These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch

Stream Raiders #1

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

Publication Date: August 7th, 2018

Rating: DNF

Source: Emma @ Miss Print

Format: Physical ARC

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

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.

**DNF @ ARC page 85**

These Rebel Waves by Sara Raasch was one of the books that I was really anticipating in 2018. I know I mention this a lot, but I freaking love pirate books. I feel like I can't get enough of them. I also really enjoyed the Snow Like Ashes series also by Sara.

But I got 85 pages into this book and I was kind of dreading having to pick it back up every time I put it down. I am already woefully behind on my reading, but I feel like I might have put myself in a reading slump if I had kept going with this book.

I personally don't necessarily mind books that focus on political aspects of the book's world or books that focus on the religion of that world, but from what I gathered in 85 pages, this book felt like it was going to be quite heavily focused on both of those things. And I just wasn't there for it.

It also had 3 POV characters and, while I have grown to appreciate multiple POVs more, I still don't love it.

When I started to really feel the drag, I looked up on Goodreads to see if I thought it would be worth continuing with this book and I just don't think it would have been. It seems that there wasn't going to be much pirate-y stuff going on and also there apparently really aren't any gay pirates in this particular book. Also a lot of people said that the magic system, which is something that really interested me about this book, was confusing. Or something along those lines.

I might pick this book up again sometime in the future. I think if I could have gotten further into it something interesting might have started happening (I was kind of bored while reading this) and it would have gotten better. But at this point in time, I just didn't care enough to try.

Overall, this book wasn't as much of a hit with me as I would have hoped. Maybe someday I will be inclined to try this book again, but I don't know. If you don't mind books that are could be heavily focused on politics and religion, you could like this book. Because that was really where this one went wrong for me.

Have you read These Rebel Waves yet? Did you like it?

Review // The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken

The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken

The Darkest Minds #4

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Publication Date: July 31st, 2018

Rating: 5 Stars

Source: Alexandra Bracken

Format: Physical ARC

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

Five years after the destruction of the so-called rehabilitation camps that imprisoned her and countless other Psi kids, seventeen-year-old Suzume "Zu" Kimura has assumed the role of spokesperson for the interim government, fighting for the rights of Psi kids against a growing tide of misinformation and prejudice. But when she is accused of committing a horrifying act, she is forced to go on the run once more in order to stay alive.

Determined to clear her name, Zu finds herself in an uncomfortable alliance with Roman and Priyanka, two mysterious Psi who could either help her prove her innocence or betray her before she gets the chance. But as they travel in search of safety and answers, and Zu grows closer to the people she knows she shouldn't trust, they uncover even darker things roiling beneath the veneer of the country's recovery. With her future-and the future of all Psi-on the line, Zu must use her powerful voice to fight back against forces that seek to drive the Psi into the shadows and save the friends who were once her protectors.

From #1 New York Times best-selling author Alexandra Bracken comes a harrowing story of resilience, resistance, and reckoning that will thrill loyal fans and new readers alike.

So, I don't think this will come as a surprise to any of my regular blog followers, but The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken was my most anticipated book of 2018. It was made even more exciting by the fact that it was the first Darkest Minds novel that I got to look forward to because I originally discovered the series after In the Afterlight came out.

It absolutely lived up to the hype I gave it! I absolutely adored this book. I adored Zu. I adored the new characters that we get to follow. I pretty much loved everything about it. :')

I don't want to give too much of this book away because Alex has said that she believes that this book is better to go into not knowing TOO much. So to give a super brief summary of the plot: The Darkest Legacy follows Zu, five years after the events of In the Afterlight, where she is basically a spokesperson for the government, speaking on behalf of her fellow Psi. At one of her scheduled speeches, something awful happens that she ends up being framed for and she has to go out and try to clear her name with the help of a couple new characters.

I think it's safe to say that there is a bigger picture here, but you're going to have to read it to find out what it is.

I think that the best way to do this review is to talk about what I liked and what I didn't like.

What I Liked:

I loved Zu as a protagonist. I love that she is using her voice after spending 90% of the trilogy being afraid to speak. I loved that you can see bits and pieces of the other characters in her after they spent so long being each other's family. I love that there are points in this book where she doesn't pretend to be fine when she's not.

I feel like that's something you see a lot. A character is asked if they're okay when there is something bothering them and they said that they're fine. But Zu came out and said she wasn't really fine on several occasions and that was something that I liked seeing. It's okay to not be okay.

I also loved the new characters that we meet, Roman and Priyanka. Roman definitely gives Liam a run for his money for being so soft and just generally perfect.

Priyanka reminds me a lot of Vida. At the beginning I wasn't sure if I was going to like her because I was like, "She's not beiNG NICE TO ZU." But I loved Priyanka, she has a lot of attitude like Vida, but is a little bit less.... vicious?? I don't know what the best word I'm looking for is here, but I loved her.

I loved seeing the new characters interact with Zu. I liked seeing how they dealt with each other when they didn't trust each other, but even though it took them awhile to warm up to each other and trust each other fully, they were always kind of there for each other and helping each other and I loved their friendship. Lol, how many times can I get "each other" into one sentence??

I looooved the romance. The romance is definitely not a big thing in the book, it's very similar to how the romance went in The Darkest Minds. It's so slow and sweet and I. Loved. It.

I loved seeing what the world was like for psi kids this long after the camp closures. Seeing what may have gotten better, what may have gotten worse, what new problems they were having all together. I just generally love this world that Alex Bracken has created and I could read book after book after book that takes place in it.

I loved seeing what the original cast of characters was up to! It would be good to keep in mind when you're reading this book that this is not like The Darkest Minds 2.0. This book doesn't follow the same characters. Your favorites from the original books are still super important to Zu, but they're not necessarily as important to this story. I feel like if I hadn't seen something like this from Alex, I might have been disappointed about the lack of my favorite original characters, but since I knew to expect this, I was probably able to enjoy the book more. So if you're reading this review before reading the book, you should keep that in mind!

What I didn't like:

There really isn't anything that I didn't like about this book. If I were going to make a complaint though, I would say that I think the ending was rushed. When I was starting to get close to the end I was thinking there was no way this story could get resolved in so few pages.

It does get resolved, but there is a bit of a time jump and then they're in the middle of the op that is how they resolve the current problems. I would have liked to know how they got from point A to point B with a little bit more detail. And then there is one burning question that I have about something at the end.

But this book definitely ends in the same way as In the Afterlight. The story is resolved, but the problems for the psi don't end there. There is definitely room for more stories in this world. Which, the ending isn't a complaint about the book, I'm glad that it ended like that so that I can hope for more books in this world.

I guess I might deduct half a star for the ending being a bit rushed, but I felt like it was resolved satisfactorily in such a short amount of time and I'm gonna bump it up to five stars anyway because I'm just so impressed with this book.

Overall, I adored this book. I am so glad that this book lived up to the hype I gave it. If you liked The Darkest Minds series, you obviously need to read this. And if you haven't read the series, but you like  books about kids fighting against the government, you should definitely read this series.

Have you read The Darkest Minds series? Are you looking forward to this book?

Review // Seafire by Natalie C. Parker

Seafire by Natalie C. Parker

Seafire #1

Publisher: Razorbill

Publication Date: August 28th, 2018

Rating: 3 Stars

Source: Goodreads Giveaway

Format: Physical ARC

Pages: 384

Add it on Goodreads!

Summary (from Goodreads):

After her family is killed by corrupt warlord Aric Athair and his bloodthirsty army of Bullets, Caledonia Styx is left to chart her own course on the dangerous and deadly seas. She captains her ship, the Mors Navis, with a crew of girls and women just like her, whose lives have been turned upside down by Aric and his men. The crew has one misson: stay alive, and take down Aric's armed and armored fleet.

But when Caledonia's best friend and second-in-command just barely survives an attack thanks to help from a Bullet looking to defect, Caledonia finds herself questioning whether or not to let him join their crew. Is this boy the key to taking down Aric Athair once and for all...or will he threaten everything the women of the Mors Navis have worked for?

**I received an advanced copy of this book through a Goodreads giveaway**

Seafire is another YA pirate novel featuring a captain and crew that are all exclusively female. The story follows Caledonia, captain of the Mors Navis, and her crew as they pretty much sail around trying to destroy Aric Athair, leader of the Bullets, who killed Caledonia's family.

I am personally a huge fan of the badass lady pirates trend. However, this one was a bit unremarkable for me. It did have a cast of brave and amazing ladies and there was a lot of action and excitement, but overall, I didn't find this one to be all that memorable.

I will admit it has been a bit since I finished this book, I think I read it in May. But I don't really feel like any of the characters stuck out to me all that much. The only things that I really remember were the things that I found disappointing about this book.

For one, it was hyped up to be a sapphic pirate novel. I never personally saw this officially said anywhere, but when I was looking it up on Goodreads before there were any reviews, all the hype said it was going to be sapphic. However, I didn't find that to be true. I feel like there could be more lesbians in the future of this series, but I think it's misleading to call this a sapphic pirate novel.

There were two small instances in this book that I can remember. There is a minor f/f romance in the book, but I don't feel like it was really talked about all that much. I remember it being talked about a couple times, but the thing I remember the most about it was at the end. It was said that if something were different or something, then the two characters could be together or could be happy together or something along those lines. I don't have the book anymore so I can't look it up exactly.

The other instance that I recall is before a big battle toward the end of the book. It was talking about how the girls were preparing for the battle and it said that some of the girls shut themselves in their rooms to spend their extra energy on each other. Which I personally took to mean that they were loving on each other. Which, I could be wrong, but that's how I read it.

I feel like neither of those super minor instances are enough to say this book is sapphic, but once again, I could be wrong. From what I read, I was expecting a main romance to be f/f, and while there isn't any major romance in this book yet, the main "attraction" (not even really a romance) is m/f.

The other thing that I disliked about this book was the fact that everything was so conveniently resolved. There were two major instances where the crew of the Mors Navis found themselves pretty much caught by different groups of people. But Caledonia managed to EASILY talk their way out of trouble both times.

Perhaps I'm exaggerating a bit, but to me, it was kind of like this:

Other people: Ha! Got you now, you're not getting out of here easily!

Caledonia: Hey, but what if you just let us go because reasons?

Other people: Alrighty then!!

Those two things are really what brought my opinion of this book down. Like, it was a fun read, I was invested in the story, I liked the characters for the most part, there was plenty of action and it was exciting. And I wouldn't NOT recommend this book because of these things, but I found them to be disappointing.

I'm sorry I can't really say more to what I actually DID like about this book, but I can't really remember anything specific beyond that I liked the characters and I found it exciting.

I was rooting for the characters in their mission and I am really interested to see where the story goes next, but in general, this book didn't live up to the hype that I gave it or the hype that I was seeing on Goodreads when I was researching this book.

Overall, I really did enjoy this book. I liked the story and the characters and the excitement, but I found the conflict too conveniently resolved in some parts and I was let down by the lack of any prominent lesbian relationships (however, I could see this being different in the future of this series). If I was making a list of best to worst badass lady pirate books that I've read, Seafire would probably find itself near the bottom of the list.

Have you read Seafire yet? What did you think of it?