The series follows Amaya Chandra, a young orphan trapped on a debtor's ship forced to work off her father's debts after her family was betrayed and imprisoned. She ends up meeting the mysterious and charming Boon, who she saves from drowning. As a reward for helping him, Boon offers Amaya a way to pay back the people who've wronged her and her family. Boon ends up giving her a new identity as the Countess Yamaa and wealth, and she sets sail back to her home city-state of Moray. Amaya, though, soon discovers that a web of conspiracies covers the city-state and she ends up on the same path as Cayo, the son of the man she's looking to go after.
Scavenge the Stars provides examples of:
- Affably Evil: Boon is a charming and playful man who's also a murderer, conman and thief. He's ruthless but also sincerely affable, and loves his daughter dearly.
- Benevolent Boss: As the new top crime lord of Moray, Romara is much more benevolent to her employees than her father, rewarding them when they do well and paying them high salaries, which helps ensure they're much more loyal to her than her father.
- The Chessmaster: Boon plays everyone in the story as pieces in his game of chess, such as using Amaya as a way to get to the children of his enemy and to have her deliver poisoned coins to the city's elite.
- The Charmer: Boon is relentlessly charming and affable and able to get people to do what he wants with his honeyed words. It's to the point he even convinces a rich woman to give him her hat with just a few charming words here and there.
- Counterfeit Cash: The plot revolves around the distribution of fake gold coins which are destablishing the economy of the city-state of Moray. These coins also carry a lethal consequence, as their gold coating is created from the dried up remains of a poisonous sea creature and hence prolonged contact will kill its user.
- Decomposite Character: This work is a retelling of The Count of Monte Cristo, but the role of the Count, Edmond Dantes, is split. The role of abused prisoner who takes on the identity of a new rich count (countess here) for revenge against those who've wronged her goes to main character Amaya Chandra. However, the ruthless but affable chessmaster who is prepared to destroy even the families of his aggressors goes to Amaya's father and mentor, Boon. In fact, it's Boon who sets up Amaya to take the Countess identity.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: Boon ends up taking a bullet for his daughter, Amaya, and passes away peacefully in her arms, telling her he loves her and information on the person responsible for leaking the supply of fake coins that are causing a disaster in the city-state of Moray.
- The Don: The Slum King, aka Salvador, runs the criminal underworld of the city-state of Moray. He uses gambling and blackmail to profits coming in and is not afraid to dish out torture and mutilation to those who don't pay up.
- Drowning My Sorrows: The guilt of helping create the fake gold coins which are spreading a plague called Ash Fever across the city-state of Moray has led to Boon to take up hard drinking in order to alleviate his guilt and sadness.
- Evil Mentor: Boon acts as Amaya's benefactor and teaches her all his criminal skills as a way to get revenge on the people who've wronged her.
- Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Romara is a ruthless crime boss, but she takes control of her father's criminal empire because he exiled and sold out her mother. Romara's plan is to try and find out what happened to her mother.
- Gender Flip: The main character Amaya Chandra is a female adaptation of the male Edmond Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo. This becomes downplayed later, as she's eventually revealed to be a Decomposite Character with all of the more ruthless chessmastery of Edmond going to her father and mentor, Boon.
- Kill the Poor: The mysterious benefactor flooding the city-state of Moray with fake coins finds out that the coins induce a fatal illness called Ash Plague. He uses it to his advantage by withholding the cure and allowing it to kill off the poor and downtrodden of the city because, as a rich man, he looks down on them.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Amaya Candra's Lovable Rogue Evil Mentor Boon is revealed to be none other than her father.
- Metaphorically True: When Amaya asks her Evil Mentor Boon if he was responsible for killing her father Aran Chandra, Boon responds by stating that "he guess he did". It's revealed later that Boon is Aran and that he had metaphorically killed himself.
- Murder by Inaction: It's revealed that the benefactor who helps fund the creation of the counterfeit gold coins that are flooding Moray finds out they carry the ability to induce a deadly disease. He even creates a cure for it, but doesn't care at all about distributing it, as he wants the plague to rip through and kill off the poor population of the city who he hates.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- Kamon Mercado becomes depressed and is even willing to have his son kill him when he learns that his distribution of fake gold coins to make himself wealthy led to his daughter being infected with an illness linked to the coins and later losing her life.
- Boon becomes depressed and starts drinking himself into a stupor after finding out his fake gold coins ended up distributed to the poor and a side effect of the materials used to make the coins led to them killing the poor residents of Moray.
- The Queenpin: Romara acts as the new leader of the city's criminal underworld after she takes control from her father. She now controls the city's illicit gambling and criminal activities. She keeps control through a carrot and stick approach of rewarding her loyal followers very well and torturing her disloyal ones.
- Pet the Dog: Romara is a ruthless Mafia Princess and criminal, but she also gives Cayo money to help fund medicine for his sister's illness as a gift.
- Race Lift: The cast of The Count of Monte Cristo are French in the original, but this book duology depicts their counterparts as the fantasy equivalent of Southeast Asians.
- Revenge by Proxy: Boon teaches Amaya to seek out and take revenge on the children of the man whose wronged her as a way to truly make him suffer. She ends up refusing, so Boon decides to do it himself.
- That Man Is Dead: Boon has left his life as Aran Chandra behind, and even refuses to be called that anymore. He even uses a intentional vague wording from From a Certain Point of View to make it seem to his daughter that he killed Chandra.
- Villainous Parental Instinct: Boon is a ruthless criminal, but loves his daughter dearly. He even gives his own life to to save hers.
- Wardens Are Evil: Captain Zharo is the warden in charge of the debtors' ship known as the Blackfish. His job is to take in children of families who haven't paid their debt and have them work it off. He's also a cruel, selfish man who delights in breaking them mentally and physically. He starves and abuses said kids and goes as far as trying to break their self-worth by even removing their names.
- Would Hurt a Child:
- As warden of the debtor ship Blackfish, Captain Zharo specialises in mentally and physically breaking his child prisoners. He is even fine with killing them if it means his profits continue.
- One of Boon's minions ends up killing a child friend of Amaya's in a struggle with the child.
