The summary for Countess sounds like it should be exactly my type of book. Suzan Palumbo's latest novel is a gender swapped retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas set in space. The difficulty is that the book was far too short to do justice to the story being told. Everything feels rushed. Instead of following the character through the twists and turns, we get summaries of what's going on. What we got of the world building and characterization was good. I just wish it had been at least three times as long.

Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There is so much happening in so little time that I felt like a lot was missing to truly understand what is happening. It still was an interesting read and I was invested to find out what happens next. If it had been longer it could be an amazing read. But this book is awesome for people who look for short books that keeps their attention.

I absolutely loved the premise of this! I can definitely see the inspirations from The Count of Monte Cristo, and turning into a space opera, adding a queer FMC, taking on colonialism and racism on top of that was brilliant. I loved the nods to Caribbean culture.

I must say I wish this was longer! The first half was well-covered at a steady pace, the second half was where things felt a bit rushed or skimmed over, and I definitely would have enjoyed reading more in-depth on Virika's revenge arc.

Audiobook review: I thought the narrator, Chanté McCormick did a great job! I enjoyed the different accents and inflections of voices for different characters. Sound and production quality were excellent. I'd listen to more books from this narrator!

Thank you Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the ALC!

Feature will be posted on my Bookstagram on release day, link will be added to review after it is posted.