Reviews with content warning for Violence - Legendary

The sequel to Caraval, Legendary picks up the day after the events of the first book and continues the story of the Dragna sisters in the capital city of Valencia.

💭 I enjoyed Caraval, but loved this one even more! The introduction of the character of Jacks was great (and I’m so excited to read the spin-off series and learn more about him) and I absolutely loved Dante in this book. I also felt like Tella made a great FMC and was a more interesting primary protagonist than her sister, which kept me a bit more engaged. Finally, I enjoyed the game more in this one and felt like the plot unfolded in a way that was interesting, but a little less mind-melting than book one.

Overall, I’m really enjoying this trilogy and excited to read Finale soon!

CW: Abandonment; confinement; death/blood/violence/injury

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ang3lina_'s review

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adventurous mysterious medium-paced

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

3.0

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chloelj27's review against another edition

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adventurous 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? Yes

4.0

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gale_bruckner's review against another edition

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emotional mysterious fast-paced

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

2.75

I enjoy the author's use of descriptive language as world-building, and she does a good job of continually raising the stakes. I did have trouble suspending my disbelief when characters seemed to fall in love without a clear buildup of feelings or connection. Especially Jax. I started reading this series after reading Once Upon a Broken Heart (which is fantastic, BTW) to learn how Jax's Heart backstory. Now that I know it, it's disappointing and seems more meaningless than so much of what happens in Once Upon a Broken Heart. Maybe the third book pulls it all together. We'll see.

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1_800_fuck_off's review

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adventurous emotional 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

4.25

i enjoyed this book significantly better than the first one.

the prince of hearts was what made me have hope that i would actually like this book and i did.

he was a big part of that reason.

i didn't dislike tella in this book, i hadn't disliked her in the first one, either, but i just didn't feel much of anything for her. moments in this book made me be like "oh, she's kind of cool for that ngl." that's kind of all i have to say about her though.

when dante was revealed to be legend i was inclined to not believe it,, i didn't think it would be that obvious.

i expected a shock factor moment when legend would be revealed so i was kind of disappointed. even now i still can't believe it.. I really expected it to have been a better moment or at least have legend be an unexpected character. i guess i was so disappointed because in the first book they made legend to be.. well.. a legend. someone unattainable, magical, out of this world, out of reach from mortal clutches.

dante is just.. well.. dante, lol. he's the typical "bad boy", tortured, devil may cry, type of love interest. well, not fully, he does seemingly care a lot about donatella. but his character is built to be cocky, overconfident, seductive, funny, flirtatious, play boy sort of dude on the surface and have tragic backstory/serious, mean side which i can name many other LI like that on the spot sooo,,

yeah, not really impressed with his character.

scarlett,, if scarlett hadn't been in the book i wouldn't have noticed. she literally has such insignificant scenes in this book but i'm sure it was to set up for the third and final book.

the prince of hearts,

jacks.

now that was a great character. he instantly captured my attention. the plot twists actually plot twisted. i was actually surprised when he was revealed to be:

1. the heir, 2. tella's friend, and 3. the prince of hearts.

he was just a wonderfully, well done morally ambiguous character. he's confusing in the best way possible. does he actually have a soft side? is he actually a cruel person?

is tella really his true love?

that was never actually confirmed since he would deny or say something else when it was brought up, kind of like to distract away from the topic. i like him. he's the first character that brought me some excitement in this series so far. i want to learn more about him but i don't know if i'd like to read a romance about him which i know the spin off series once upon a broken heart is about. ill probably still end up reading it because i don't like not finishing the complete story of a fictional world.

anyways. pretty good book. on to the next one.

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kellan_writes's review

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adventurous inspiring 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? Yes

2.5

I'm still not sure what I think of this series. The first book was ok, but this one was a little dull, and the characters not nearly as likable.

Instead of Scarlett we follow her younger sister Donatella, as she tries to win Caraval and get Legend's true name in order to free her mother. But there games upon games and secrets untold. The ending does leave me at least wanting to finish this series for closure, but I'm not sure I honestly recommend it. The pacing is uneven, and it goes from hate to love far to quick even if the characters don't admit it. There also felt like a bit of backsliding for all the characters, leaving us where we found them at the beginning of the first book.

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amre23's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

3.5

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tays_books's review against another edition

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adventurous dark 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? No

4.0

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