Ruthless Vows

What techniques does Ross employ throughout the novel to encourage emotional attachment to Forest and heighten the impact of his death? How does his death serve the novel’s themes?

Divine Rivals contains themes of the impact of the written world, family relationships in wartime, and the dangers of censorship. How does the sequel build on these themes?

Choose a character and compare them to one of the birds that the novel mentions. What characteristics do they share? Reference specific passages in which your chosen character exhibits behaviors or traits similar to those of the bird.

Forest gives Iris their mother’s locket before she leaves for the war front. In the first installment, this locket illuminates the nature of familial relationships in wartime. What happens with this locket throughout the sequel? Does its significance or symbolism change?

The rivals-to-lovers trope is central to Roman and Iris’s romantic plot in Divine Rivals. How does Ross subvert or alter this trope to fit the storyline of the second installment? In what ways does this new dynamic shift their relationship?

List three ways that wartime trauma manifests among the characters of the novel. Use examples from the text to support your answer.

What role does the Graveyard play in the story? How does this group affect media, morale, and/or religion in Oath?

Dacre is the antagonist of the series. However, Enva kills the remaining gods and steals their powers to ensure that the magic doesn’t fall into Dacre’s hands. How (if at all) does the novel justify this act? How does it relate to Ross’s overall characterization of the gods?