...I'm so absolutely disappointed and gutted. There WILL be spoilers. Be forewarned. I'm about to rant like no other.



I LOVE the Count of Monte Cristo. It's one of my favorite books (which is saying something because I don't typically like classics). I was named after a character in a modern day (for the 90s) retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo (If Tomorrow Comes by Sydney Sheldon). This book has been central to my life and my love of literature.

This is NOT the Count of Monte Cristo.

Or, rather, it is, as long as you start the book with the Count in jail and she doesn't know why she's there or who is to blame for her misfortunes and gets sucked into SOMEONE ELSE'S revenge plot and also, she's maybe in love with the Mercedes character stand-in, but there's also a Haydee stand-in. So who knows? It may be a love triangle. Also, did we mention the kindly abbé character, a character who is minor and who DIES in the original is now turned into a major villain character? And he's in league with the others the Countess needs to get revenge on? And also, Mercedes' sister is somehow the grandfather stand-in. And the plotters are responsible for child labor and a deadly disease and a counterfeiting scheme. And the Countess' money isn't actually real.

Does your head hurt yet?

If this had not been promoted as a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, it would have been a perfectly passable YA adventure tale. The story itself wasn't bad if it's divorced from that idea. But it was and it isn't, so I'm upset about it now.

Amaya, our Countess, is supposed to be this rugged, rough and tumble heroine. And she just isn't. She's naive. She continues to go along with plans she doesn't know about or understand without really questioning anything or finding out why Boon wants revenge on the same people she does other than "he's Landless! Cool!" and moving on. At two different points, she finds out information (that turns out to be a red herring once) and just kind of sulks and pouts around while she "figures it out". The Count is shrewd and clever. He has a CLEAR plan for his revenge and knows exactly who his targets are and what needs to happen to get his justice. He isn't an unknowing pawn in someone else's scheme because he was too gullible and drunk on revenge plans to care what the plan is. The character HINGES on this cunning. Without it, it was a let down.

Cayo is forgettable. He kisses pretty much every character he interacts with (to my knowledge) that isn't related to him. He wants to dispel this idea that he's a "drunken playboy" without really doing anything to change that idea. He's likable, but not really anything special, love interest-wise.

Other issues I have are that the author does this thing where she describes people as having "typically Rehanese" features or features from the other Empire (Sun, but I can't remember the adjective for it now) or "Kharian" features and then DOES NOT EXPLAIN WHAT THOSE FEATURES ARE. There is really no sense that ANY of these empires look any different than the others or how the characters can tell them apart. They just can because she says so. EVERY character is vaguely brown/mixed. One (VERY minor) character is described as "black". I don't understand this world where EVERYONE is so mixed, but retains enough indescribable features to stand out. As a biracial person, the more I saw of this, the less I was here for it. It was a poorly done attempt at "representation".

Edit: I've seen SO MANY reviews praising the diversity for having "brown" people. Just saying someone is "brown" is not good representation. It's vague and only serves for the author to look woke. The choices she's making have NO bearing on the characters whatsoever. They could be purple and still be the same. She didn't discuss their culture, how it has affected them, nothing that is of any importance to this aspect. It's a copout and I'm disappointed.

Additionally, many of the characters are written as openly flirting with both men and women. It's like the author doesn't want to commit to a character's sexuality one way or the other. Cayo kisses both girls and boys in the book, but Amaya flirts with and is flirted with by both and reacts the same regardless of which one is flirting with her. There is also a (VERY minor) non-binary character who I only know is non-binary because the author made a point of saying they were wearing a certain pin, and in this universe, that means they use "they" pronouns. This was very arbitrary. The character has no bearing on the plot and just comes across as the author trying to score representation points because "I included someone who uses they pronouns!" There are two female characters in a relationship, but they don't do anything more than hug, so if you're looking for LGBT+ representation, this isn't the book.

If you are looking for a serviceable adventure story, the plot was at least partially entertaining. Enough that I would read book two with eyes WIDE open that it is NOT the retelling I was promised. But it is as much a "retelling" of The Count of Monte Cristo as Guardians of the Galaxy is a "retelling" of Star Wars. Yes, they have similar elements, but that doesn't make them equitable.



Thanks for coming to my TED rant.

Popsugar Reading Prompt: A book featuring one of the seven deadly sins (Wrath in the form of murder and revenge)