Suzan Palumbo’s Countess is a novella that packs an impressive amount of depth and emotion into a concise format. With its uncensored exploration of colonial occupation and raw emotion, it leaves a lasting impression despite its brevity.

At its heart, Countess offers a sharp and unyielding critique of the ongoing occupation by a colonial force. Palumbo examines the deep injustices and everyday horrors of this reality, sparking righteous anger in the reader without ever resorting to heavy-handedness. At the same time we are doused in the traditions of a culture that refuses to be snuffed out under the heavy boot of occupation. The balance is masterfully handled, making the narrative both impactful and respectful of the reader’s intelligence. The ending might seem unfair - and it is! - but it fits perfectly into this narrative.

The writing is incredibly dense, making you forget more than once that this is "just" a novella. This density, while compelling, might leave readers wishing for more room to explore the story’s most captivating aspects. Countess could easily be expanded into a full-length novel, allowing its world-building and emotional depth to fully flourish. The potential is in every chapter!
While the novella delves into fascinating themes and moments, much of the narrative’s most intriguing content is told rather than shown. The planets and their cultures are only described in short bursts so we know where we are but in a space-travel sci-fi, this is the part I'm interested in; the part I really want to see. Of course, in a novella you have to save space - bringing me back to my previous point of potential for making this a full blown novel. The telling instead of showing also occasionally distances the reader from the immediacy of the action, creating a sense of detachment from moments that might otherwise have felt more visceral and engaging. It simply doesn't feel like a decade passed in the middle of the story, or sixty days or two months. We're always told how much time has passed but it never feels like it did. A more immersive approach could have heightened the impact of some of these parts.

Countess is a powerful novella that makes the most of its compact format while leaving readers hungry for more. With its nuanced exploration of colonialism, strong thematic underpinnings, and unexpected ending, it’s a thought-provoking and moving piece of speculative fiction. Though its reliance on “telling” limits its potential, the story’s strength lies in its ability to evoke deep emotions and provoke meaningful reflection. Suzan Palumbo has created a work that deserves expansion, as the world and themes she has introduced are too compelling to leave behind.

A nuanced, recontextualized retelling of a classic with just as much adventure and emotion as the original .

I absolutely loved Skin Thief by this author, but I started this one a while ago, and just couldn’t get into it. I may come back to it another time, but I have to put it on pause for now. If I ever pick it up again I will update my review!

Countess shows a lot of promise as a queer, anticolonial Count of Monte Cristo retelling. However, the book is far too short to reach its potential resulting in a rushed and unsatisfying reading experience.

Given the length of the original Count of Monte Cristo, it is unsurprising that a novella retelling would struggle. Outside of its merit as a faithful retelling, the pacing of this novella is a mess. The story jumps from scene to scene to scene without time for the readers or the characters to process what is happening. The second half of the story felt particularly rushed as Virika accomplishes these grand feats in a very short amount of time. Overall, the scope of the story feels far too big for a novella.

I wanted to love this book more than I did. It had me hooked at a queer Caribbean-inspired retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo mashed with a political space opera. The author's writing style was wonderful and drew me in. I loved the character of Virika and how she transformed from an immigrant who'd do anything to appear more amenable to the Aecerbot empire that had long rejected her people to the Countess leading a rebellion. I loved the descriptions of food and Antillean culture, and the steamy, established sapphic relationships.

I felt this story was too big for a novella, however. The pacing was relentless and the worldbuilding too compact. This beautiful story would have been better served as a novel. It's very faithful to the original Count of Monte Cristo and the main twist is the gender bent main character and the setting, so if you know the classic tale you'll find lots to appreciate here. I just wanted more.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

"Countess" is a harrowing story of a woman fighting against a colonial system. The story of Virika Sameroo, who is wrongfully imprisoned for the death of her captain after doing everything right, this is ultimately a narrative of triumph and persistence. Its fast pace and small size might be decieving-there's plenty under the surface to sink your teeth into!

This story didn’t work for me. Not sure if my mood or the writing. It was very detailed and I kept getting lost in the details and not swept away by the story itself.

I would try another from this author.

Suzan Palumbo explores revolution and belonging in her latest book Countess. This queer, Caribbean, anticolonial novella is set centuries into a future where the Æcerbot Empire has colonized space. Descendants of the British West Indies known as Exterran Antilleans, whose ancestors were enslaved and indentured on Earth, are once again indentured in this new empire. One of these descendants is Virika Sameroo, an immigrant to the empire and the first person of her heritage to work their way up the ranks of the merchant marines. Virika knows that becoming a model citizen is the only way for her family to survive. After returning from her latest mission, Virika is wrongfully convicted of murder and is cast out from Æcerbot society. Countess is a story of vengeance, survival, and resistance against systems of oppression, and it thoughtfully addresses legacies of colonialism and trauma in the Caribbean. Palumbo richly imagines a Caribbean future that honours the Caribbean past.

Countess incorporates elements of Caribbean history and culture into the worldbuilding to bring this speculative future to life. The Caribbean is wholeheartedly represented in these pages—there are vivid descriptions of food and some of the places and characters are named after Caribbean locations and revolutionary leaders. The most brilliant aspect of the worldbuilding is the way it honours the legacy of real life Caribbean indentured labourers. The indenture system was created to replace slavery, and labourers from India and China were “recruited” (but in some cases they were more likely kidnapped or manipulated into signing contracts) to work the sugar plantations in the Caribbean. They were promised a better life and the possibility of returning to their homeland once the contract ended, but instead, this system alienated labourers from their homeland and the “better life” involved minimal pay and harsh working and living conditions (for more information about indentureship in the Caribbean, read Coolie Woman by Gaiutra Bahadur (The University of Chicago Press, 2014)).

This history is not widely known, so to see it reflected in Countess is no small feat. Many of the restrictions imposed by the Æcerbot Empire on the Exterran Antilles reflect the loss of cultural ties, sacrifices and struggles experienced by real life indentured labourers. And this is why Virika and so many Indo-Caribbean people, myself included, have experienced feelings of cultural disconnection. The exploration of these experiences in Countess allows for a reckoning with the impact of colonialism and the legacies of trauma left behind in the Caribbean. Through Palumbo’s writing and Virika’s characterization, these discussions feel heartfelt and personal. Countess grasps the pain and trauma from colonialism, holds it up for everyone to see, and demands a different future that includes justice and solidarity.

Countess also tackles racism and white supremacy by recognizing the violence of these systems and forcing colonizers to deal with the consequences of their actions. Throughout the book, Virika is undermined and seen as lesser because of her race. She tries to blend in and does what’s required for her family to survive. This idea of sacrificing your culture and identity to assimilate is not new; empire requires this of most of us. But no matter how hard we try to fit in, empire will never love us back. Anyone who dares to challenge the status quo, like Virika, is seen as a threat. Virika says “The Empire cannot tolerate me. I am a threat to their doctrine, to the belief that they are superior and civilized.” (78). Countess is steadfast in showing readers that it doesn’t have to be this way. Along with demanding justice and solidarity, it advocates for self-determination because “They will never admit you are good enough, no matter how docile you are. You will always be proving to them that you deserve to live. You must see that you don’t need them.” (136). Despite everything she experiences in this book, Virika never loses hope, and she uses her hope to unite the Exterran Antilleans and reignite the revolution against the empire.

Virika’s journey in this novella is difficult, but her love for her people powers her through. Amidst her hardships, she goes on a journey of reconnecting with her heritage and tries to find where she belongs. This inner transformation informs her actions and helps her realize her place in the fight against the empire. One of the ways she reconnects is through random encounters with people who share her heritage. Every time Virika experienced one of these moments, I thought about a line from Linzey Corridon’s poetry collection West of West Indian (Mawenzi House, 2024). In Corridon’s poem “Greater Toronto Area,” he discusses this exact scenario and there’s a line that reads “I see my ancestors in you.” (West of West Indian, 58). This may seem insignificant to some but for Virika it’s affirming, and these moments lead to revelations that help her find herself and make her feel seen. This is also how I felt reading this book. I see myself and my ancestors in these pages, and it’s a beautiful thing to be represented and understood in this way.

We’re living in a moment in time where all the ugliness of empire is coming to light. Now more than ever, people are becoming aware of how colonialism, white supremacy and racism have shaped the world. Countess critically examines these systems in a future reality that is not so different from our own. It challenges colonialism and emphasizes the importance of solidarity, community and justice. It also makes room for love and tenderness in a brutal world. By exploring these themes through speculative fiction, and alongside Caribbean culture and history, Countess allows readers to dream of what’s possible and hope for a different future.

Thank you ECW Press for sending me an e-ARC and finished copy to review.

A novella featuring a queer sci-fi retelling of the Count of Monte Cristo? This sounded like it would a quick, interesting read. It was a short read, but it wasn't as quick as I was expecting. The story's dense and, unfortunately, not as interesting as I'd hoped.

I loved the concept and the world-building was solid for a short piece. I liked the characters well enough, so that was also a plus. All in all, I'd say this was a promising, well-written piece that just didn't really connect with me on an emotional level.

I read an ARC of this book from NetGalley. All comments are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and ECW Press for providing me with an ARC of this novella.

I enjoyed the story, however I wish that more time had been spent on the world building and character development. Overcoming obstacles felt too simple for Virika, to me.

This has motivated me to read the source material, the Count of Monte Cristo, as the premise of long-planned revenge is fascinating, and I look forward to that.

I really enjoyed the conclusion, it was poetic and emotional, however still left me with some questions about Dominique and Virika’s relationship that I would have liked to answer in the story.

Real Rating: 3.5* of five

I wouldn't call it a "romp" but it was a lot of fun to read a lesbian space opera/revenge fantasy with a very prominent anti-colonial slant that does not slacken its pace for a moment. The long, lingering sadomasochistic bit about <i>The Count of Monte Cristo</i>'s imprisonment is entirely absent; these things are causally linked. Very enjoyable, Caribbean-inflected setting was probably my very favorite difference from most all the other SFF I've read.

Revolutionary fun! Strongly recommended for young firebrand lesbians! Old white people like me might feel a bit attacked...we are...but, well, is that really a surprise?

ECW Press only wants $4.99 for a Kindlebook. Well worth it!

I love the idea of this, and I like the overall concept Palumbo lays out at the beginning. It's a great idea for a mashup. Unfortunately, this story didn't work for me as a novella. It was so rushed. Too much was happening without enough description, and the end left me not feeling much because there was so little time for plot or characters to develop. It very much had the feel of "and then this happened, and then this happened, and then this happened..."

One big thing that was lacking for me, beyond the word count needed to flesh out this world, was the limited number of sensory or descriptive details. The food sometimes gets descriptions, and there's a scene toward the middle of the book involving the creation of an art project that Virika undertakes in prison. The latter had me the most engaged of anything else in the story, because it was the one time I was really clear on what I was supposed to imagine. Everything else was very cursory, and even the core relationships are often glossed over.

Overall, this read more like an outline than a full story to me, and I don't think the choice to make it a novella allowed enough time for the whole story to take place. As I've noticed with some other retellings, I got the impression that the author was trying to include too much of the original story, to the detriment of the new one. I would have loved to have a better sense of what things looked/felt/smelled like in this imagined world, but using shorthand didn't leave a lot of room for that. The whole conflict between the Antilles and Invicta could have been really cool if it was explored more thoroughly, and I was intrigued that the book both references and expounds on earlier colonial projects. Without being more fleshed out, though, I was left with the sense that I was just supposed to imagine the history of the Caribbean, but now in space, without much detail about how the shift to space travel would change things.

tl;dr, I really liked the concept, but I found the execution to be hurried and overly info-dumpy in a lot of places. Thank you to the publisher for the chance to read "Countess" as an ARC. I'm sorry I didn't enjoy it more, but this is my honest review.

I went in wanting sci-fi, sapphic, and female rage and that is exactly what I got!

Virika as a main character is one I will remember for a long time. I could feel her anger, pain, and her found moments of joy in my viens. She was visceral. I was not expecting that ending but I liked it! It felt very full circle.

The only minor issue I had was the pacing. It time jumped a lot - which was understandable with how much the other wanted to cover, however, it threw the pacing off a bit. Some things felt like they happened very fast but they were over a course of years or months. Then there were some other moments that I wish we spent more time with. For example, the negotiations. That felt very rushed for me.

This is a story that will keep you on your toes!

Countess by Suzan Palumbo was exactly the kind of modern sci-fi I, as a queer woman, have been looking for. The setting was immersive, the characters were engaging, and the story was compelling. As a novella, it was jam-packed with action and intrigue but wow it left me wanting more in the best way possible. I love this universe. It was giving Star Wars but in such a unique and thrilling way.

Ok first, this book has many of my favorite things including: lesbians burning down empires, be gay do crime in space, and, of course, the count of monte cristo. The ideas are good, the vibes are excellent, and the exploration of colonialism is well done.

However, the execution left a lot to be desired. Mainly because the count of monte cristo is an ~800 page epic story of meticulously plotted revenge and this a tiny novella that moves so fast you barely have time to process and feel the stakes of the story. So I think what this is missing is the details. I want to watch the empire sweat as a well plotted web closes in around them. I want to understand how the different levers being pulled by the rebellion are actually leading to the change they want. Also, I want petty revenge!! Like, the people who wronged virika should be made to suffer, individually. Burning down the empire is great and I'm here for it but have you considered that some people suck and deserve their comeuppance!

Finally, very spoilery spoilers, proceed with extreme caution: (view spoiler)

So to sum up 5 stars for inspiration, 2.5 stars for execution, 4 stars for empire burning, 2 stars for lack of pettiness, 3 stars overall. Thanks to netgalley and ECW press for a free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Of course when I heard about this book by Trini-Canadian author Suzan Palumbo I haaad to read it.

Countess moves quickly as it’s a novella but I loved how very in your face the anti-colonialism themes are. We get a lot coming at us at once with all the various histories of the Antillean people, and those of the many other planets too. But it was all so intriguing how the author set up this space opera-esque story of revenge.

The Caribbean-ness is very explicit alive in this book, and as a Trinidadian I was thrilled to see familiar place names and things that I’ve grown up knowing (Paria, Bocas, Calabash etc) and the foods!

Virika is wrongfully accused of murdering her former captain and tossed into the Pit, a prison where you’re basically left to diminish until you die. It was really intriguing to see how she navigated from giving her service to these people and assimilating into their ways and then they still looked down on her and tossed her away like she was nothing. Virika goes through a journey and becomes The Countess, finally coming face to face with the very person who orchestrated her arrest.

The onlyyyy thing that had me a lil iffy was the timeline, as ten years supposedly passed when Virika was in the pit but I didn't get that sense at all? We only knew how many years went by because one of the characters mentions it, BUT that didn't really take away from my enjoyment of it.

And the endiiiiing had me screaming omgggg!

I am incredibly impressed at what Palumbo was able to do with 150 pages.

Virika is falsely accused of murder after serving the Aecerbot empire loyally and thrown in a prison to rot. She manages to escape and goes on a quest for justice.

Her journey could have easily filled a trilogy's worth of books and I would still be waiting for more. This sci fi world is no Star Trek type utopia where inequality has been banished to history. No, humanity has exported racism, colonialism and classicism to the stars and the same people who were oppressed on Earth are still fighting for justice in space.

With such a short amount of pages, Palumbo gives the readers a fully realized scifi world and a heroine worth rooting for. She also expertly tackles themes of oppression, diaspora, and what it means to hold onto your humanity in the face of overwhelming odds. I'm grateful that the book wasn't bogged down by any technobabble to explain the technology as it was clearly not needed to tell the story.

My favorite portion of the novella was Virika's imprisonment. For some reason, it reminded me of the prison sequence from.V for Vendetta in the best way possible.

If Palumbo ever decides to expand this into full length novels, I'll be first in line to read them.

Reviews will go live on Goodreads, Storygraph, and Fable on 9/11 and on Tiktok on 9/12.

Palumbo writes a tale that holds history and anger. This novella speaks to indentured labour, greedy empire, revolution and community. The pace was good up until the verybend which felt rushed. The conclusion was predictable as in most cases, colonizers always choose violence to suppress the rights of the colonized. The rage of Virika is understandable and anyone who has lived the immigrant life in a land that exploits theor homeland can see the reasons behind her realization and ultimate reaction.

I was really intrigued by the concept of this story. I think that in execution it really could have used with either more pages or another round of editing. I found that the opening really needs you to have some understanding of the original story. I also think that this really could have used tehe room that a longer format allows--the scenes were just jam packed together one after the other, and I think that made the story feel more like it was being hastily told to you rather than you really getting to experience it. That sort of storytelling probably works for some, but for me it just made it hard to become invested or stay interested.
The concept of this story is a great one, and though this really didn't work as a novella, it could work as a novel. And, I would be really interested in seeing what this author is able to do given the pages, so I will definitely check out more from them in the future.

Such a refreshing take on a tried and true genre! Suzan has a fantastic voice and I love her take on the Count of Monte Cristo. I just wish it was longer! So much happening in such a small novella, and I think Suzan has much more story to tell. I think the setup is excellent and Virika is a fabulous character, the Caribbean-inspired future here is such a fresh setting and it really added nuance to the story that helped to elevate it. Looking forward to reading more from Suzan in the future, she is going places for sure!