Felt like it fell a little short of its potential. Also I’m pretty sure the there’s a twist coming in the next book that’s fairly obvious. I’ll read the second book but this one was just mediocre.

4.25

Scavenge the Stars is a gender swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. Amaya rescues a stranger adrift at sea and in return, the stranger gives her all his riches and a new identity so that she can return home as the wealthy and mysterious Countess Yamaa to have her revenge against the man that sold her into slavery. She finds more secrets than she bargained for in Moray and she wasn't counting on becoming entangled with the son of the man she's determined to destroy.

The Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books of all time. I understand the reviews saying that nothing happens in Scavenge the Stars but I was into it. The Count is 1300 pages long so maybe let it breathe a little, you know? I kept reading because The Count vibes were so good. It was a really well done gender swapped retelling! The characters and atmosphere of The Count were captured so well while being in their own fantasy world. The revenge plot didn't drive me in the way the original did but I liked the characters enough to make up for it.

Unfortunately, about halfway through Scavenge the Stars begins to stray from its retelling origins and that lost me since that was why I was on this journey to begin with. While I loved Amaya and Cayo as characters separately, I had a hard time believing their romance. It was really close but not quite there for me. The big reveals were good, the ending was good, I just wanted more of The Count. 3 stars overall. This one is a slow burn, not a hack and slash action story.