Book: The Wretched Divine by Adalyn Grace
Reviewed by Anonymous
Rating: 3/5
⭐️⭐️⭐️
ALC Review
Angels and Demons. Soul bonds. Unlikely alliances. Knight FMC. Morally grey characters. High stakes plot. Multi-POV.
Spice level: 🌶️
Quick Blurb:
Aurelie has given her life to the moral cause of battling humanity’s greatest threat, demons. After a great battle, she is soul-bonded with Yuriel, a soldier of the Divine forces. Unbeknownst, her father is turned into a demon and Aurelie is determined to find answers. Except, the only way she is able to do so is forging a bond with Severin, a demon. Now, with the knowledge a cure could be obtained, the three opposing forces must all work with one another to turn her father from the demon he’s becoming to the man he was. Along the way, deception and loose trust will either break this tenuous connection or strengthen it. Meanwhile, all three must battle with their own emotions from the other parties before it ruins everything.
My thoughts
This was everything I wanted in a high-stakes fantasy that takes angelic and demonic lore and curates a story of tension, turmoil and conflict. The writing is beautifully done with descriptive background and scenery that makes the world around them come to life. The race to find a cure for Aurelie’s father was an interesting touch which added to a larger world build. The magic system was a bit different, between using soul bonds and regular bonds to produce magic or to have it on the Earthern planes. There was no shortage of an expansive, and detailed plot with several turning points that keeps the reader engaged.
Let’s talk about the characters! I honestly liked almost every character in this book, from the secondary supporting whose paths weaved together to create a complex web between everyone. My favorite character was Yuriel, the soul-bonded Soldier to Aurelie, and I loved very chapter of his. There was a realness and raw emotional energy he delivered and how his struggles defined him to who he was today. And his past experiences that haunted him.
Aurelie was interesting, and had the bad-ass feminine aura of a lady knight for about 25% of the first book and the last 25% of the book. The middle 50% she became the most cliche, easily manipulated, and naive airhead to exist in any book. The choices she made and the immediate trust and drop her panties attitude because some demon said sexy words to her. Which brings me to Severin… the also most cliche and rather boring brooding “villain” of the book. There was nothing particularly interesting or memorable about him other than he was funny sometimes. Other than that it was snarky comments and sexual harassment to the fmc (that somehow people think is sexy?). It wasn’t until the last 25% that he became interesting.
These three characters drive the entire story, and I’m going to be honest, I skimmed a lot of Severin and Aurelie’s interactions. This was nothing more than insta-lust, and if that was the point, why tf was she so butt hurt that he betrayed her? He’s a demon. So if there had not been other POVs or times where Severin wasn’t in the picture, I stayed on course and finished. Yuriel and Aurelie were much more tolerable with the winding ways around conflicting emotions, staying the course to duty, and finding common ground and building a solid foundation. I had an easier time believing that this relationship had more to it.
Overall, I had a very difficult time rating between a 3-4 star. I’m settling on a lower 3.5 average because I liked almost everything else minus two of the characters. I will be continuing the series, since I’m invested in Yuriel and the plot twist that happened in the end.