Reviews tagging 'Toxic relationship'

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

33 reviews

melodyramirez's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

 The mystery and plot twists are pretty intriguing and fun but the writing is kindof cheesy and the author really over uses similes. The conclusion is also infodump-y.

personally I would never forgive them for any of that

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carnet_de_liseuse's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? N/A
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


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ankiaisreading's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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ankiaisreading's review against another edition

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mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25


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itsnotalakeitsanocean's review against another edition

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medium-paced
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

1.5


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swiftie_bookworm's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0


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rylin_marie's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

4.5! this book was so magical i’m in love. this book is way too underrated. there were parts where  i cried, laughed, smiled, and gasped. this book was a rollercoaster of emotions for me. 

🎠~she imagined loving him would feel like falling in love with darkness, frightening and consuming yet utterly beautiful when the stars came out~🎠
-literal poetry. this line is just so pretty. it painted a picture in my brain. stephanie garber is literally the queen as describing things. 

🎠~hope is a powerful thing. some say it’s a different breed of magic altogether.~🎠

julian is mine. i am his. i love him. 


okay, i’m literally so happy. stephanie garber is a new favorite author. the acknowledgments made me smile. i love how the first thing she put was “thank you, God, for being faithful when i was faithless, for your love, and for every miracle that made this book possible.” i will forever love stephanie garber for this.

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wickedgrumpy's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No

2.25

This book was very much whimsical nonsense tied up in a mystery that was reminiscent of a studio ghibli movie.  You question what is real and what is not, if what has happened actually did happen.

There was enough mystery and world building to keep me interested in reading more, though the characters were a bit one dimensional they managed to hold my attention.

Other books I've read with this vibe did not have strong enough characters to keep me engaged and since this was a debut novel it has a lot of promise for what comes next.

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catching5tars's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.5


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booking_along's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

reread 2023:

i don’t really have any other things to say or thoughts to add to my first ones. 

this is very strange.
sometimes very overwritten and too much and trying a bit too hard to not say anything while filling pages with nonsensical words. 

i love the idea and the characters and plot idea isn’t bad overall but i wish it wasn’t as flowery and nonsensically written in a way that one never really knows what’s going on and if something is happening or not.

it’s not bad but i think it’s a specific type of writing that you have to be a specific reader to love. 
as in if you don’t mind not understand how why or what even after finishing it all and having things described to you in colors for no real reason (dead is apparently purple) fantastic.

look i enjoy description and i like flowery writing but there is a point where i just want a clear answer to things. and in this first book that never really happens 


i will continue on with this series this time and see if this writing continues as it’s been done here or if at some point an actual story is being told in a clearer and more easily understandable way. 


first read 2018: 
3 stars 

this is such a strange book!

i really loved parts of it, but the other parts that i didn’t enjoy, those i REALLY did not like!

in some ways this book reminded me a lot of alice in wonderland. 

a lot of strange things are happening that make no sense and that are not getting explained at all. 
there are also way more overused stereotypes in this book especially gender wise than there should be especially for such a super strange book!

but the writing is so good, and the plot ideas that i could understand and made sense were fantastic... 

a very strange mixture!

i know that i will only define my personal option of this book - if i enjoy it or not- when i reread it someday.

for books this strange i need a reread to really form my option and decide how i feel about them.
or in other words: i need a reread in hopes that i will either understand more of it in that go around OR not like it because it will be just as strange and not understandable to me as this time around.

for now i can only say: super strange and over the top whimsical and unexplained reading experience!

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