These Rebel Waves

“i would rather die with truth than survive with lies.” i'd read some really low reviews of this book. and honestly some of it i agree with. it was really political. but, it was still intriguing. like magical plants? fucked up kings? also ben is probably my favorite character. i really loved him. i was so sad about jakes though, oh my god. nayeli is my girlfriend. just saying. i love her.

“Everyone, remain calm, I’m about to blow some shit up.” “Nay!” Vex shouted from the pilothouse. “We’ve a kid here now, all right?” “Sorry. I’m about to chaotically rearrange some shit up.” “That wasn’t the problem—” Vex started to say. uhhh. This just didn't work for me at all. And I strongly considered DNF'ing for large parts of it, but skimmed read to the end anyway. These Rebel Waves is set in a fantasy world where magic has been declared heretic by the powerful Argridian council. Years ago, they invaded their neighbouring countries (importantly Grace Loray) to eliminate magic from the population. In the present day, Argrid and Grace Loray are going through peace talks, but they are thrown into jeopardy when a diplomat goes missing. Thus, the lives of our three main characters begin to intertwine: 🌊 Adeluna / Lu - Grace Lorayan solider who's family were part of the resistance against Argrid. She refuses to allow her country to fall under control of their oppressors again and so takes their fate into her own hands. 🌊 Devereux / Vex - Stream Raider (sort of like a pirate) that trades in illegal magic and finds himself captured at the beginning of the book. He and Lu must team up, and he needs something only Lu can give him. 🌊 Benat / Ben - Prince of Argrid. Obsessed with magic, and considered heretical for it by his country. In a relationship with a member of his guard, Jakes, and is queer (I assume gay? but it's never said out right). Overall, I mostly liked the characters. I genuinely enjoyed Devereux as a character - sorry but the loveable rogue character really gets me everytime. I found his perspective funny and I liked his interactions with his crew. I also found his motivations the most compelling. Lu was okay, I enjoyed her character and interactions with Vex, but her motivations were a bit weak and her character was a little bit boring. She didn't have much of a personality and just didn't 'jump off the page' for me. Ben was my least favourite perspective. Until about 80% through I didn't see what it was contributing to the story. I also found his relationship/queerness a bit ... poorly written. Most of the book he and his boyfriend are lamenting about their relationship and how it's "sinful" and I found the self-loathing queer storyline a bit much. Especially because I don't think it was explored with much (any) nuance. Also, it reminded me too much of my childhood growing up in the catholic church and then I wasn't enjoying it anymore “As much as I don’t know you, raider, you don’t know me. You have no idea what I am capable of.' Vex considered. ‘You’re right—I don’t know you. But I know who you want to be, princesa, and that might be more dangerous to you.” My main issue with this book is that it wasn't compelling and the motivations of the characters weren't convincing. The narrative doesn't really do a good job at developing the countries and Lu's investment in Grace Loray felt superficial, as it wasn't discussed often enough. The lack of development also meant I didn't care, or understand, about the main trigger of the plot (the kidnap of the diplomat) so from the start I was detached and uninterested. I really like stories with high political concepts but this one just didn't work for me. The history of the two warring countries and their politics weren't developed or explained well enough to be engaging for five hundred pages. The influence and importance of the other groups, like the Stream Raiders and The Syndicates on the politics and treaties between the central countries also wasn't really explained, so I didn't understand how Vex really fit into the wider picture. “You forgive yourself for what you've done," Edda told her. "You admit mistakes. You learn from them. And you improve.” The plot was just very dry, and the world building unconvincing here. While I did like the characters sort of, it wasn't enough to save it for me. The only things I really found myself engaged with, were the romance (JUST KISS FOOLS!!), and that one plot twist that happens which I cannot talk about but wow, yeah that one got me. The romance was really slow burn so if you like that you would probably like the romance too. For me this was a bit dry and forgettable and I don't think I will continue the series. I found it hard to engage with and I wasn't convinced my the majority of the politics and character motivations here. thanks to the publisher for sending me a copy of the e-arc of this book. I was given an arc in exchange for my honest review

https://www.instagram.com/p/BsbEUKTnpFY/ These Rebel Waves Review 3.5/5 ⭐. . I liked it but I never quite loved it. I can start of with this was definitely not what I've expected. I've never read any of Raasch's previous works, but I've heard some good things. And I kind of expected These Rebel Waves to be a swashbuckling adventure across the high seas. A solid tale of sea adventures and yet they are not even on board that long... These Rebel Waves took me in a different direction. The story revolved more on the historical fiction side of religion and politics. For starters, the world and political situation is very confusing for the first 100 pages (which is a lot of pages to finally feel like I'm getting into a book). Then, when you finally get what's happening between all the syndicates, council and Argrid, it just stays very repetitive for a while. And while the writing is good, the repetitiveness of some things kept getting boring. I liked how this book included issues such as immigration and identity. Though they weren’t explored in as much depth as I would have liked. The three main characters of this book had the potential to be amazing and they were. Adeluna is a solider. We have Adeluna, a child of the revolution, forced to dreadful actions while just a child. I love when she's trying to break down her own feelings toward war and the why, and because of who, all of it is happening. Benat is Argrid's prince, while Ben does not agree with how his country deals with magic and people, he's too afraid to let his own thoughts, ideas and belief show. However, Ben is a character that we see growing page by page, and his own internal revolution and small defiance were one of the things I enjoyed a lot to read about. Lastly, VEX. Devereux is a raider with no allegiances, which basically wins him everyone's hate. For someone who wants to be as far away from politics and problems as Vex, he does become a very central piece on all of this war and revolution. Anyway, I really did have a good time reading this, especially once the plot started to pick up and things started happening. I’ll definitely be grabbing the second book!.

2.5... maybe? The magic system was intriguing, but never been explained enough, so it felt kind of arbitrary. The politics fell flat for me and the different point of views got mixed up that I got lost sometimes. Didn't see the plot twist coming, but if it wouldn't have been for the readathon, I would have dnf'ed it way before that.

It took me ages to finish this one. I hated how slow the beginning was. Writing style is overall very good, and in the second part of the book storyline got better and the world "building" made more sense to me. But it was so hard for me to not be distanced from the characters and to actually care what's going on in their lives. The magic system descriptions at the beginning and the politics was rather boring to me before I finally understood the meaning. I think it might get better with the second book, I will most likely continue because of the second half of the book. Not my favorite read of all the time but definitely worth trying, because of pirates.

This book started out really slow to me, it got fun when I was at a third of the book. I do understand why the author chose to write it this way, cause you do need the information given to you in the slow part.

Pirates. Magic. Romance. This book has all of those things and more! I finally got a chance to reread this book, and I am so glad I did. I feel like I noticed more things than I did the first time, and I cannot wait to finally get to read the second book! This book is told from three point of views, and I loved reading from every one of them(Lu being a personal favorite of course). Usually in books that have multiple POV's, sometimes I get tired of one character and kind of skim their pages, but not in this book! This book has never-ending action, beautiful world-building, and plot-twists left and right. I highly recommend trying out this book, especially if you love pirates, magic, political intrigue, and little dashes of romance! “Everyone, remain calm,” she announced. “I’m about to blow some shit up.” “Nay!” Vex shouted from the pilothouse. “We’ve a kid here now, all right?” “Sorry. I’m about to chaotically rearrange some shit up.” “That wasn’t the problem—” Vex started to say at the same moment Lu cried, “Don’t—” ― Sara Raasch, These Rebel Waves Final Rating: 4.5/5 Stars

When I first started this book, I had a hard time immersing myself into the story. Many concepts seemed too vague, and I was forever rereading some passages, thinking I had missed something. After a while, I did manage to make everything fit together in my head. I love how the author depicts this world, but I wish some elements would've been clearer (aka politics, magic, different nationalities). BUT. I loved this book. And here's why : what struck me the most is how strong and cunning the women are in this book. They aren't afraid of doing what they have to do in order to gain their freedom. I'm a sucker for tight friendships, and bickering (aka the Dregs, I'm looking at you) and this book was definitely a close second. I loved the characters, as well as how their friendships evolved. Also, the last 100 pages were full of plot twists I never saw coming. And the story ends on a MAJOR cliffhanger. I love hating those. It just makes everything so much more interesting, even if the suspens is ARGG! Many important issues are approched in this book. I agree that some subjects could've been more exploited, but I do not want to delve into them, since my knowledge is limited : child soldier, oppressive religion, sexuality, medical experimentation, etc. If you read more reviews on goodreads, you will see mixed feelings about this book. Although I agree with most points raised by other readers, I found I still thoroughly enjoyed this book.

I really liked this book! I loved how botanica had been weaved into this story, and for once I was quite content with the main characters. I'm super curious about the next book!

3.75-4* I'm basically hyperventilating after that ending!

I really liked this. While there were less pirates than I assumed there would be I loved the politics and intrigue throughout the story. There were twists I did not see coming and I enjoyed all of the different points of view. That ending though! Talk about a cliffhanger! A solid 4.5 stars x