I went into The Wretched Divine ridiculously excited. Angels, demons, soul bonds, morally grey characters and a whole lot of fantasy lore.
The premise was easily my favourite part. Aurelie is a knight-in-training raised to hate demons, only to find herself bonded to both an angel and a demon. As everything she’s been taught starts to unravel, the line between good and evil gets deliciously blurry.
The first half was a bit of a slog for me. The pacing was slow, the world-building took its time, and I struggled to connect with Aurelie. Some of her decisions had me wanting to grab her by the shoulders and yell, “PLEASE THINK THIS THROUGH.” The romance also didn’t quite land for me, particularly the insta-lust and love triangle dynamics.
But, the second half is so much better.
The deeper mythology, the angel/demon politics and the questions around faith, morality and who actually deserves to be trusted were exactly what I wanted. And Yuriel absolutely stole the show for me. His backstory and character development gave him so much more depth than I expected and I was invested in every chapter from his POV.
The final stretch was packed with twists, reveals and chaos and suddenly I understood the hype. I only wish some of those reveals had been sprinkled throughout the middle rather than saved almost entirely for the end.
Overall, a slow start, a stronger second half and an ending that completely pulled me back in. I’m still not sold on the romance, but I am invested in the world, the mythology and whatever disaster is coming next.
Naturally, I’ll be reading book two.
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Publisher: Gollancz.
Format: EBook 504 pages
ISBN:9781399630054
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Here’s the synopsis
There is no good in demons. They are born of corruption, and drawn ever toward the sin that made them. Where trust is given, ruin follows.
– From the Divine Scriptures
Aurelie Chantelune was born to serve. Raised as a knight in a kingdom ravaged by demons, she’s spent her life honing her blade, driven by the memory of the monsters who tore her family apart and by the knowledge that she’s one of the few who can stop them.
If Aurelie can claim her first kill, she’ll inherit a legacy passed down through the Chantelune bloodline: a soulbond with Yuriel, an angel whose power is vital to her kingdom’s survival. But when those she loves begin turning into the very monsters she’s sworn to destroy, Aurelie is forced to seek help from the last place she ever imagined. Desperate, she forges a second and far more dangerous bond with Severin, a demon she can hardly trust, but who claims to know how to end the war for good.
With their lives and fates entwined, Aurelie, Yuriel, and Severin must team up to hunt down a cure capable of turning demons back into humans. But the more they learn about one another and the deeper their relationships grow, the more Aurelie begins to question the war and her place in it. With both of her bonded on opposing sides, she’ll have to make a choice: continue to stand with the angels, or risk everything by trusting a demon.
