By: Sara Raasch
Steam Raiders #1 | 480 Pages | Pub. 2018
These Rebel Waves at a Glance
- Overall Rating: ★★★
- Heroine: Politician, assassin, botanical-magic-expert, crocodile hunter. Lu does it all!
- Dude 1: Ben was better than melatonin for my sleep schedule
- Dude 2: Thank the pious god for Vex’s sense of humor
- Steaminess: N/A
- Brutality: Child soldiers being tortured
Pairs Well With
Velvet Punch of Death
- 3oz pineapple juice
- 3 oz lime juice
- 1oz silver rum
Our Review
“I’m so mad at this church I want to hurl my book out the window.” – Jess
Wow, we were vastly disappointed by this book. We were expecting badass pirates and magic but what we got was the Spanish Inquisition meets Salem Witch Trials. The extreme religious aspect of this book was uncomfortable and the direct ties to the Spanish Inquisition made it feel like more of a history textbook than a novel. The blurb to this book felt misleading, since we thought we were getting pirates, not a medieval version of Scandal without the intrigue. This book was mostly dry and boring and probably not a series we will stick with.
What We Didn’t Like
The Politics – We can handle politics, rebellion, and the battle against an oppressive regime. But Raasch didn’t deliver this content in a way that was even remotely entertaining. We felt like we were watching C-SPAN at several points of this book.
Child Soldiers & Killings – War is brutal, we get that (and hate it). We get that children are often forced to become soldiers in many wars but honestly, Lu’s parents forcing her to KILL people and commit dangerous acts as an eleven year old was just disturbing. Hard nope.
Religious Persecution – This book had no chill when it came to the religious aspects. If you are someone who is uncomfortable with religion in books then this book is not for you. It’s hard to stomach the intensity and constant reference to burning and torturing “heretics” (including children) was disturbing.
The Worldbuilding – There was a LOT of worldbuilding and backstory in this novel. Raasch throws so much information about the different factions on the island, the colonial and religious extremists society of Argrid, that it’s hard to connect to anything at all. It would’ve been easier if the worldbuilding had been done gradually instead of all at once.
What We Liked
The Magic – The idea behind the magical botany was unique – definitely something we haven’t seen much of and the different uses of the plants were cool to watch. I 100% want some of those ear beans to spy on people. Well done, Raasch.
Lu’s Dark and Twisty – Lu was the most interesting character in this story. We loved her dark and twisty nature – it was realistic after learning her experiences as a child soldier in the revolution. Watching Lu experience the jarring reality of what life on the island of Grace Loray and re-configuring her world view to match reality was interesting. Lu made this book bearable.
The Heartbreaking Romance – There was not much romance in this, but for a while I really thought we were going to have a Kurt and Blaine moment, which made my heart really happy.
The Ending – Honestly, the ending was a WHOA for us and the only reason we are giving it 3 stars. Finally, we got some action and shocking revelations and talk about a cliffhanger!
Have you read These Rebel Waves? Let us know what you thought in the comments!
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Great review guys! I hate this one was such a snoozefest for you.
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Thanks Kayla!!!
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I haven’t read this read yet but I’ve been hearing a lot of mixed reviews about it. I’m sorry it didn’t meet your expectations. Great review! 🙂
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Thank you! Do you think you’re going to give the book a chance?? I haven’t seen any positive reviews – I need to dig more!
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I might give it a shot but I’m going to lower my expectations.
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Hahaha accurate! I was expecting gay pirates. Sadly no.
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Awesome review~! I also was pretty meh about this book and I think it was 1000% unmet expectations. Had I gone in thinking political intrigue instead of pirates I probably would have enjoyed it more.
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Yeah absolutely. I really wanted gay pirates!
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Man… I’m not sure about this one anymore! I was really looking forward to more Pirate adventures but as soon as the reviews started flowing I was skeptical if this really was the book for me. I’m fascinated by heretics and pagans and such but I feel like a lot of books just don’t deliver and end up dragging the plot with info dumping. Don’t even get me started on The Glittering Court! I think I won’t rush into this one, but great review 🙂
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This one is worse than Glittering Court and I don’t say that lightly. I would stay away from this one!!
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Damn! Such a missed opportunity! I’m staying far, far, FAR away!
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Haha good idea!
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Man, too bad about it not really being about pirates. Ever since I read To Kill a Kingdom, I have been wanting to read an actually GOOD novel about pirates…but I dunno. There has been a lot of ocean-y releases lately though (Sea Witch, To Kill a Kingdom, These Rebel Waves, etc).
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This is definitely is *not* a good pirate story! We are about to read Daughter of the Pirate King and we’re hoping that’s a good one. Have you read it??
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[…] series + Dance of Thieves! I’m pretty sure that so far we have Ann Marie Swaim, Read By Dev, Fiction No Chaser, Bookstorm Girl, and me. But the more we can bring into this party the better! Everyone is invited. […]
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Can’t wait for this!!!!
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I am sad! I had hopes this would be good!
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So did we…😭
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[…] These Rebel Waves – This book could’ve been great. I mean who doesn’t love rebellious pirates? But this story was weirdly religious and just not our cup of tea. […]
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