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sleepybythelake's review against another edition
adventurous
funny
inspiring
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
To be honest I'm not sure about my thoughts.
It wasn't bad, overall I'd say I liked it, but it felt a bit over the place compared to the previous two. I think I'll add a proper review after giving it more thought.
EDIT - So... not much has changed, I'm still confused af, therefore I'll use bullet points to try and make sense of it.
Scarlett's storyline:
Donatella's storyline:
It wasn't bad, overall I'd say I liked it, but it felt a bit over the place compared to the previous two. I think I'll add a proper review after giving it more thought.
EDIT - So... not much has changed, I'm still confused af, therefore I'll use bullet points to try and make sense of it.
Scarlett's storyline:
- her ex-fiancé was introduced just to get k*lled off. I see why he was mentioned and properly introduced, otherwise it would feel like an unconcluded storyline but ugh idk. I think it would have been interesting to see more of him, though he was not that relevant in the end
- was not particularly interested during her chapters, sry...
- BUT I love her and Julian. Ma babies
- She ends up having actual powers? And she's the daughter of The Fallen Star??? WTH
- She's also the legitimate heir to the throne???
- I guess the last two points make sense, but uhmmm
Donatella's storyline:
- revolved around love as expected
- for me, it was more interesting than Scarlett's
- which surprised me because usually I don't like love triangles, though was this really the case considering Legend has always owned Tella's heart?
- was not particularly fond of how she treated both Legend and Jacks (not that they were any better towards her) and especially of the conclusion with the latter which felt meh; Legend's love breaks Jacks emotional hold on Tella, aw true requited love wins above all, cute! Then Jacks just vanishes? Like the rest of the Fates... like, okay, sure, fine
- I don't know what I expected but it left me bittersweet
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, and Death
Moderate: Grief and Torture
Minor: Pregnancy
carlyjoann's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
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
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death of parent, Murder, and Death
Moderate: Toxic relationship
Minor: Abandonment
bookboxbabe's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-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
3.75
i don’t even know where to begin with this book.
i LOVED caraval and loved legendary even more. but this book was just…a huge disappointment.
first of all, there were so many plot points that went nowhere.
scarlett’s game between nicolas and julian would have been AMAZING to watch but no, it was abandoned almost immediately and nicolas was just killed for the hell of it.
tella and jacks being married was a great plot twist and i gasped. it could’ve been great to see that played out, but no it was immediately rectified the next chapter and jacks just undid it? huh? alright then
those are just two examples but there were a lot of plot points (namely with their mother) that i felt weren’t necessary and that were just abandoned/solved too quickly
second of all, wtf? this book was all over the place. it felt like stephanie implemented so many little threads throughout the other books and then realized “oh shit i have to wrap all this up”
things either happened way too conveniently and quick for these characters or frustratingly wrong and some parts of this book just felt both rushed AND drawn out. at the same time.
i do still love these characters, this world, and this whole story, but this final book was such a let down. besides the romance with dante. love him.
i LOVED caraval and loved legendary even more. but this book was just…a huge disappointment.
first of all, there were so many plot points that went nowhere.
tella and jacks being married was a great plot twist and i gasped. it could’ve been great to see that played out, but no it was immediately rectified the next chapter and jacks just undid it? huh? alright then
those are just two examples but there were a lot of plot points (namely with their mother) that i felt weren’t necessary and that were just abandoned/solved too quickly
second of all, wtf? this book was all over the place. it felt like stephanie implemented so many little threads throughout the other books and then realized “oh shit i have to wrap all this up”
things either happened way too conveniently and quick for these characters or frustratingly wrong and some parts of this book just felt both rushed AND drawn out. at the same time.
i do still love these characters, this world, and this whole story, but this final book was such a let down. besides the romance with
Content Warnings
Moderate: Injury/Injury detail, Fire/Fire injury, Blood, and Murder
Minor: Pregnancy
rylin_marie's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
emotional
hopeful
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
5.0
i loved this so much.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Emotional abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Physical abuse, Torture, Violence, Gore, Blood, Kidnapping, Child abuse, Grief, and Injury/Injury detail
chloelj27's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
fast-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
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Fire/Fire injury, Murder, Blood, Death of parent, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Kidnapping and Violence
behindherpages's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
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? It's complicated
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Kidnapping, Violence, Grief, Murder, and Death
jlk's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder, Blood, Kidnapping, and Torture
ginnyb412's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
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? It's complicated
3.0
This book for sure isn't bad, but imo it's definitely the weakest in the trilogy. I think the biggest issues stem from the structure and pacing of the story; this is the only book without Caraval as the skeleton around which to construct the plot and it feels scattered and untethered without it. It felt like a lot of characters just walking around and talking, and the actual interesting parts of the story suffered from playing second fiddle to a repetitive and rather dry love story between Tella/Legend. Tella's repetitive agonizing over Legend took up the vast majority of the book which started to annoy me pretty quickly, especially as it became clear that the actual action of the plot wasn't going to happen with her. Scarlett's entire arc felt rushed and underdeveloped, despite it being the actual plot/solution to the problems in the book? Garber should've delved more into Scarlett's time being trapped by the Fallen Star, her powers, and the planning to defeat the Fates. That all felt very haphazard, like she was just throwing shit at the wall and seeing what stuck. The book also imo would've been better if it were around 70 pages shorter and forced to cut a lot of the unnecessary ramblings. Garber, based on her other books in Caraval and ouabh, can be a very good writer, which is why Finale felt particularly weak to me. Overall, I enjoyed the first part of the book where they learned more about the lore of the Fates, but it lost me around the middle when it started to make less sense and get more repetitive.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent and Murder
Moderate: Torture
ssellwood's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
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? Yes
3.5
Finishing the end of the trilogy made me go back and take book 2 from 4 to 3.5 stars. I'll admit that there's some highlights in Finale, namely the lovestory between Scarlett and Julian for being tragic and feeling ripped out of a teenager's fantasy and Jacks' sarcasm. However, I think the problem with this stems from the fact that it feels too YA in terms of the roundabout writing style, the randomly thrown in plots and toxic relationships. By too YA I mean that even if I'd read this 5 years younger I still think I'd find the characters and the writing annoying.
The best book of this trilogy was definitely the first one as it introduced this magical, wondrous carnival and its depiction was beautiful and Scarlett's character was acceptably innocent. But from book 2, I felt the world wasn't developed enough to cope with the expansion of the plot, and the characters didn't grow for me.
The best book of this trilogy was definitely the first one as it introduced this magical, wondrous carnival and its depiction was beautiful and Scarlett's character was acceptably innocent. But from book 2, I felt the world wasn't developed enough to cope with the expansion of the plot, and the characters didn't grow for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder and Violence
anxieteaandbiscuits12's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Death of parent, Murder, Blood, Confinement, Emotional abuse, Violence, Physical abuse, and Fire/Fire injury
Minor: Gore, Grief, Abandonment, Injury/Injury detail, and Torture