Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Caraval

YOOOOO I COMPLETELY LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!
I think my biggest mistake, whether when I want to start a book that seems interesting or after I finish one I completely loved (like this one), is reading reviews. When I see more negative ones than positive I start to ask myself 'Did I really enjoy it?' I don’t know why I let other's opinions get to me like that ugh… maybe I should stop reading reviews and that's it lmaooo

Anyway, my first thought was 'Ohhh The Night Circus meets Alice in Wonderland' but it became a story of its own quickly. I read it in like 2 days and a half, couldn’t put it down. I’m dumb as f*ck so I didn’t expect lots of plot twists and was all shocked and/or giggly. For me it was a fun, engaging read.
I agree with people who say that

Scarlett and Julian

fell in love too quickly, but idk man, they were cute. Donatella gave me Lydia Bennett vibes at first

but she turned out to be smart as hell and I loved that!

Content Warnings

savanah's review against another edition

Go to review page

challenging dark emotional medium-paced

2.75

It’s kind of like if the author took the Original Peter Pan (the dark one where Peter kills the lost boys when they’re too old), Alice in wonderland, and just a touch of terror/horror genre, gaslighting, mixed in with with the most cliche YA tropes.

Content Warnings

eggfartz's review against another edition

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.75

Content Warnings

lermaline's review

Go to review page

adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

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

2.5

J'aimerais en savoir plus sur la manière dont le monde en est arrivé à son état actuel, comment la magie fonctionne en détails. Cependant le livre, pourtant recoupant certains parties des contes préférés de l'autrice, et semblant être adapté aux ados, contient énormément de scènes de violence graphique. Cela ne me semble pas cohérent, ou du moins pas bien géré.

Content Warnings

qdbibliophile's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

I wanted to love this book more than I did. The world was certainly magical but there were aspects that felt confusing or muddy and the FMC’s flaws were consistent throughout. Without spoiling the ending, short of verbalizing her feelings toward one of the villains, I didn’t feel like she had grown much.

Content Warnings

itsmaryssae's review

Go to review page

medium-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

3.75

Content Warnings

chaptertraveller's review against another edition

Go to review page

lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

I'll be completely honest and say that the only reason I'm reading this series is because I want to read Once Upon a Broken Heart... and I DNFd this one a couple years ago so it took a lot to get me here lol.

I'd say I did enjoy the book, it was whimsical and the setting was lovely and I liked the premise, however a fair few things fell fast for me. Namely, I didn't really like any of the main characters and that meant I was way less interested in what was happening. They were all just a little flat without much growth, or I they just came across as bad people to me and even with good intentions, I disagreed with their outcoming actions. The audiobook definitely helped a lot as it was much easier motivation, and I didn't hate the book by any means I'm just not a huge fan!

I'm gonna try to give the next one a go but I already know its about

Tella and not Scarlett

and that makes me SO UNMOTIVATED

Content Warnings

More...