According to the publisher, Emily Varga's FOR SHE IS WRATH is a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. It is not a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo. While the latter is an epic, intricate, decades-long crusade for revenge, FOR SHE IS WRATH is its opposite. Sure, it happens to be about revenge, and the main character spends time in prison for something she did not do, but that is where the similarities end. While it is still an enjoyable read, FOR SHE IS WRATH is nowhere close to the scope of The Count of Monte Cristo. To say so does both books a disservice.

Despite that one quibble, FOR SHE IS WRATH is a revenge story with a good growth arc. While there are no major surprises and you never fear for Dania's life, it provides a decent lesson about the dangers and futility of vengeance as life's purpose. The lovers-to-enemies-to-lovers plotline is intriguing and written well, even if you deduce the hows and whys of Mazin's betrayal long before Dania does. 

FOR SHE IS WRATH is also another instance where there is only one person in all the world with the brains, the wealth, the ambition, and the power to topple an empire, and it just happens to be our barely-out-of-the-teenagerdom heroine. If you can accept that, and the somewhat heavy-handed vengeance lesson, then FOR SHE IS WRATH is an enjoyable, quick read that doesn't require much from the reader. And sometimes, that is exactly what you need.