Reviews with content warning for Domestic abuse - Caraval

It was very often poorly written. Although the story was very good and all, and I'm aware that it's YA, I think only a 11-16 year old would enjoy the writing as well. If I was at that age I'd probably give like 4 stars idk. so that and the plot are the reason the rating isn't lower.. idk it was just frustrating cause the story could've been so much more instead of giving half the feeling of magic and wonder it wanted to, being too fast at times, and just frustratingly written at others. I didn't hate it as much as it sounds but yea

also okay spoiler kind of but

HOW DID THIS ALSO END UP BEING AN EXTREMELY OLD GUY FALLING IN LOVE WITB A BARELY ADULT GIRL???? AGAIN. CAN WE FUCKING STOP PUTTING THIS EVERYWHERE???? IT'S GETTING CREEPY

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chityty's review against another edition

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adventurous fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I don’t read much YA and from the description I expected this to be a sort of Night Circus experience. It had those elements but then the last 50 pages was a wild blur of deceptions and choices and backstabbings that really left me finishing the book going “really?!”

Really tried to pull me into the next book with the Epilogue but I think I’ll be putting this series away and moving on.

Also why are we having a 17 year old fall in love with an unaging man again?! Can we bury that as a plot point as it is skipped over but still like really weird that we are supposed to stand back and be like “yeah that’s cool with us”

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mysterybindsme's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

- Definitely intended for a younger reader (probably about 13-15)
- Main character is incredibly naive and has like two personality traits: protecting her sister, and having trust issues. Oh and the third trait of being incredibly quick to trust things she hears despite trust issues
- Becomes way more interesting about 2/3s in (which at that point is a bit late really)
- Far too many plot twists. Like I'm not kidding, past the half way mark the entire situation changes context about five times
- The ending ruined the entire thing. All the stakes were gone and it made me absolutely hate most of the characters (aside from Aiko who was genuinely helpful but there for like five seconds and Scarlett who was just a normal girl in an awful situation)
- Yes I'm planning on reading the next two books (unless the second one's worse). No I would not recommend
- The prose is beautiful tho

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juliannereads's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

2.75

Writing Style: 1/1

Story: 1.25/2

Characters: 0.5/2

Total: 2.75 stars

Extra rating: Enjoyability: 0.75/1

The writing style is what first drew me in. Colorful, vivid and fantastical. The main character had some form of synesthesia which made for interesting and really beautiful narrative in some parts of the book.

The story however, well…

The story had the potential to be something more thrilling if the romance didn’t completely overshadow every single plot progression for 75% of the book.

And ugh, the romance was so…blah. I wanted to love Scarlett so much as a character especially because much of her motivations and fears were being fueled by her trauma, but it was quickly drowned out by all her feelings associated with the love interests. Even her thoughts outside the love interest felt redundant because it was the same train of thoughts every single god damn time.

“I must save my sister”

“I am scared, but my sister would want me to be brave.”

“I shouldn’t share my secrets here.”

“Nothing in Caraval is real”

and just so many starry-eyed, gooey descriptions of Julian to the point where I was in literally agony trying to get through one more scene where she talks about being in close proximity to him.

Scarlett and Tella’s relationship was also something I was excited to see, especially since the synopsis literally introduces them as sisters that have a bond like no other. Every time Scarlett describes Tella, it plays with the idea of a complex relationship—Scarlett feels obligated to protect Tella due to domestic violence from her father and her mother leaving, but she also feels hidden resentment that Tella doesn’t treat her own life (or Scarlett’s in that matter) as careful as Scarlett does. But, for most of the book, the relationship was overshadowed by the romance which made it a little disappointing. But, I will say the ending does make up for some of that disappointment.

Despite a lot of cringy love details that I would rather not deal with, I will still definitely continue with this series.

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psnchz's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

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lostinthelibrary's review against another edition

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dark mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

I didn't pick this up at it's hype and maybe it's time has passed for me. The book's strength is definitely in it's imaginative setting which was evocative though often unclear. The plot, though a bit scrambled at times, was okay and did surprise me on some occasions so that does put if above similar "atmosphere" books like The Night Circus.

However, I found the characters, especially the protagonist and her love interest, extremely uninteresting. I rolled my eyes in multiple parts of dialogue and they were just not people I felt I could root for. Annoyingly the best character in the book

Tella

is the one who is absent for it's majority. I hope they feature more in the sequel.

A strong premise and setting but not much more substance for me. I might give the sequel a try to see if the weaker elements improve.

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savvyrosereads's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

Rating: 4/5 stars

Scarlett and her sister Tella escape their abusive father and plunge into the magical game of Caraval…but when Tella goes missing, Scarlett soon learns everything is not as it seems.

This book took me AGES to read for reasons that are not remotely its fault, so the buddy read very much left me behind (and I can’t blame them). That said, I really enjoyed this one and had a great time discussing it once I was finally able to do so!

The world building here is particularly fun to me—the entire setting felt super trippy and made my brain hurt a bit, but in a good way. This is more complex (and a bit darker) than YA sometimes skews, but I enjoyed both of those things!

A lot of the folks in my buddy read were frustrated by the ending and/or by the character of Tella, but I actually loved both. I’m excited to see where this trilogy goes next (as of this posting I’ve already finished and really enjoyed Legendary but have Finale left to go)!

CW: Kidnapping; physical and emotional abuse; blood/violence/death; suicide

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hiddeninfantasy's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

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