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clarabooksit's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Death, Murder, Trafficking, Child abuse, Child death, Violence, Slavery, Toxic relationship, and Alcohol
Moderate: Sexism, Grief, Pandemic/Epidemic, Terminal illness, Vomit, Blood, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, and Drug use
Minor: Suicide
guessgreenleaf's review against another edition
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Murder, Death of parent, Violence, and Slavery
lastblossom's review
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
tl;dr
Knife girl and disaster boy find themselves at odds in a beautifully described oceanic setting with some thoughtful LGBT+ rep. Plot loses its way a bit with a lack of distinct villains.
About
Amaya has been living on a debtor's ship for the last seven years, paying off a debt that she's certain her family never owed. When she pulls a stranger aboard, he offers her the chance to enact revenge on the people who put her there. The job seems easy - pose as a fabulously wealthy countess, and lie and cheat her way through town until she finally brings down the family that destroyed hers. But revenge is never so simple.
Thoughts
This is a loose retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, a book I read so long ago that I remember nothing, so I came into this book largely without any expectations. And honestly, the plot did its work. Tasty plot twists, well-timed reveals, and vivid world-building. The two leads were fully fleshed out characters. Amaya is determined, hard-working, but somewhat conflicted. Cayo is a former spoiled child coming to terms with the fallout of his bad decisions, and aiming to be a better person. Their personalities don't exactly blend, but they do complement each other very well. The moment when they go swimming together and manage to be honest and vulnerable is especially well-written, and made me feel for them. The rest, however, didn't land as well for me. There are multiple villains in this book, and none of them get enough page time to be distinct from each other. Boon, in particular, feels somewhat underdeveloped, which dampens his actions in the back end of the book, and makes the climax fall a little flat. In general, it feels more like reading the first half of a book, instead of the first book in a duology. A good read for anyone who likes girls with daggers or starcrossed lovers.
Knife girl and disaster boy find themselves at odds in a beautifully described oceanic setting with some thoughtful LGBT+ rep. Plot loses its way a bit with a lack of distinct villains.
About
Amaya has been living on a debtor's ship for the last seven years, paying off a debt that she's certain her family never owed. When she pulls a stranger aboard, he offers her the chance to enact revenge on the people who put her there. The job seems easy - pose as a fabulously wealthy countess, and lie and cheat her way through town until she finally brings down the family that destroyed hers. But revenge is never so simple.
Thoughts
This is a loose retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, a book I read so long ago that I remember nothing, so I came into this book largely without any expectations. And honestly, the plot did its work. Tasty plot twists, well-timed reveals, and vivid world-building. The two leads were fully fleshed out characters. Amaya is determined, hard-working, but somewhat conflicted. Cayo is a former spoiled child coming to terms with the fallout of his bad decisions, and aiming to be a better person. Their personalities don't exactly blend, but they do complement each other very well. The moment when they go swimming together and manage to be honest and vulnerable is especially well-written, and made me feel for them. The rest, however, didn't land as well for me. There are multiple villains in this book, and none of them get enough page time to be distinct from each other. Boon, in particular, feels somewhat underdeveloped, which dampens his actions in the back end of the book, and makes the climax fall a little flat. In general, it feels more like reading the first half of a book, instead of the first book in a duology. A good read for anyone who likes girls with daggers or starcrossed lovers.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Gore, and Alcoholism
Moderate: Blood, Death, Death of parent, Slavery, Child death, and Grief
arminam's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Child death, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Medical content, and Slavery
Minor: Death of parent and Kidnapping
booksthatburn's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
SCAVENGE THE STARS is a Count of Monte Cristo retelling which uses the source material as inspiration and a loose outline, but diverges from the plot and precise premise in way that is delightful to those who are unfamiliar with the inspiration, but delicately balances reference and surprise for those who know it well.
There are two main characters, Amaya (known early on as Silverfish), and Cayo (son of a nobleman who wronged her). Amaya is working with a man named Boon, who helped her find a fortune and offered it for her use as long as she helped him with his aims. Cayo is a recovering gambler who is trying to get back in his father's good graces after losing a large portion of the family fortune to games of chance.
Amaya and Cayo's sections have distinct narrative voices and it was pretty easy to track what was going on. There are some well-laid surprises in the structure of the chapters, especially for someone like myself who has read The Count of Monte Cristo (or someone who has seen one of the movie versions).
The repeated missteps as Cayo and the Countess kept assuming things about each other's actions worked well and made a lot of sense in context. They never built enough to be extremely stressful for me when reading, but they were a completely understandable level of small but well-intentioned miscommunications which would result from these characters getting to know each other when they haven't yet put all their cards on the table.
The worldbuilding is pretty good, it feels like there's a lot of political ground laid that will pay off in the sequel. At times the asides discussing politics with other countries felt a bit distracting because they mostly didn't go anywhere until the very end. None of the characters (so far) were at a level to affect international politics, and while their actions gradually built so it might be possible in RAVAGE THE DARK, it made it harder to know what details mattered to the main plot. I like the handling of the quarantine and plague, there's an excellent payoff for it, as well as ongoing impacts to the main characters.
This was good overall and I'm looking forward to reading RAVAGE THE DARK. I'm happy to read a retelling which had room to surprise me with its plot, using the bones of one of my favorite books in a new way.
There are two main characters, Amaya (known early on as Silverfish), and Cayo (son of a nobleman who wronged her). Amaya is working with a man named Boon, who helped her find a fortune and offered it for her use as long as she helped him with his aims. Cayo is a recovering gambler who is trying to get back in his father's good graces after losing a large portion of the family fortune to games of chance.
Amaya and Cayo's sections have distinct narrative voices and it was pretty easy to track what was going on. There are some well-laid surprises in the structure of the chapters, especially for someone like myself who has read The Count of Monte Cristo (or someone who has seen one of the movie versions).
The repeated missteps as Cayo and the Countess kept assuming things about each other's actions worked well and made a lot of sense in context. They never built enough to be extremely stressful for me when reading, but they were a completely understandable level of small but well-intentioned miscommunications which would result from these characters getting to know each other when they haven't yet put all their cards on the table.
The worldbuilding is pretty good, it feels like there's a lot of political ground laid that will pay off in the sequel. At times the asides discussing politics with other countries felt a bit distracting because they mostly didn't go anywhere until the very end. None of the characters (so far) were at a level to affect international politics, and while their actions gradually built so it might be possible in RAVAGE THE DARK, it made it harder to know what details mattered to the main plot. I like the handling of the quarantine and plague, there's an excellent payoff for it, as well as ongoing impacts to the main characters.
This was good overall and I'm looking forward to reading RAVAGE THE DARK. I'm happy to read a retelling which had room to surprise me with its plot, using the bones of one of my favorite books in a new way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Alcohol, Addiction, Blood, Violence, Child death, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Grief, Drug use, Child abuse, Slavery, Terminal illness, Medical content, Excrement, Vomit, Gun violence, and Death of parent
Minor: Ableism
brookey8888's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I enjoyed this. I’m not going to lie it was a little slow at times and I didn’t fully connect with the characters and the story. I do love the revenge plot. I also have never seen or read the count of monte cristo so I have no clue if this is a good retelling. I do love all the different representation in this(asexual,bisexual,trans, gay, nonbinary). I also think mostly everyone wasn’t white which is great. I did like silverfish for the most part and Cayo but he was a little boring. I also wish there was more of the water bugs.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child abuse, Child death, Death, Death of parent, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Grief, Kidnapping, Murder, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, and Vomit
plumpaperbacks's review against another edition
adventurous
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
I’ve been eager to read more from Sim since the Timekeeper trilogy ended a few years ago. While Scavenge the Stars was good, it didn’t hook me the way Timekeeper did. I liked Amaya and Cayo and was interested in their stories, but not truly invested. The world was interesting, but could’ve been developed more. As for the story, though it was intriguing, it was also slow, and didn’t truly pick up until the final third of the book. The characters are the main, maybe only, reason this is getting more than three or three and a half stars from me. However, I think the sequel could be good given where this one left off, so I’ll read it at some point.
Edit, the next day: I lowered my rating from 4 stars to 3.5 stars because it felt more fitting.
Representation
Edit, the next day: I lowered my rating from 4 stars to 3.5 stars because it felt more fitting.
Representation
- biracial demisexual protagonist
- bisexual protagonist
- side characters of color
- queer side characters (includes asexual, trans, and sapphic rep)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Child abuse, Death, Murder, Slavery, and Violence
caidyn's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
On the reread I liked this better! It probably helps that I read the source material. It's a solid book and I definitely plan on reading the sequel.
CW: slavery, violence, death, murder, drugging, alcohol use, and deception
So, I got an ARC of this. Decided I wasn't that into it and put it aside. Then Owlcrate chose this book for January and I decided to give it another try!
Overall, it was a good start to a series. The characters were interesting. The plot had a good clip to it. There was a good amount of twists and turns. The ending was satisfying; no huge cliffhanger but it was open for more to the story.
But... It was just lacking for me. I didn't love it. I liked it. I never got that attached to the characters and I found the romance between Cayo and Amaya very forced. Plus, the story felt like there were almost too many twists for my liking and that made me get a little bored by the end.
So, it was a fine book that I enjoyed reading, but I don't know if I can see myself picking up the next book.
CW: slavery, violence, death, murder, drugging, alcohol use, and deception
So, I got an ARC of this. Decided I wasn't that into it and put it aside. Then Owlcrate chose this book for January and I decided to give it another try!
Overall, it was a good start to a series. The characters were interesting. The plot had a good clip to it. There was a good amount of twists and turns. The ending was satisfying; no huge cliffhanger but it was open for more to the story.
But... It was just lacking for me. I didn't love it. I liked it. I never got that attached to the characters and I found the romance between Cayo and Amaya very forced. Plus, the story felt like there were almost too many twists for my liking and that made me get a little bored by the end.
So, it was a fine book that I enjoyed reading, but I don't know if I can see myself picking up the next book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Slavery, and Murder
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