Reading order
| # | Title | Published | Author | Buy on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | For She Is Wrath | 2024 | Emily Varga | Buy |
| 2 | The River She Became | 2025 | Emily Varga | Buy |
For She Is Wrath (2024) established Emily Varga as one to watch in YA fantasy. The novel draws on Pakistani culture and history for its world-building and uses The Count of Monte Cristo as its structural spine — a betrayed protagonist, years of planning, and a revenge plot that gets complicated when the target is someone she once loved. It is fast-paced and emotionally charged, and the South Asian setting gives it a distinct texture among revenge-fantasy narratives.
The River She Became (2025) shifts to a fae-inflected world where magic is being lost and a relic-hunter must find an ancient object to restore it. The stakes are higher in scope but the emotional centre is similar: a heroine who has to decide how much she trusts herself and others when the world is working against her.
Both novels read as standalone stories. Start with For She Is Wrath if the Count of Monte Cristo premise sounds interesting; The River She Became works equally well as an entry point for readers drawn to fae fantasy.