Reviews

Finale by Stephanie Garber

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goldtrxp's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective sad 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? Yes

4.0

mirandaahlen's review against another edition

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fast-paced

4.0

evieane's review against another edition

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4.0

ㅤ . . 4 ★

︵‿︵Welcome, welcome to my review of Finale and Caraval series!︵‿︵
A suitable ending for such an bewitching and enticing series -the end of the Caraval series, Finale surely did not disappoint in terms of allure, magic and beauty.

The last book in this trilogy surely lived up to the expectations that the first book managed to create for me. After the slightly disappointing second book in the series, Finale was clearly able to bring back some of the nice feelings I had when I first started reading Caraval. Of course, there still are some small aspects that did not make this book a perfect 5 stars, but I will elaborate on them below so let's begin, shall we?

━━ world building and action
As always, the world of Caraval never disappoints. When I started reading this series, the magnificent world and allure of the this magic-filled universe were the first things that completely and fully captured my attention and entrapped me in this incredible story. The details of the world were so magically and incredibly well-written that I was so eager for each and every paragraph of new descriptions of the surroundings in each scene. This third book clearly managed to bring back those feelings after I was a bit disappointed with the second book. I also appreciated how different were the two POVs of the two sisters. I was really glad to see Scarlett's POV again!!! ~~you will really find out I do not like Tella a single bit~~ .
Despite the really beautiful story, I still felt like the ending was a bit underdeveloped. The "almost ending" felt a bit rushed and the true ending that came after did not feel satisfying enough for me. I would have loved to get at least a bit more and the back-story of how things ended up the way they did.

━━ characters
Tella - I still cannot resonate with her a single bit. I am sure there are a lot of people who managed to probably understand her better than me and to resonate with her, but her character was completely apathetic to me. She was still just as childish and selfish as in Legendary, I felt like she was hypocritically criticising everyone for using her, while she was literally using everyone around her without being capable of making up her mind and learning to deal with the obstacles she had to face. I repeatedly found myself tired of her constant oscillation between Legend and Jacks and it wasn't even called for most of the time. She usually condemned the others for not changing for her, while she herself refused to change for everyone. And not to even mention her relationship with Legend. Despite it having quite some really beautiful moments, it felt so forced to me. It did not feel as natural as I hoped it would be and his "sacrifice" in the end of the book felt so sudden and a bit unnatural. I did not really enjoy any of their development through the series.
Scarlett - Literally my favourite character in this series after Jacks. I absolutely loved her development ever since the first book and the ending clearly did not disappoint in this regard. From her chase for safety and fear of unknown, I feel like she became such a powerful and inspiring woman in Finale; fully deserving of her new role!!! And don't get me started on her relationship with Julian. I LITERALLY LOVED THEM SO MUCH. Each scene of them had me holding back my breath and kicking my feet because of how insanely sweet they were and how in love. Their relationship clearly developed so beautifully and I really lowkey hope we would still get to see a bit more of them in Stephanie's future works, maybe some small glances regarding their current lives in the new roles they have.
What I did not like however, was the relationship between the two sisters. Despite their constant wish to sacrifice for one another, I ended up feeling like they grew so apart throughout the story. And while it is understandable that they both managed to find love and more people to care for, I would have enjoyed to still see the loving relationship between them grow more.
･ﾟ.✧:･ﾟ JACKS ❤️ (he gets sparks and hearts cuz he deserves them OK?) - literally my favourite character so far. I will literally accept NO CRITICISM against my husband. His random entrances, his constant bantering, his unpredictable nature made him such an entertaining character. No wonder he became such a loved Fate: HE IS LITERALLY AN UNBOTHERED, UNPHAZED AND HOT KING. and he is also mine so please step back.