Take a photo of a barcode or cover
Scavenge the Stars was a little bit... meh for me. It's weird because I like the plot, the world is really cool, the characters were likeable, I didn't see the plot twist coming. But still. Meh.
So what's going on here?
Scavenge the Stars is a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo (which I have never read or seen so that was entirely lost on me) following Amaya/Silverfish/Yamaa and Cayo as their lives become interwoven in ways that no one saw coming. Amaya, known as Silverfish on the debtor ship she was sold to seven years ago, rescues a man who promises riches beyond her wildest dreams. When her debt is paid up, she finds and strikes a deal with the man she saved; he'll help her get revenge on her tormentor, as long as she helps him take down the man behind the whole thing. And so she becomes the mysterious and wealthy Countess Yamaa, tasked with befriending the son of the villain in order to get at him. But, as Amaya and Cayo get to know each other, they quickly realize that they are falling for each other. What follows is a tangled web of lies, treachery, and a whole lot of danger all in the name of one thing: revenge.
What I loved
This world is super interesting. I do wish there had been some more world building, but I am happy with what we got. I usually find the political aspects in books to be pretty boring, but I was actually quite invested in this one and would love to see more of it in the next book. I'm interested in knowing the history of the empires and how things came to be what they are, and would also love more of their folklore and myths. The bits we got in this book were spectacular. I especially loved the little snippets at the start of each chapter.
I also quite liked the characters, for the most part. While I didn't feel particularly connected or emotionally invested in any of them, I did find them to be fairly well developed and interesting. My favourite character was definitely Amaya, I found her to be multifaceted and I was genuinely interested to see where her character was going to go. I liked the dynamic of her deciding who she wants to be and the kind of moral greyness surrounding that. The rest of the characters were all pretty well done too, but Amaya really hit the mark for me.
What I didn't love
It took me a long ass time to get into this book, and even by the end I still wasn't fully invested in the story. I was kind of sighing in relief when I hit the acknowledgments, glad that I finally finished it. I'm not entirely sure what it is that made me not like it as much as I thought I would, but there was just something about it that didn't fully grab my attention. Like the pacing was good, the plot was interesting enough, there wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, I just kept finding myself being bored. I was actually about to move it to my "finish later" shelf and start something else, but I went to the gym today and needed something to listen to while I did cardio, which is literally the only reason that I decided to push through and just finish it today. If not for that, it would have been moved to that shelf (which is basically a shelf where books go to die/eventually be moved to my "dnf" shelf). And the plot twist, while I genuinely didn't see it coming, I didn't really find it be all that impactful. Any of them actually, I just realized that there were technically a few plot twists lmfao. Yeah, I don't really know how to properly explain why I didn't care for this, I just didn't
Overall thoughts
I will definitely read the sequel (whenever that comes out, there's not even a release date yet RIP), but more so out of a feeling of obligation. If this was going to be a trilogy then no I wouldn't want to continue it. But for one more book I can do it
So what's going on here?
Scavenge the Stars is a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo (which I have never read or seen so that was entirely lost on me) following Amaya/Silverfish/Yamaa and Cayo as their lives become interwoven in ways that no one saw coming. Amaya, known as Silverfish on the debtor ship she was sold to seven years ago, rescues a man who promises riches beyond her wildest dreams. When her debt is paid up, she finds and strikes a deal with the man she saved; he'll help her get revenge on her tormentor, as long as she helps him take down the man behind the whole thing. And so she becomes the mysterious and wealthy Countess Yamaa, tasked with befriending the son of the villain in order to get at him. But, as Amaya and Cayo get to know each other, they quickly realize that they are falling for each other. What follows is a tangled web of lies, treachery, and a whole lot of danger all in the name of one thing: revenge.
What I loved
This world is super interesting. I do wish there had been some more world building, but I am happy with what we got. I usually find the political aspects in books to be pretty boring, but I was actually quite invested in this one and would love to see more of it in the next book. I'm interested in knowing the history of the empires and how things came to be what they are, and would also love more of their folklore and myths. The bits we got in this book were spectacular. I especially loved the little snippets at the start of each chapter.
I also quite liked the characters, for the most part. While I didn't feel particularly connected or emotionally invested in any of them, I did find them to be fairly well developed and interesting. My favourite character was definitely Amaya, I found her to be multifaceted and I was genuinely interested to see where her character was going to go. I liked the dynamic of her deciding who she wants to be and the kind of moral greyness surrounding that. The rest of the characters were all pretty well done too, but Amaya really hit the mark for me.
What I didn't love
It took me a long ass time to get into this book, and even by the end I still wasn't fully invested in the story. I was kind of sighing in relief when I hit the acknowledgments, glad that I finally finished it. I'm not entirely sure what it is that made me not like it as much as I thought I would, but there was just something about it that didn't fully grab my attention. Like the pacing was good, the plot was interesting enough, there wasn't anything particularly wrong with it, I just kept finding myself being bored. I was actually about to move it to my "finish later" shelf and start something else, but I went to the gym today and needed something to listen to while I did cardio, which is literally the only reason that I decided to push through and just finish it today. If not for that, it would have been moved to that shelf (which is basically a shelf where books go to die/eventually be moved to my "dnf" shelf). And the plot twist, while I genuinely didn't see it coming, I didn't really find it be all that impactful. Any of them actually, I just realized that there were technically a few plot twists lmfao. Yeah, I don't really know how to properly explain why I didn't care for this, I just didn't
Overall thoughts
I will definitely read the sequel (whenever that comes out, there's not even a release date yet RIP), but more so out of a feeling of obligation. If this was going to be a trilogy then no I wouldn't want to continue it. But for one more book I can do it
A low 3.5 stars. It was okay enough that I'm interested to see how it plays out in the next one
Oh man, this story sucked me in. Lots of intrigue and plotting and revenge.
But...is this a standalone? Who. Is. Boon?
But...is this a standalone? Who. Is. Boon?
3.5 stars
WARNING: This review will have spoilers. Unspecific spoilers, but spoilers nonetheless.
So, this book was marketed as a gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which I happen to have recently read. However, if you go into this expecting The Count of Monte Cristo, you're going to be sorely disappointed. You can clearly see it was inspired by TCoMC, but a retelling? Not even close.
The storyline begins, and you can immediately spot the similarities to TCoMC, though, as the book progresses, those melt away, and it deviates substantially. However, I didn't actually have a problem with that. My problem was with our heroine, Amaya, in comparison to the infamous Count of Dumas' novel.
I liked Amaya. She was interesting, and although she did share some characteristics with the cookie cutter "typical YA heroine" (think Clary from The Mortal Instruments), that didn't bother me. Sim wrote her uniquely enough that I didn't find her annoying, and I was rooting for her the whole book. My biggest issue with this book, and with Amaya, was her lack of control over the revenge plot.
Since this book was marketed as TCoMC, while I read it I mentally compared it to TCoMC, and obviously I compared Amaya to the Count. In TCoMC, the Count was shown as brilliant, cool, and collected, a master at acting and the art of deception. He was getting revenge on those that wronged him, and he was doing it his way. He was in charge of everyone, he was controlling everything, and that's part of what makes him such a strong character. He's the puppet master, and that's part of TCoMC is so appealing.
Amaya wasn't the Count at all. The people that were helping her enact revenge weren't under her command. They weren't working for her. It wasn't even Amaya's revenge plot. When Amaya got the chance to kill someone that had wronged her, to get her revenge, one of her crew stopped her by killing the person instead. No one would have dared do that to the Count. But they did it to the Countess, because Amaya wasn't in charge. Ultimately, that made her a weaker character, and I was disappointed by that. This can't be considered a gender-swapped TCoMC because Amaya was very much not the Count. One of the big reveals in the book is that she was being played, which wasn't very surprising, because Amaya held so little control over everything. It was clear from the start she wasn't the puppet master. She was just another puppet.
One thing I really liked about this book was the casual queerness. It's implied that almost everyone in this book is LGBTQ in some way, which I found very refreshing. It caused me to question some of my own internalized thoughts about queer representation in media. For example, early on in the book I found myself thinking, "Oh, this author is trying really hard to be woke." But then I realized, why did I even think that in the first place? I'll probably think about that aspect of this book a lot.
Overall, I think I was a little to kind with my rating, but I really did enjoy this book, so 3.5 stars it is. The actual writing was a little bland, and it was also surprisingly rough at the beginning. The worldbuilding was interesting (and probably better than the actual writing), but I'm still a little confused about it. It needed to be touched on in more detail. The queer and POC representation was great. However, this wasn't The Count of Monte Cristo, and I think comparing it to that novel is a disservice to what Scavenge The Stars is: a fantasy novel about loyalty, morality, and revenge.
WARNING: This review will have spoilers. Unspecific spoilers, but spoilers nonetheless.
So, this book was marketed as a gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas, which I happen to have recently read. However, if you go into this expecting The Count of Monte Cristo, you're going to be sorely disappointed. You can clearly see it was inspired by TCoMC, but a retelling? Not even close.
The storyline begins, and you can immediately spot the similarities to TCoMC, though, as the book progresses, those melt away, and it deviates substantially. However, I didn't actually have a problem with that. My problem was with our heroine, Amaya, in comparison to the infamous Count of Dumas' novel.
I liked Amaya. She was interesting, and although she did share some characteristics with the cookie cutter "typical YA heroine" (think Clary from The Mortal Instruments), that didn't bother me. Sim wrote her uniquely enough that I didn't find her annoying, and I was rooting for her the whole book. My biggest issue with this book, and with Amaya, was her lack of control over the revenge plot.
Since this book was marketed as TCoMC, while I read it I mentally compared it to TCoMC, and obviously I compared Amaya to the Count. In TCoMC, the Count was shown as brilliant, cool, and collected, a master at acting and the art of deception. He was getting revenge on those that wronged him, and he was doing it his way. He was in charge of everyone, he was controlling everything, and that's part of what makes him such a strong character. He's the puppet master, and that's part of TCoMC is so appealing.
Amaya wasn't the Count at all. The people that were helping her enact revenge weren't under her command. They weren't working for her. It wasn't even Amaya's revenge plot. When Amaya got the chance to kill someone that had wronged her, to get her revenge, one of her crew stopped her by killing the person instead. No one would have dared do that to the Count. But they did it to the Countess, because Amaya wasn't in charge. Ultimately, that made her a weaker character, and I was disappointed by that. This can't be considered a gender-swapped TCoMC because Amaya was very much not the Count. One of the big reveals in the book is that she was being played, which wasn't very surprising, because Amaya held so little control over everything. It was clear from the start she wasn't the puppet master. She was just another puppet.
One thing I really liked about this book was the casual queerness. It's implied that almost everyone in this book is LGBTQ in some way, which I found very refreshing. It caused me to question some of my own internalized thoughts about queer representation in media. For example, early on in the book I found myself thinking, "Oh, this author is trying really hard to be woke." But then I realized, why did I even think that in the first place? I'll probably think about that aspect of this book a lot.
Overall, I think I was a little to kind with my rating, but I really did enjoy this book, so 3.5 stars it is. The actual writing was a little bland, and it was also surprisingly rough at the beginning. The worldbuilding was interesting (and probably better than the actual writing), but I'm still a little confused about it. It needed to be touched on in more detail. The queer and POC representation was great. However, this wasn't The Count of Monte Cristo, and I think comparing it to that novel is a disservice to what Scavenge The Stars is: a fantasy novel about loyalty, morality, and revenge.
Although this book started out well, the characters felt underdeveloped. The plot had potential, yet the character interactions seemed forced and awkward. In general, although the book wasn't terrible, there was nothing which stood out which is why it gets 3 stars from me.
A compelling retelling, Scavenge the Stars, is a compelling take on the classic The Count of Monte Cristo.
Compelling Storytelling
The thing that makes Scavenge the Stars so compelling is how it takes the reader by surprise. When the reader begins this journey, it is easy to forget that it is supposed to be a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo as it follows Amaya, an indentured young girl working on a debtor ship.
Sim builds up the story, building Amaya’s history and how she fits into the story with excellent pacing. So when she reveals herself as a countess, it fits into the formula of a retelling, capturing the reader’s attention. It sneaks up on the reader as Sim tells the story, using her pacing and language to keep the reader enthralled.
Sim’s precision with writing, going back and forth between perspectives, lures the reader into the story, making the reader forget that this is a retelling. Retellings are great as long as they can stand on their own
Compelling Storytelling
The thing that makes Scavenge the Stars so compelling is how it takes the reader by surprise. When the reader begins this journey, it is easy to forget that it is supposed to be a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo as it follows Amaya, an indentured young girl working on a debtor ship.
Sim builds up the story, building Amaya’s history and how she fits into the story with excellent pacing. So when she reveals herself as a countess, it fits into the formula of a retelling, capturing the reader’s attention. It sneaks up on the reader as Sim tells the story, using her pacing and language to keep the reader enthralled.
Sim’s precision with writing, going back and forth between perspectives, lures the reader into the story, making the reader forget that this is a retelling. Retellings are great as long as they can stand on their own
adventurous
emotional
lighthearted
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
There's not much to write about this one but the characters were amazing, and so were the plot twists. It was kind of like a mix between the night circus and a darker shade of magic.
I liked it. Plain and simple as that. I didn't knew what to expect, since the summary was like "mhm" for me and even though I knew it was inspired by "The Count of Monte Cristo", I haven't read it yet (even though I really want to do it for reasons), I wasn't feeling very strong about it. In my mind it was like, it's going to be a decent YA and just that.
I had a really good time reading it. I liked the characters, their motivations and the world that was being built around them. It took me aback whenwe changed to a "third PoV" of the countess before understanding that the two PoV's weren't in synch at the beginning and Amaya was the countess so I think it the author was trying to keep the mystery but didn't manage it quite smoothly, but I was invested enough to be like "okay, a little flop but I can keep going".
By the middle of it, I was totally in. The last part of the book was really exciting for me and now I'm eager for the second book. I really like when I come without knowing anything and having pleasant surprises like this one.
I had a really good time reading it. I liked the characters, their motivations and the world that was being built around them. It took me aback when
By the middle of it, I was totally in. The last part of the book was really exciting for me and now I'm eager for the second book. I really like when I come without knowing anything and having pleasant surprises like this one.