Name: Linara K.S's review of Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim
Item: Scavenge the Stars
Rating: 3
Author: Linara K.S

Tara Sim

From rising-star author Tara Sim comes an epic new YA fantasy duology--a gender-swapped The Count of Monte Cristo retelling that's perfect for fans of All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace and Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian. When Amaya rescues a mysterious stranger from drowning, she fears her rash actions have earned her an even longer sentence on the debtor ship where she's been held captive for years. Instead, the man she saved offers her unimaginable riches and a new identity, setting Amaya on a perilous course through the coastal city-state of Moray, where old-world opulence and desperate gamblers collide. Amaya still only wants one thing: revenge against the man who ruined her family and stole the life she once had. But the more entangled she becomes in this game of deception--and as her path intertwines with the son of the man she's plotting to bring down--the more she uncovers about the truth of her past. And the more she realizes she can't trust anyone but herself. Packed with high-stakes adventure, romance, and dueling identities, this gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo is the first novel in an epic YA fantasy duology.

Scavenge the Stars

When Amaya rescues a mysterious stranger from drowning, she fears her rash actions have earned her a longer sentence on the debtor ship where she's been held captive for years. Instead, the man she saved offers her unimaginable riches and a new identity, setting Amaya on a perilous course through the coastal city-state of Moray, where old-world opulence and desperate gamblers collide. Amaya wants one thing: revenge against the man who ruined her family and stole the life she once had. But the more entangled she becomes in this game of deception-and as her path intertwines with the son of the man she's plotting to bring down-the more she uncovers about the truth of her past. And the more she realizes she must trust no one? Packed with high-stakes adventure, romance, and dueling identities, this gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo is the first novel in an epic YA fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Sabaa Tahir, and Leigh Bardugo.

Minnie Mazuera

Women with knives are sharper than any mind. -KHARIAN PROVERB

Monica Isabella

Linara K.S

it was okay. 
I liked the writing style though i wasn't the most compelled by the plot.

A tincy wincey thing made me dissatisfied and that was the fact that one of the mcs Amaya is unemotional face to death. Like there'll be one too many deaths and she'd be just reacting and not dwelling on an emotional level as though it was common for her, she would move on or decide to do something else right away. Okay i understand at first your troubled but the later???? Don't you mornnn????? Yes, she morns but only HER parents and that's it (I don't want to spoil so i'll leave it at that). 
Other than that the writing was absolutely beautiful! I lived for the analogies and the intricacies in the writing style, i think that's what made me want to turn the page at each end of chapter. Every chapter has a surprise of some sort and it is truly fun to just react to all of them and i ASSURE YOU you won't figure things out. At least i didn't and i was gasping at 3 am in the morning several times this past week. (yes, it took me a few days. I just didn't prioritise reading over writing that's all. anyways yeah) 
IT WAS AN ALMOST 5 stars!!!! i'm not a harsh critic or anything but the lack of lyricism caught me off guard. It made me detached from the characters. Also side-not: i strangely love Romara. ore than Amaya and Cayo combined lol. OH and ROACH!!! bruh why are my fave characters the side characters????
anyways that was teh chaotic review. It's currently 4 am in the morning and i haven't slept. Bleeding skies what am i doing?

Who let me sleep on this book for so long??!! A dark YA adventure novel with a gender-bent Count of Monte Cristo premise! Dual POV! Opulent city-street parties and tea houses, coupled with sinister gambling houses and a spreading plague! Now I need to get my hands (or ears) on the sequel!

Liz Griffin

Megan Lowe

I really liked this book!
I like Amaya and Cayo and the water bugs and the found family.
I liked the twists and turns and I’m excited to see what happens in the next book.
I did think there was going to be more cooperation between Yamaa and Cayo judging from the blurb, but I’m hopeful for book 2!

Julie Janis

** spoiler alert **
           This was a highly anticipated book for me to read this year, and I'm to say I enjoyed it, though it didn't end up being an absolute favorite like I had hoped. What I liked about this book was how well it paralleled to The Count of Monte Cristo. I'm a sucker for retellings so I enjoyed that aspect of it. Overall, I really liked Amaya's and Cayo's characters, until the very end with Cayo which I'll get to later. The plot was well done, the writing was well done, the character development in at least Amaya was well done. I do wish there was more world building though.

Alright, now spoiler for the ending. When Cayo finds out who Amaya really is and learns her life story, I'm a little bugged he didn't forgive her. Yes, she lied to him. Yes, he felt betrayed. But he wasn't the only one being used. Amaya was being used too. I guess what I'm trying to say here is I want to read about more characters who are flawed, but also empathetic. I want to see more healthy relationships go through struggles and how they get through them. I want to read about characters who can be examples to me. Cayo could've been that character for me if he had forgiven Amaya in the end. 

But despite that, I still enjoyed the story and I'll definitely read the next book when it comes out.

Savannah Winchell

Look fam
It’s definitely not bad but it’s nothing new. I feel about this how I did about the Boneless Mercies in that there was literally no point in claiming inspiration from the source material. Boneless was “inspired” by Beowulf only so far as being a monster hunting story and Scavenge was “inspired” by the Count of Monte Christo only so far as being a revenge story with a dash of acting. Neither even tries to understand the source material and the complexity that makes them extraordinary so we end up with just another YA adventure.
Basically I’m tired and I wish authors would try a little to take risks and make something new

Meghan M

I love a good disguise and revenge story, but this one did not live up to the hype around it. It was good, but it started out really slow and it was predictable more times than not. I did like it though, just not as much as I would've liked to.

Joan 

I liked the story but I debated so many times if I should’ve just dropped it. But I finished it so thats good.

Ashlee

I was *obsessed* with The Count of Monte Cristo film that released in the early 2000s (helloooo young Henry Cavill), so when I saw this is a gender swapped retelling of that story, I knew it had to check it out! I quite enjoyed this spin on the original story, and while it stuck closely to the original story in terms of direction of the story, it still felt like something new and fresh.

I love a good revenge plot and this one does some good work to get there! I would have liked to see the world building fleshed out so more—it felt as though some of the broader elements of the world were barely brushed over. However, some of the closer world building was done well! I especially enjoyed the way the merchant classes are portrayed, especially the ruthlessness of the different characters and factions. That said, Cayo is a complete cinnamon roll, you can’t convince me otherwise.

Now, I did get two of the characters mixed up for like half the book, because I was listening to the audiobook and their names sound very similar (oops 😂), but that’s on me more than anything else! I really appreciate the sexual and racial diversity in this book. At least one character is asexual, one of the protagonists is bisexual, and if I didn’t miss anything, I’m pretty positive most of the cast is people of color. 

Needless to say, I recommend giving this one a shot and look forward to reading the sequel!

Chiara Vitale Zelaia

Technically, Scavenge the Stars had many elements that could have made it a favorite of mine: there was diversity (many characters have brown or darker skin, there is a lesbian couple and one of the main characters, Cayo, was bisexual), a clear plot and a quick pace between one plot point and the next. I also enjoyed the writing, which was easy to read but also rich with vivid imagery that immerged me into the setting. It was like walking through the streets of an historical Las Vegas, with criminals on the loose and vices of every shape and size ready to creep up on you and claim your soul. 

Unfortunately, the book fell flat where world-building and characters are concerned. 
Apart from Moray (our historical Vegas), there are many locations that are mentioned, but they are no more than a word on a page. There is no map in the book, so I couldn’t visualize what this world looked like, how much distance was between one place and the next, nor could I understand how these places differed in culture or traditions with Moray, hence making it impossible for me to remember which place was which.

The same sort of problem was with the characters. Apart from the protagonists, Cayo and Amaya, every other secondary character is either vaguely described or not described at all, and their personalities had nothing unique that could help you separate one name from the other. Secondary characters were treated more like plot devices than anything else, and the limited amount of scenes where these characters interacted with one another did not help me grow any sort of attachment to them.
The main characters, Cayo and Amaya, suffered the same fate, to some degree. Singularly, Cayo and Amaya have nothing that sets them apart from other YA characters. Cayo was the most interesting between the two, mostly because we got to see more of his history and the way he interacts with the world and characters around him. Amaya’s chapters, on the other hand, felt more like a stream of unnecessary flashbacks and inner dialogue, which made her chapters especially heavy to read. I did, however, enjoy the interactions between Cayo and Amaya, which had the right amount of banter and awkwardness to make them cute.

Cute, but not memorable—which is the perfect way to summarize this book.

Sahi K

This book was on my highly anticipated books of the year list and I thought it would finally be my introduction to the author’s writing. But I ended up reading her debut Timekeeper first and thought it was a good one, but somehow had the feeling this would be more my kinda fantasy. Then reading some mixed reviews made me a little apprehensive but thanks to some motivation from my friends and this book also being the January pick for SARC2020, I decided to pick it up and I’m so so happy I did. 

I actually don’t remember if I read The Count of Monte Cristo in my childhood, so I know nothing about it except that it’s a revenge tale and I think I enjoyed not knowing the original tale and letting this retelling surprise me. So, I’m obviously not the right reviewer if you wanna know about how faithful or not this book is to its source material. However, I can say that it was very easy to follow right from the beginning, starting off a bit slow and taking time to let us get used to the characters before picking up pace towards the end. The plot is very tightly woven with many mysteries, some of which were predictable but many were not - it was a lot of fun unraveling them and watching them play out. I also loved how the author kept leaving little clues but never told the complete truth, making me not want to put down the book at all. 

The world building is not expansive in this book like I’m usually accustomed to in other fantasies. As most of the story takes place in a single city, we only get to know the one place intimately with info about the various sectors, the economy and political tensions, the disparity between the filthy rich and the poor and how the debtors system works. We are told about other empires which surround Moray and how they are trying to gain access to the prominent trade routes but the story never goes into detail about them. But the way the ending is setup, it looks like we might get a bigger picture in the sequel and I’m all here for it. As an Indian reader, it was awesome to see an all POC cast in the book, and though we realize that each of the kingdoms here are inspired by various Asian countries, the author tries to keep them a bit ambiguous but I didn’t really mind it. And the queer normative world shown here was beautiful - everyone just being who they want to be, whether it’s demi, bisexual, aro, wlw or trans. 

Amaya is a multi faceted young woman and I really admired her for it. Her years on the debtors ship have hardened her and it’s a motivator for revenge, but on the other hand she is also very compassionate and is always thinking about how her actions might impact others. This girl who could be both driven by her anger and her kindness was a revelation and I’m very excited that I got to know her. Cayo on the other hand is a privileged young man who turned to drinking and gambling to drown away his sorrows but is trying to rectify his mistakes because his whole world is on the verge of collapse. I liked that the author showed us that he is working towards being better, never excusing his previous behavior or condemning his addiction. And despite appearances, he is very soft hearted guy who just wants his sister to be safe and happy. 

I liked how the dynamic between Amaya and Cayo developed. It’s kind of an enemies to lovers story but only party knows it, so that was fascinating and I also enjoyed that the author took time to make the characters understand each other a bit before acting on their feelings. There are also no instant love declarations which is kind of nice even though I wouldn’t have minded if that had been the route taken. There are some amazing scenes between the two, a particular one being the absolutely adorable mud fight. 

There is also a huge cast of side characters but we never do get to know any of them in detail. Roach is Amaya’s best friend and the bond they share due to surviving together on the debtors ship is deep and loyal, but I really wanted more time with them together coz he seemed like an excellent character. Liesl and Dead Shot are a badass f/f couple who are helping and protecting Amaya in her endeavor and while we got to see them a little in action, I wanted more. We do get to know Cayo’s sister Soria a bit better and I thought she was such a lovely girl and always brought some lightness to the proceedings. There are also many other small characters who play significant roles for a little bit of time and villains whose motivations are very mysterious and we never know who is betraying whom. 

In conclusion, I kept my expectations a bit low after reading some of the reviews but the book totally surpassed them all and I had a lot of fun reading it. If you like the classic The Count of Monte Cristo, I think you should give this a try though I can’t tell how close it is to the original. And if you are like who hasn’t read the original but love reading character focused YA fantasies with a diverse cast, a revenge drama, slow unraveling of mysteries and the promise of more political intrigue, then I think you’ll enjoy this book a lot. That ending wrapped up a lot of unknowns and but left enough questions unanswered to make me excited already for the sequel.

Sheila Goicea

Thanks so much to The Fantastic Flying Book Club for having me be a part of this blog tour!

I received a copy of this book via Disney-Hyperion via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you! In no way does this affect my rating or review.



All included quotes have been taken from an ARC and may not match the finished publication. 

Content Warning: Child labor, Child abuse, Starvation, Indentured Servitude, Gambling Addiction, On page death, Murder, Profanity, Gore

  People were not designed to be trusted.

I’ve never read The Count of Monte Cristo. It’s a Classic that I have every intention of reading someday, but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Maybe it’s due to the fact that it’s over 1,000 pages long. I’ll just have to set aside half of a year to finish that. Scavenge The Stars is a gender-swap Young Adult retelling of the classical tome. 

The point-of-view transitions between characters Amaya (aka Silverfish) and Cayo. The two couldn’t originate from more varying lives, which immediately sets the tone with the obvious division between people. Amaya, sold into indentured servitude for years to pay off her parent’s debt, has known a tough life of hard labor with regular beatings. When the reader meets her, she is on the cusp of freedom, and looks forward to reuniting with her mother. Cayo, on the other hand, has nestled in the lap of luxury, squandering his fortune, and making a reputation for himself. Somewhere in-between them sit a landless castaway--a man Amaya saves when she’s still aboard the Brackish. 

As the story unfolds, Amaya learns the truth about how she ended up being sold into servitude, and that people aren’t trustworthy. When the stranger that she saved from drowning out at sea offers her a new life of wealth and position, she takes it. Now, with resources acquired that she needs to take down those that have affected her family so, Amaya turns all of her focus towards getting revenge. 

With the life that she has lived, it is understandable why she would resort to revenge. Unfortunately, this is where the novel lost me. I’m not one for revenge stories. Forgiveness, although painful, is always the better solution, in my opinion. For me, a story centered around revenge and the scandals that follow in its tyrannical wake just didn’t, and doesn’t interest me. This is no fault of the book, it is just a personal preference. Scavenge The Stars is well-written, thought out, and complex. Seeing how political maneuvering is the basis of everything, one must enjoy a presence of politics to some degree to really experience this story to its fullest. 

I think that Scavenge The Stars has much to offer the right reader. Unfortunately, that reader wasn’t me due to the focus surrounding the plot. This is a perfect example of “it’s me, not you.” If you are one for pirate-esque or port-city vibes, revenge stories, diverse sexual orientation, conspiracy and political reads, this one may be for you!

Vulgarity: Some.
Sexual content: Kissing only.
Violence: Moderate.

My Rating: ★★★

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Tânia Borges

Actual rating: 3.5/5
I didn't feel particularly connected to the characters or the story. No hate whatsoever, just not my thing.

danielle bush

This isn't normally a book that would peel my interest.. but i got it in a book box, and so thought i mine as well read it since I now own it.. 
I thought the beginning was pretty original, with the kids having to work of their parents debt. They are all given new names once aboard the ship like Silverfish, beetle, and roach.. Silverfish (amaya) only has days left on the ship when she sees a man in the water, she notices that he has gold buttons and assumes that he has money. So she saves him without the captain's permission.. 
When this happens she tips the net, and the captain tells her she now has to pay for it and has 4 weeks more added to her debt.. 
The middle I thought was kind of boring, didnt really make me invested.. the end was better, we get some twists, and amaya (Silverfish) finds out somethings that make her question what she been doing.. 
I thought it was a little boring after Amaya gets off the ship..

laura

Overall, I a liked this book, but i did not love it. I did like both very different POV and loved the court policies that were the main focus of this novel. I thought however the pacing was not as strong and the book did not grab my attention from page one. There was some flashback moments that I wish had been clearer. I liked the sexual representation in this read overall. I also really liked the elements of found family and the sea themed elements. I like the ending however and we be checking out book 2!

Lauren

POCs GALORE, QUEER REP & THESE AMAZING INSPO BOARDS FROM TARA HERSELF?!
Where do I sign over my soul for this book?

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Book: Scavenge the Stars

Author: Tara Sim

Book Series: Scavenge the Stars Book 1

Rating: 5/5

Diversity: POC and LGBT characters!

Publication Date: January 7, 2020

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (Language, suicide TW, child slavery TW, human trafficking TW, gambling, and abuse TW)

Publisher: Disney-Hyperion

Pages: 336

Amazon Link

Synopsis: When Amaya rescues a mysterious stranger from drowning, she fears her rash actions have earned her a longer sentence on the debtor ship where she’s been held captive for years. Instead, the man she saved offers her unimaginable riches and a new identity, setting Amaya on a perilous course through the coastal city-state of Moray, where old-world opulence and desperate gamblers collide.

Amaya wants one thing: revenge against the man who ruined her family and stole the life she once had. But the more entangled she becomes in this game of deception—and as her path intertwines with the son of the man she’s plotting to bring down—the more she uncovers about the truth of her past. And the more she realizes she must trust no one…

Packed with high-stakes adventure, romance, and dueling identities, this gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo is the first novel in an epic YA fantasy duology, perfect for fans of Sarah J. Maas, Sabaa Tahir, and Leigh Bardugo.

Review: So I’ve never read The Count of Monte Cristo and as of right now I don’t have the desire but DANG I was in a mood to read it while I was reading this book. This book was highly imaginative and it set the sails high (get it? Get it?... okay fine). I loved the pirate setting and I loved how fierce the main character was. She wasn’t like other girls (no seriously, not a meme this time), she was already self assured in her own body and identity, she didn’t need to discover who she truly was on the inside… just what the heck happened to her a long long time ago. I also liked how the book didn’t shy away from hard topics. The characters were all really well developed and the world building was absolutely amazing. And all jokes aside, while the book isn’t strictly a pirate book, it does have a lot of high seas elements in it that it did satisfy my need for more pirates. I even listened to the Pirates of the Caribbean soundtrack while reading this book!

The only downside I had of the book is that some of the sections are a bit slower, as the POV switches between two characters, and all of the names and such can be a bit confusing at times.

Verdict: I highly recommend this swashbuckling read! Yo ho, yo ho, a pirates life for me!

Leelynn Brady

Disclaimer: I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Fantastic Flying Book Club, Netgalley, and Disney-Hyperion for this free copy. All quotes in this review are taken from the Advanced Reader Copy and may change in final publication.

I personally have never read The Count of Monte Cristo before, no have I ever watched any of its adaptations, or anything really to do with the novel. I’ve heard of it because it’s supposed to be a classic, but other than that, I went in blind for this novel as far as retellings go. And for me, I feel like that works a lot better than having a preconceived notion of how I think something should go based on its source material, and I think it really worked in my favor for this one.

Without knowing the source material very well, I personally really, really enjoyed this novel and I had so much feelings for our main characters. I think the person that I felt for this most was Amaya/Silverfish especially in the beginning. I couldn’t imagine being her shoes, spending seven years at minimum on a debtor’s ship because of the money that your father supposedly owed. That mini-backstory that we got from Silverfish to the man she ended up rescuing from drowning before the real adventure begins was enough to make me really sorry for her and her mother. But then again, was it her mother that made her go on that ship as a child, or was she forced to go since there wouldn’t be any adult to run the estate? You know? Little nuances like that may or may not be explained in the novel, and when you’re first hearing about that snippet of life before Silverfish came to be, it makes you question what some adults are either willing to do, or what they have been forced to do.





Even this above example of how the two identities within Amaya are so different that they have two different thoughts on the man that she saved. Since she was so close to going home to see her mother – if she is even still alive, I don’t even know if she knows honestly – and yet gets added a whole month to her sentence for this transgression, both sides of her – Amaya and Silverfish – are fighting their decision. Amaya, the person with the most humanity, feels like at least she saved his life. That should count for something and should be worth an extension of her sentence. Silverfish – the “Water Bug” with no humanity left, who has had to fight to survive and stay alive in this tense and deplorable condition – feels like the only thing worth saving him would be if he were rich enough to buy her out of this hellhole.

And maybe both sides of her are right.



Oh, Cayo. My poor, sweet Cayo. The things that you’ve had to go through in order to gain your father’s trust, even if it’s not at the level you want it to be yet. The addictions that you had to learn to live without, and the life that you had to leave behind, no matter how tempting it was and how much you wanted to go back to it. The love you have for your sister, and how close it seems you are. The stress that you have to deal with in your life.

My poor Cayo. I was so proud of him. I just wanted him to get out from under his father’s imposing shadow, and live the life that I knew he could. Without that harsh voice in the back of your mind telling you that you’re a screw up to the Moreno family. Oh, Cayo.

Clearly I had feelings throughout this book, and I’m dying to see how Sim ends this series. I don’t want it to end though, so can we just keep them going forever? Mini side quests? Something?

Laura Springall

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

Maria Elena Vitale Zelaia

Technically, there was nothing wrong with this book. There was plot, good writing and the characters didn’t act like overgrown babies. However, I didn’t really enjoy it because I couldn’t connect to the characters, and I couldn’t entirely visualize them or the setting. 

Descriptions are tricky. Give me too much and I’m tempted to skim ahead, but give me too little, and I don’t know what is going on half the time. In this book, I found myself leaning toward the latter. Some of the characters are described vaguely or not at all, so you only have a name floating on your page and no face to go with it. I found it particularly difficult to imagine the Water Bugs and Landless people that were with Amaya. Same goes for the setting. 

There seemed to be many things happening, but not enough interactions amongst the characters to bring me to really care about them. The scenes between the two protagonists were nice to read, but they were too few, and the secondary characters felt more like they existed merely to move the plot of the main characters forward rather than to give life to the story. There’s a subtle difference between the two things that I’m not really sure I can convey, but long story short, there was nothing memorable about any of them. 

We have two POVs: Amaya’s and Cayo’s. Between the two, I enjoyed Cayo’s a lot more. At least there seems to be some texture to the characters that surround him, and there are plenty more interactions in his chapters. The majority of the things we see in Amaya’s chapters are her own emotional turmoils and small flashback sequences with either her parents or her mentor, Boon, who is the only character in her chapters that I didn’t have too much of a problem identifying—and even then, there was nothing extremely special about him. The rest were a sequence of already forgotten names that I couldn’t match to a face or a personality. 

I like plot, but if there isn’t a cast of characters equally compelling to go with it, then I’m not compelled to continue with the story. Three stars, because I can’t fault the writing or the plot, but the characters were not done the way I like them.

Lisa van der Heijden 

Scavenge the Stars is a hard book to review for me due to the lack of opinion I have of this book. I guess that says something about my enjoyment of the book. Scavenge the Stars is a YA fantasy retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo. Unfortunately, I have not read this classic yet, so I cannot tell if the retelling was any good. 

Let’s start with the fact that Scavenge the Stars is not a badly written book. In fact, I think it is a solid story. However, the story is not memorable. I was not really invested in the plot or in the characters. Scavenge the Stars is a revenge story, but I did not feel the intensity of the stakes. For me, there was not anything in the plot that surprised or grabbed me. The story is told in a dual perspective and the scenes where the main characters were together, were actually the most filled with excitement or life. The story ended in a big way. It was explosive and dramatic. I loved how the climax of the story was handled and the upset to the sequel. Therefore, I might consider picking up the next installment. 

I could not connect or relate to the two main characters. Therefore I was not invested in their lives or relationship. Both characters shone when they interacted with another. Apart they were unremarkable. The one character I truly liked was the Slum King’s daughter. She was the only one with a complex personality. Furthermore, I enjoyed the relationship between the main character and this sister. I also appreciate that the main characters handled themselves maturely. There is not any unnecessary drama. 

The writing was enjoyable. It was easy to read and I loved the flow of the writing. However, there were barely any descriptions of the characters or the world. It was all very vague making it hard to imagine what was happening. I did love the atmosphere of the world. The island where the story takes place reminds me of Monte Carlo because of all the casinos and the roll of gambling plays in the story. 

Overall, the Scavenge the Stars was an average read for me. I did not hate the story but I also did not love it. This was mainly due to the lack of connection I felt with the plot and the characters. 

Rating breakdown:
-	Plot: 2.5/5
-	Characters: 2.5/5
-	Writing style: 3/5
-	Worldbuilding: 3/5
-	Overall enjoyment: 3/5

Manon van Heumen

Unfortunately, I didn't end up loving this. It might have been the timing, though.

Jess Ostrander

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc to review!

Scavenge the Stars is a gender-swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. Which, incidentally, I have never read. But I think most people at least know the premise of the story, and you really don't need any knowledge of it to read this book. 

Amaya, or Silverfish, has spent seven long years indentured on a debtor ship. Captained by the cruel Captain Zharo, the Brackish is a debtor ship where children are forced to work off their family's debts. Approaching her freedom, Amaya makes the split second decision to rescue a mysterious stranger floating in the sea. This angers Zharo, leading to Amaya and the mystery man forced to escape overboard. Amaya finds herself stuck with mystery man Boon. Boon promises her revenge on the cruel Captain Zharo, if she also helps him take down his own enemy, Kamon Mercado. Through Boon's plotting and seemingly endless riches, Amaya finds herself taking on a new identity, worming her way into the heart of Moray's noble circle. 
Our other point of view is from Cayo Mercado, a semi-reformed gambling playboy, and son of Kamon Mercado. Cayo's gambling addiction has lead to the draining of his family's coffers. When Cayo's beloved sister Soria comes down with deadly Ash Fever, Cayo will do everything in his power to get the money for the medicine that can save her. Soon Amaya finds her path entangled with Cayo's. But Amaya is quickly learning that what she's believed about her past may not be the whole story, and she must discover the truth before it's too late. 

Can you tell it's a bit hard to write a concise summary of this book? Anyway, I really enjoyed this one! It starts a bit slow, and I was a bit confused at the start with the jump between POVs. But it quickly grabbed me and held me captive. I liked having both POVs of Amaya and Cayo. They're both well fleshed out characters and I cared about them both. I liked their chemistry and the slow burn romance. But don't think this book is romance heavy, because it's not. It's much more focused on the adventure and revenge plot. Also, we're definitely setting up for some big drama and climax in the next book. Which I am for sure excited to read. The writing style is really good. You get such a feel of the characters and their world. I could picture the city streets or docks very easily. I think the world will be more fleshed out and understandable in the next book too. 

Another thing I enjoyed was the casual diversity in this book! It didn't seem shoved in there just to be in there; it was just part of the world. We had a bisexual (although it's never explicitly stated, it is implied) male MC, which is rare. And we got some small non-binary rep too! And it was just presented in a really casual and normal way, and shown to be accepted in their society. I would like to see more of that in book two. 

Overall, if you're a fan of high stakes adventure and a good fantasy retelling, this book is a great choice. It's slow to start, but will hook you in and get action packed quickly. There's lots of twists and layers of deception, and a little side of romance. It's a good first book in a series, and I think book two will be even better.

Ashton Reed

3.5/5 stars

I enjoyed this one! Not a favorite, but quite an enjoyable fantasy.

I felt like the world-building was a bit lacking, but I also felt Sim develops her characters and plot well; I honestly didn’t know where the story was going to go, so I take that as a win 🤷 Also, the romance element is well-placed (not overpowering) and a nice addition to the plot. Overall, I felt there was a significant amount of uniqueness to the story to make it an enjoyable, action-packed read!

Sorry for the lack-luster review, y’all; I am reviewing this so long after I read it (I know, shame on me!!). I received a NetGalley arc from Disney Hyperion in exchange for an honest review; all opinions are my own! Love you guys!




If you enjoyed this review, you can follow me here on Goodreads or on my booksta and my twitter @ashton_reads :)

Monica Isabella &
Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim

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Monica Isabella &Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim

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Monica Isabella &
Scavenge the Stars by Tara Sim