Review: These Rebel Waves

These Rebel Waves
Rating: 5/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Adeluna is a soldier. Five years ago, she helped the magic-rich island of Grace Loray overthrow its oppressor, Argrid, a country ruled by religion. But adjusting to postwar life has not been easy. When an Argridian delegate vanishes during peace talks with Grace Loray’s new Council, Argrid demands brutal justice—but Lu suspects something more dangerous is at work.

Devereux is a pirate. As one of the outlaws called stream raiders who run rampant on Grace Loray, he pirates the island’s magic plants and sells them on the black market. But after Argrid accuses raiders of the diplomat’s abduction, Vex becomes a target. An expert navigator, he agrees to help Lu find the Argridian—but the truth they uncover could be deadlier than any war.

Benat is a heretic. The crown prince of Argrid, he harbors a secret obsession with Grace Loray’s forbidden magic. When Ben’s father, the king, gives him the shocking task of reversing Argrid’s fear of magic, Ben has to decide if one prince can change a devout country—or if he’s building his own pyre.

As conspiracies arise, Lu, Vex, and Ben will have to decide who they really are . . . and what they are willing to become for peace. 

I have been anticipating this book so damn much you guys have no idea! I love Sara's books and when I heard she was doing a new duology with pirates....it was like a match made in heaven because I love me some pirates and that paired with Sara's writing and her originality...I knew it was going to be epic! Luckily for me, a miracle happened. Sara sent out her first ever newsletter for this book, and I was the first ever winner...like that never happens to me ever! There was much screaming when the arc of this arrived and it literally arrived just in time for my holiday so you bet your ass I sat on the beach and read this in one, glorious sitting. Sorry not sorry. 

These Rebel Waves immediately drew me in with the prologue. It expertly introduced each of our main three characters, and provided enough background on them to pique your interest as well as setting things up for the story! It lets us know their history and gives us a small taste of what they're like for us to look forward to before moving in to the main part of the story. The time skip is well done and we're once again back with our main three in turns as read and dive in to the story, but we've still got a lot to uncover about them! 

I loved the world, like I love pirates, so I was going to love this anyway, but I loved the twist on the pirates and the originality Sara has thrown in to it all. I was fascinated by how it all worked, the plants and the world in general, and the politics and the history of the world. I literally fell in to this story and the world and wanted to know everything there was to know, I was loving it! I loved uncovering new facts and details throughout the story, to the extent that I'm preemptively sad that there's only one more book! 

The world is vividly written and like I said, it fully pulled me in. I could picture everything so clearly and I was intrigued by the different plants and factions as well as the different narratives and how they all came together. I could quite happily read a book just on the history of this world and the different plants. We have a couple of different plot threads and they're woven together so well with twists and turns and it keeps you reading! It's genuinely so hard to put down. I ended up eating with a fork in one hand and the book in the other and I may or may not have kept dropping what I was trying to eat....

The cast is diverse, there's PoC and LGBTQ characters and it was such a brilliant cast and it was a nice change to get to read a book with diverse MC's! I'm so here for it! Adeluna I loved, she's such a spitfire punching Vex in the face for starters! I was cackling away to myself like 'you just messed with the wrong person!'. She just wants to help her friend, and help Grace Loray get back on it's feet, but there's so much more to her than you unravel over the course of the story. The things that happened to her in the past still affect her, and it was very authentically written. Watching her overcoming everything, and then the plot twists when it came to her where mind blowing. She was a character I could root for and empathise with throughout the entire story. 

Devereux I really felt for, he understandably reacts in certain ways and has certain feelings about certain things (I'm trying to avoid spoilers!) after everything that happened to him, and it was very well done how it was shown and manifested and so on. He kind of reminded me a bit of Jack Sparrow but more awesome and less cringey and again, there was a brilliant plot twist with him! 

Benat kind of seemed like a bit of an arse when I first met him in the book, but then I got to see just how much what happened to his uncle and his cousin affected him and how it's affected his every action since, how it's made him live his life and so on and I was like "aaaaww BENAT I'M SORRY, LET ME LOVE YOU". He's so intelligent and he's straight up cunning too! He made me feel so tense because I was worried about who he could trust and what would happen to him if he slipped up. 

To be honest, all three main characters are haunted and scarred by their pasts and events that have stuck with them and pop  up here and there in their reactions and how they think and feel and it was authentically and realistically done. Sara really did do a great job making these characters real, and bringing them to life. 

I'm not going to lie, I started out really badly shipping Benat and Jakes, but I started to get a bit concerned about Jakes more than once throughout the book because of his general attitude, and then there was more shady behaviour. Let's just say that with Jakes.....I was disappointed but not really surprised by his behaviour. Luckily good old Gunnar provides me with a new ship, and I ship it hard! 

Aside from our three main characters, we have a brilliantly diverse supporting cast who are just as lively as our main characters! Nayeli is definitely one of my favourites, she was hilarious and I need more of her! I was intrigued by Edda and Cansu as well. I'm not going to lie, there's so many shady characters too, like Milo. Man...I hated Milo. So much. The Mechtlanders didn't paint themselves favourably either I'm not going to lie. 

I have to prepare you all, once you reach a certain part of the book Sara hits you with plot twist after plot twist and I was left so shook because so many little mysteries all came together and changed the game as it where, and I was like woaaaaaah. There where a few of those moments when you have to just put the book down to process what's just happened! 

Like during the last quarter of the book or so, the hits (plot twists) keep on coming, throwing everything in to chaos and changing everything and then the book ends like THAT. Like...what a cliffhanger. How am I supposed to survive until the next book?!