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A review by elm
These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch
3.0
3.5 stars
I liked this but I never quite loved it, let me tell you why.
Pros:
-The premise of the book was the exact opposite of ‘And They All Lived Happily Ever After’ which was extremely unique and very interesting. The reality of, after a civil war, having to heal a fractured society, establish a new form of governance and uphold the promise of being better than the previous regime, were all addressed and explored in depth. It was so refreshing, you guys!
-Those plot twists! Those reveals! Some I saw coming while others I DID NOT!
-The women!! They were everywhere! Badass women who were fully fleshed out characters with their own autonomy. It’s a big yes from me!!
-And then!! of course I cannot not mention that this book contains a main m/m pairing and a side f/f pairing!! Another big yes from me!!
-I also 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.
-Everything to do with Argrid was super interesting and I’m going to admit now that I enjoyed Ben’s POV the most.
-That cliffhanger!! Oh my god I need the second book now!!
Cons:
-The slow start. Nothing happened in the first 100 pages or so which was.. not great.
-The ‘magic’ system was confusing and definitely could have been explained better. At first I assumed that people in this world inherently had magic and that Argrid was opposed to those who had magical abilities, but no.. the only magic in the world was in the plants. That’s it. No spells, no powers, just the plants. This is a very interesting take on the whole magic theme but because it was never properly defined in the beginning, I spent way too much time trying to work out how magic worked and who had it.
-While the big reveals were entertaining(?), because they relied on withholding huge chunks of who the characters were, they made it difficult to understand all of the character’s decisions and motivations. It kept me from getting too close to them I guess.
-Now.. I liked the writing! I did. Except for the few times we were told but never shown certain things. For example, we were told about Dex’s ‘skills’ but we were never shown them! He was a legend, a figure that no one could catch because he was so skilled and cunning, but we never really saw that!!! (Don’t get me wrong though I still thoroughly enjoyed his character.. It’s just this one thing that frustrated me)
-This last point isn't really even a con. It's just that from what I'd read beforehand I had expected there to be gay pirates.. and while there were gay characters, besides from a minor side pairing there weren’t gay pirates. jsyk.
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!
I liked this but I never quite loved it, let me tell you why.
Pros:
-The premise of the book was the exact opposite of ‘And They All Lived Happily Ever After’ which was extremely unique and very interesting. The reality of, after a civil war, having to heal a fractured society, establish a new form of governance and uphold the promise of being better than the previous regime, were all addressed and explored in depth. It was so refreshing, you guys!
-Those plot twists! Those reveals! Some I saw coming while others I DID NOT!
-The women!! They were everywhere! Badass women who were fully fleshed out characters with their own autonomy. It’s a big yes from me!!
-And then!! of course I cannot not mention that this book contains a main m/m pairing and a side f/f pairing!! Another big yes from me!!
-I also 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.
-Everything to do with Argrid was super interesting and I’m going to admit now that I enjoyed Ben’s POV the most.
-That cliffhanger!! Oh my god I need the second book now!!
Cons:
-The slow start. Nothing happened in the first 100 pages or so which was.. not great.
-The ‘magic’ system was confusing and definitely could have been explained better. At first I assumed that people in this world inherently had magic and that Argrid was opposed to those who had magical abilities, but no.. the only magic in the world was in the plants. That’s it. No spells, no powers, just the plants. This is a very interesting take on the whole magic theme but because it was never properly defined in the beginning, I spent way too much time trying to work out how magic worked and who had it.
-While the big reveals were entertaining(?), because they relied on withholding huge chunks of who the characters were, they made it difficult to understand all of the character’s decisions and motivations. It kept me from getting too close to them I guess.
-Now.. I liked the writing! I did. Except for the few times we were told but never shown certain things. For example, we were told about Dex’s ‘skills’ but we were never shown them! He was a legend, a figure that no one could catch because he was so skilled and cunning, but we never really saw that!!! (Don’t get me wrong though I still thoroughly enjoyed his character.. It’s just this one thing that frustrated me)
-This last point isn't really even a con. It's just that from what I'd read beforehand I had expected there to be gay pirates.. and while there were gay characters, besides from a minor side pairing there weren’t gay pirates. jsyk.
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!