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A review by zeereads
The Rebellious Tide by Eddy Boudel Tan
1.0
oof
a really interesting, unique premise that was unfortunately bogged down by writing style and narrative choices. this novel suffers from loads of telling not showing and really strange pov switches, often in the same paragraph, giving us quick, random perspectives of characters that aren't necessarily needed for the plot to progress. it really felt all the characters were held at arms-length away, making it harder for me to really care about them, their relationships with one another, or what was happening. this wasn't helped by the clunky, often unnatural feeling dialogue.
the way sebastien's backstory unravelled throughout could've been better if we KNEW the important information earlier, instead of the most important aspects being revealed in the third act. it wasn't that sebastien is a completely unsympathetic character, but i feel knowing more about him BEFORE the story begins to wrap up would've made me understand his choices and motivations a lot better.
and don't get me started on these two characters referring to themselves as achilles and patroclus after hooking up literally once. that whole thing was super corny, and with the already many greek parallels being not so subtly shoved down our throats, i just could not take it seriously.
there was also one part where we're taken completely out of the plot and told the story of the trojan horse???
i liked the discussions/themes of racism, white privilege, and a main character whose story wasn't limited to, and didn't necessarily revolve around being lgbtqia+. but that was basically it.
also some spoiler stuff that rubs me the wrong way: the fact that after athena publicly helps expose her abusers she just like....disappears. we don't ever hear about her or from her again??? shes the victim, pretty much the catalyst of the story, but we don't get to see how she's doing or what happens to her at the ending of the novel. unless im missing something, it kind of makes me feel like she was only there as a plot device and then was just thrown away when no longer needed. also sebastien actually violently assaults and blackmails an innocent KID and feels just sort of bad about it by the end??? like i get it, he has extreme anger issues associated with trauma, the why not actually being revealed until AFTER, when the book is almost over, but holy shit. he basically traumatizes this poor kid and then at the end when the kid understandably lashes out, he chalks it up to them having the same dad?
unfortunately, while i didn't care for the rebellious tide, i'm still interested in tan's debut and wouldn't be opposed to checking it out sometime in the future. hopefully, i'd enjoy it a lot more!
thank you to edelweiss for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review!
a really interesting, unique premise that was unfortunately bogged down by writing style and narrative choices. this novel suffers from loads of telling not showing and really strange pov switches, often in the same paragraph, giving us quick, random perspectives of characters that aren't necessarily needed for the plot to progress. it really felt all the characters were held at arms-length away, making it harder for me to really care about them, their relationships with one another, or what was happening. this wasn't helped by the clunky, often unnatural feeling dialogue.
the way sebastien's backstory unravelled throughout could've been better if we KNEW the important information earlier, instead of the most important aspects being revealed in the third act. it wasn't that sebastien is a completely unsympathetic character, but i feel knowing more about him BEFORE the story begins to wrap up would've made me understand his choices and motivations a lot better.
and don't get me started on these two characters referring to themselves as achilles and patroclus after hooking up literally once. that whole thing was super corny, and with the already many greek parallels being not so subtly shoved down our throats, i just could not take it seriously.
there was also one part where we're taken completely out of the plot and told the story of the trojan horse???
i liked the discussions/themes of racism, white privilege, and a main character whose story wasn't limited to, and didn't necessarily revolve around being lgbtqia+. but that was basically it.
also some spoiler stuff that rubs me the wrong way: the fact that after athena publicly helps expose her abusers she just like....disappears. we don't ever hear about her or from her again??? shes the victim, pretty much the catalyst of the story, but we don't get to see how she's doing or what happens to her at the ending of the novel. unless im missing something, it kind of makes me feel like she was only there as a plot device and then was just thrown away when no longer needed. also sebastien actually violently assaults and blackmails an innocent KID and feels just sort of bad about it by the end??? like i get it, he has extreme anger issues associated with trauma, the why not actually being revealed until AFTER, when the book is almost over, but holy shit. he basically traumatizes this poor kid and then at the end when the kid understandably lashes out, he chalks it up to them having the same dad?
unfortunately, while i didn't care for the rebellious tide, i'm still interested in tan's debut and wouldn't be opposed to checking it out sometime in the future. hopefully, i'd enjoy it a lot more!
thank you to edelweiss for the digital arc in exchange for my honest review!