SCAVENGE THE STARS

A rags-to-riches story with the promise of revenge.

At 17, Amaya “Silverfish” Chandra is a prisoner aboard a debt collector’s ship, where she has been worked to the bone under the watchful eye of Capt. Zharo. When she ignores the captain’s orders and rescues a mysterious man—who goes by the name Boon—from drowning, Silverfish is told that her sentence aboard the ship will be extended. Boon offers her a unique opportunity—more wealth than she can begin to imagine—in exchange for her help exacting revenge upon Kamon Mercado, a merchant in the multicultural city of Moray. Silverfish undergoes a makeover and rigorous training under Boon’s tutelage and learns to not only behave like a lady, but also to con and manipulate people. Told alternatingly from the perspectives of Silverfish and Kamon Mercado’s son, Cayo, the first novel in Sim’s (contributor: Color Outside the Lines, 2019, etc.) new duology is rich in detail and well written despite its rushed ending. The romance is between a man and a woman, but the book creates a world in which people who are culturally and racially diverse and/or nonbinary are fully accepted and unremarkable; Amaya is brown-skinned, and Cayo is bisexual. While there are few descriptions of Moray and the lands around it, the historical setting brings to mind a subtropical land under European influence.

Captivating worldbuilding and empathetically etched characters make Scavenge the Stars a light and enjoyable read.