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: ★★★