bit more pages, but I think there would have been more balance. But, in all, this was quite the enjoyable read and I'd definitely recommend it to fantasy fans. I'm not sure whether the author plans to extend the story at all, but I'd definitely be there, in line to read it if she wanted to. The story definitely ends with a pretty solid HFN, on the line to an HEA. I only doubt the HEA because of their past history and we don't see where their adventures are headed. It's nicely done to either let the story rest or open it again at a future point. ...more
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