Reviews

Caraval by Stephanie Garber

ghm252's review against another edition

adventurous slow-paced

2.5

The main character was super annoying i did not like her or her sister jullian was a huge red flag 🚩 i will not read the 2nd or 3rd book

naomi_fearnon's review against another edition

4.0

Love this book, LOVE how SG writes.

I almost got whiplash from the twists and turns, I felt as confused as Scarlett and didn’t know what to believe

tachi's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.0

When I first started the book I thought it was a bit slow. When i got to the halfway point it really picked up. I really enjoyed the last half of the book. Kept me wanting more. Everything was unexpected and really clever. I loved it! I'm very much looking forward to the next one

honeysage's review against another edition

adventurous challenging funny mysterious tense medium-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? Yes

4.25

dmiraculous's review against another edition

adventurous mysterious tense slow-paced

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

4.0

gingersnapbooks's review against another edition

adventurous challenging inspiring lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.75

lunastellar's review against another edition

dark, twisted, and fun. def an interesting first installment to a YA fantasy. i thought the premise of playing a game and not being sure where the line between of fantasy and reality was quite intriguing. the story always kinda kept me on my toes. this book wrecked me and i went through the five stages of grief and confusion lol but it was a great escape.

laineykay's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

5.0

bibliophile27's review against another edition

5.0

I LOVED this book it was so magical and enchanting it sucked me in and turned me into a reading monster. But honestly I'm not mad . If your thinking about picking up this book then you should know that it is a trilogy but the second book isn't in the protagonist ( scarlets) pov it is in Tella's pov her sister but it carries on scarlets story within it . The 3rd book is both of there povs so if you don't like switched point of veiws then i wouldnt reccomed the series . Although i dont really like switched povs myself these books didn't bother me . The first caraval is so magical and you learn more and more about the backround of this illusion /game or is it just a game ? is it reality ? you wont find out unless you read it SO PICK IT UP

stjehanne's review against another edition

2.0

Heads-up: I couldn't quite decide if I should Caraval rate one or two stars. I went with two in the end because it doesn't quite deserve to be among the ranks of my one-star-books.

When I picked this up, I was actually pretty excited about it. The premise sounded wonderful, the setting enchanting - I love carnivals and illusions, so I thought this would be right up my alley. What a devastating disappointment.

Let's start with the setting: The novel comes with a cute little map on the first pages which made me believe that I would see some nice world-building, something that would allow me to truly escape into that magical world. And in the beginning, everything seemed promising as well. I truly loved the first glances into Caraval: Such a stark contrast to the word that Scarlett used to call her home.

And then I realised that nothing even mattered. Everything that happened could be undone in the blink of an eye. This festival that promised dangerous secrets and unforeseen twists had no lasting consequences at all. There was no meaning to be found behind any action, something that really frustrated me. The magic system in this book is not bound to any rules or any reason which frankly, makes for a boring read once you figure out that nothing bad will ever last.

The characters in this one are... unique, to put it politely. The romance parts in particular could only be described as questionable. Proper, modest Scarlett only hesitates a second to make out with the guy who had his hand up her sister's skirt when they first met. The guy who knocked her out and basically kidnapped her. And they say romance is dead.

Spoiler

And of course, Scarlett learns that there was nothing going on between said man and her sister after all but this is something we learn much, much later.

Even if Julian was surrounded by slightly less dodgy circumstances, my man has the charisma of one of those singing fish props. His personality could be summarised as hot and secretive and lacks any sort of depths.

Same goes for Scarlett, if I'm being honest. I don't think she makes a good protagonist since others have to do all the thinking for her. She's naïve to a fault and I still don't quite know how old she's supposed to be - she felt like a child at times. Especially during the last pages of the story, her actions made me constantly roll my eyes and I think I might have irreversibly damaged something.

Conclusion: Wasn't really worth my time. Glad I read it though because the author included her hot music takes at the end of book and it made me laugh a lot.