This was such a fun read! A retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, but with a FMC and a bit of magic thrown in that made it entirely unique. The story jumps from Dania in the present and Dania in the past, so the reader slowly comes to understand some of the relationships from her past and ultimately how she came to be imprisoned. Books become pretty predictable after a while, and I love that I didn't see this twist coming. This book had plotting and scheming and acts of revenge (with a sprinkling of cute, closed-door romance) that all felt very YA in the best way. Thank you to Netgalley for the e-arc!

I must say I am pleasantly surprised by this book. This is a Pakistani romantic fantasy that includes djinn magic and a lovers to enemies trope. I love that Dania wants to burn the world down in the name of revenge and I love seeing her get some of that revenge. I honestly think this book could have been longer and I don't normally say that! I enjoyed reading this book and I was drawn in right from the start which can be tricky with fantasy books because of the worldbuilding but this one was done really well. I didn't feel overwhelmed at all with meeting new characters or the world. I loved the twist, I loved Noor's character and I'm excited to see if this story continues in future books by this author as I think there is much more story that could be told here.

If you are a fan of books like The Stardust Thief or This Woven Kingdom, I think you will equally enjoy this book! Well done Emily!

Thank you NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, Wednesday Books and Emily Varga for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

From start to finish this book was FANTASTIC. I loved this story through and through, the characters are very well-developed and the plot is interesting as well. The magic elements of the zoraat are very interesting and well explained throughout the book. The characters are easy to get attached to and root for their success. This book will definitely be in my top 5 reads of this year and might even end up as a reread because it was so well written.

Take a popular story, do a gender swap, add some fantasy and make it even better, that is exactly what Emily Varga did in “For She Is Wrath”.

The first time I saw the GORGEOUS aesthetic photos posted by Emily Varga on BookTok, about this upcoming story, I knew IMMEDIATELY that I was going to read this book! So how excited was I, to be chosen as an ARC reader on Netgalley, to read this, after waiting over a YEAR and counting down the days for its release. And let me just say, it did NOT disappoint!

A sweeping, Pakistani romantic fantasy retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, where one girl seeks revenge against those who betrayed her—including the boy she used to love.

That sentence says a lot about this story, but there is SO much more to this story.
This is NOT The Count of Monte Cristo’s story, this is Dania’s story and it is ALL its own. So do not go into this, thinking you are just reading a twist on The Count of Monte Cristo, because it is not, it is SO much more! This story has the added element of FANTASY, my favorite genre. Including some Jinn magic, that takes this story to a whole new level.

And talk about enemies to lovers. Well, this is lovers to enemies. He didn’t lift a finger to help her when she was arrested and she was imprisoned for over a year, and he never once visited her, or tried to help her escape, NOTHING! It was so sad, because she truly loved him. He was her first true love and throughout the entire book, you are just hoping that the man that betrayed her, the man she loved, wasn’t really bad, that he really didn’t betray her. (but you’ll have to read the book to find out)

We are also given glimpses of Dania’s past, giving us a bit of her back story and the reasons why she is seeking revenge on those she is so desperately trying to destroy, even at the cost of possibly, her very own humanity.

This book is also about friendship. Dania only escapes prison, with the help of someone, who later becomes a true friend to her. Someone who helps her in more ways than one. I absolutely love Dania and Noor’s relationship and how they were truly there for one another throughout the book.

And have I mentioned, that Dania’s dad was a swordsmith, and lets just say, her Daddy trained her VERY well, in the art of wielding many types of very sharp weapons.

I felt the entire book, just flowed right along, not too quickly and not too slowly, it was just right.
This book was so well written and I just loved it!! Easily 5 stars*****




Oh, and that TWIST!!! Ahhhhhhhhhh



Thank you to NetGalley
St. Martin’s Press
and
Wednesday Books
for allowing me to read the ARC of this truly WONDERFUL story!!

( I will be leaving my review on other sites, such as Amazon etc.., once the book has been released and we are then allowed to leave reviews, but I have left a review at Barnes and Noble and Books A Million as well. And of course, I will be posting on TikTok (BookTok) and Instagram as well)

Thank you to Wednesday Books and Netgalley for an advanced reader copy. All opinions are my own.

Wow, I loved For She Is Wrath! Female power, revenge, grief, romance, twist after twist... For She Is Wrath had it all. I did not see any of the twists coming, and I loved the characters' growth and relationships. I only wish we would have gotten more of a dive into the magic system of the world and the backstory/ romance of the characters (and more of the backstory of the villain)... but I only have that wish because I liked what we did get so much!

Ugh my heart.

There is just something about watching a very angry, very broken person extract revenge. More so when it's paired with a growth arc and some solid action scenes.

For She is Wrath is a gender-bent Pakistani retelling of Count of Monte Cristo with a much tighter cast. While I haven't read Monte Cristo, I did familiarize myself with the general plot and points, and if revenge is your thing you'll probably enjoy this one.

What I liked:
- The character relationships were all so very good. Noor made for an interesting foil to Dani - the herbalist/poisoner to the sword-wielding fighter, more content to extract her revenge from the sidelines. The check-ins they did with each other was refreshing to watch - rather than making all kinds of assumptions and hiding things, they had full adult conversations.

Similarly, the scenes with Dani and Mazin were well done - tense, up until they exploded.

- Djinn - Give me a story and throw in a djinn and I will probably be happy.

What I didn't like:
- While most of the characters were developed, there were some concepts/characters that I wish we had more development for. The emperor was this all-powerful force that we only ever heard about it passing up until the very end. There were riots in the city, but it wasn't fully explained or explored as to why people were so unhappy.

- Dani's grandmother. Without spoilers, just what?

Overall, a solid 4.5/5, rounded down.

2.5 stars

I enjoyed reading this book at times. The bare bones of the book were there. Dania is a strong female character, which I loved. The lovers to enemies with Mazin was great. Noor is the best friend we all want. However, it read like a second book in a series rather than a stand alone book. The constant back and forth about whether or not to seek revenge was overplayed. Additionally, the last few chapters (the climax of the book) were out of pocket. Grandma what are you doing here?! The build up was too strong for it to end that quickly.

There have been many attempts at a retelling of the classic revenge tale of Edmond Dantès, from Shawshank Redemption (and the Stephen King novella on which the movie is based) to a TV series simply called "Revenge", so this book is not exactly venturing into new territory. I measure the quality of a retelling by the uniqueness of the spin on the original while still honoring its spirit, and by this standard, For She Is Wrath has some merits. The setting of Pakistan and exchanging the gender of the main character and an extra romantic subplot updated the story. But where Alexandre Dumas' story concentrated on plotting and strategy of Dantès' revenge, it seems like Dania fell into convenient circumstances. While I definitely have a preference to the original, I found this story entertaining for a quick read. (3.5/5)
I received advanced digital access to this book thru NetGalley (for which I want to thank NetGalley and the publisher, St. Martin's Press- Wednesday Books) for an honest review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

For She is Wrath is an amazing book! You fall in love with the characters and it makes you feel what they feels. Both the main characters want revenge, however, the way they do it is what makes the book! Being stuck in prison for years to getting the ultimate revenge!

Highly recommend reading this book! There are a few grammar errors, but they are not really noticeable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this read. I’ve read the count of monte cristo and granted I wouldn’t say this one was better, but it was good in its own right
The similarities are that it’s a girl that’s falsely imprisoned, escapes, and takes revenge.
Aside from that, you really shouldn’t compare it too much to monte cristo. That’d be really unfair to do.
I read some reviews saying it was annoying that she was imprisoned only a year compared to in monte cristo.. but c’mon
ANYBODY would complain about being falsely imprisoned whether it be one year or for over a decade. That’s a really unfair comparison to make. If anything, I think it makes sense for Dani to be seething with hate still as she escapes considering it’s still somewhat fresh. Hence all the blood and murder at first.
So for me if you just take it for the story it is, it was pretty good. The ending fell a little short for me but over all, I inhaled the book in three days

This book was just *chefs kiss*. Emily Varga created an incredible world filled with characters I absolutely adored. From the romance to the friendships, this book had me swooning. It was a wild ride from start to finish, and I loved every second of it.

Women will not be stopped. A pawn. A don't see her coming. Two young women mistaken for harmless and powerless.
I inhaled this book. INHALED.
A year of torture and wrongful imprisonment. A year of chanting the names of those who wronged her. Desperate to see her father. Dania and Noor accidently meet - joining their revenge and plans for retribution.
Not romance heavy - focusing on honor, retribution, balancing the scales. And my personal favorite - angry women.
A joy to read - thank you, Netgalley and Tor, for my early ARC.

This book satisfies my definition of book magic: an unforgettable setting, characters I can empathize with, and those magnificent heart flutters. It’s a book that will find a special place on my bookshelf, and I look forward to rereading it again someday.

The cover is gorgeous. I read the first two chapters and found myself not invested in the stakes. This felt surprisingly slow-paced to open for what I thought would be an intense story. I think traditional fantasy readers will give it a solid 3 to 4 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for the ARC.

This was a great count of Monti Cristo retelling. The world building was very well done and I loved the romance and banter. I would highly recommend this book.

For She is Wrath is a Pakistani retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. I really enjoyed this book! I liked Dani a lot and the first few chapters of the prison escape caught my attention right away. I was invested immediately and wanted to see Dani and Noor get their revenge!

So basically what happens is Dani takes some kind of polyjuice potion mix to change her appearance so she can go and destroy all of the people who led up to her being in prison. This includes Mazin who she was in a relationship and in love with. You don't really know anything except that he betrayed her and so I was wanting to see how this happened and how it would be resolved since I was reading a romantasy. Was it a misunderstanding, will there be forgiveness, what was the deal with their relationship?

I liked Dani and Maz, but I do wish that we got more 'before' because I wanted to really understand Dani's anger. And since we didn't get to the actual betrayal until towards the end of the book, I spent a lot of the book thinking well is Maz really that bad? Because he didn't feel like an enemy to me, and I was slightly annoyed that I liked him. Also why did his sister just disappear in the back half of the story?!

I also wish Noor was more fleshed out as a character. When you're introduced to her in the beginning, it felt like she was going to be super important to the story, but I don't think she was used to her full potential. And I would love if there was a book that followed Noor where we got to learn more about her life growing up, then with Souma, and then after their vengeance plot wraps up.

The imagery was beautiful, and I loved all of the descriptions we got throughout the story. It was seriously lovely. Overall I really enjoyed this story, it was a fun and quick read and I hope to get more from this world. Thanks to NetGalley and SMP for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

“A sweeping, Pakistani romantic fantasy retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo”…um, yes, please!!

My proverbial hat is off to Ms. Varga for originality! And that COVER! I was immediately drawn in from the first few pages. Varga switches back and forth between Dania’s past and present, slowly letting us know the backstory and why she is so bent on vengeance. The addition of djinn magic and an evil emperor is icing on the cake. Dania is a strong, intelligent female who knows how to defend herself, and I am HERE FOR IT.

This is a highly imaginative retelling, and I have no doubt that it will be a hit when it is released in late October 2024!

There’s also a shocking twist in here that I did not see coming in the slightest. I love being fooled!

4.25 stars.

Thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin’s Press and Wednesday Books for the complimentary eARC. All opinions are mine.

Thank you so much to the publishers and Netgalley for providing access! This is a stunning debut, and I’ll be elaborating further upon its release.

I was so looking forward to this book. Billed as a retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo from a female perspective, I knew I needed to read it. Count of Monte Cristo is one of my favorite books, so I had high hopes for this book. On paper, it has everything I love - standalone novel with a strong female protagonist, hints of magic, and the promise of revenge. However, I found this fell a little short.

The pacing of the book was fast, almost too fast. This could be down to the book being a standalone and only having so many pages to tell the story, but it often felt like it was trying to hit key points of the original novel without much in between. The world building was lacking and the villain's wrongdoings were only described, but you never really see why he is so hated from the perspective from the main character, Dania.

The love story was the only part I really enjoyed and Mazin's motivations and actions do make sense if you think of the wider political environment. I don't fault him for his decisions (and honestly, he was the only reason I kept reading).

Thank you to NetGalley and Wednesday Books for an advanced copy of the book for review purposes. All thoughts expressed are my own.

I really enjoyed this YA retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. It has the classic’s revenge plot while bringing a lot of new twists to the table.

The story is set in a beautifully described Pakistani inspired world where Djinn magic is wielded by a tyrannical emperor. In this empire two young women who have been falsely imprisoned escape their jail in order to seek revenge, with the help of a hidden treasure and dangerous magic. I love djinn stories so I was super excited for this!

I adored our main character Dania’s wit, swordsmanship and strong friendship with Noor. I was rooting for her from page one.

Whether you are a fan of the classic or just love a story full of adventure, betrayal and intrigue I definitely recommend this book!