By: Cait Marie
Guess what… another pirate book! I told you it was a common theme lately. And this was another great one.
These Rebel Waves follows three main characters. Adeluna (Lu), who grew up as a child rebel and spy. Benat (Ben), the crown prince who happens to be a heretic in their very religion-controlled kingdom. And Devereux (Vex), an unaffiliated pirate.
When a delegate goes missing during treaty negotiations, Lu fears the two countries will go back to war. A war she worked so hard to help stop the first time. In order to find the delegate, to prove it was a set up to cause trouble, she breaks Vex out of prison and enlists his help. Meanwhile, Ben is asked by his father to find a botanical, magical cure for a disease that is spreading throughout the land. This goes against everything he has been taught, as his father outlawed magic. He knows the way of the plants, but he’s worried about performing this task for a number of reasons.
This book was pretty much nonstop action from the beginning. It easily held my attention. I loved it! There was a lot of information and new terms to keep track of, but the further you read the easier it gets.
I’ve loved another of Raasch’s books, so I was eager to try this one. However, the ending is a major cliffhanger and now I have to wait almost a year for the next one! It was worth it though. This book was very good and I recommend it.
As I’ve mentioned before, I love character driven books. Don’t get me wrong, the plot is fantastic too, but the characters are what really made me love this book. I love Vex so much (I know, shocker. I’m sure you’re all starting to see a pattern.). The snarky bickering between him and Lu made me smile frequently. I loved it.
**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**SPOILERS**
I need to reiterate: I LOVE VEX. Finding out he has the shaking disease just really hurt. But that ending! Oh my gosh… I just can’t. The whole thing blew my mind. Ben had to witness his uncle and cousin being burned alive by the church like six years earlier. Except his cousin wasn’t actually burned; he was tortured and experimented on in secret. And he ends up being Vex!!! The moment Ben saw him on the ship and said his cousin’s name, I had to literally pause the audiobook and just sit there for a minute. I’m pretty sure audibly said, “Whaaat?!”
Then when Lu was yelling to Etta to make sure Vex got off the ship and he realized what she was doing. That she was staying to help make sure Ben escaped. Heart. Shattered. His reaction brought back traumatic memories from a certain end scene from A Court of Mist and Fury, and I was just not okay. But then it just got worse! She’s stabbed through the chest by the man we just found out tortured her as a child, the same man she had to sit beside in court or whatever while her parents worked on keeping peace. And she knew it was him the whole time and never told anyone! The whole thing was just heartbreaking.
Of course, everyone but her and Ben escaped, and it ended with him holding her as she laid there bleeding. How am I supposed to wait a year to find out what happens? I need her to be okay and back with Vex like now.
This is definitely one of those “this book destroyed me, here read it” books! It was definitely worth it and so good.
Functionally Fictional 