Scan barcode
A review by thebakersbooks
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
3.0
3/5 stars
Firstly, did anyone else take issue with Scarlett (and therefore, the author) describing Julian's "row of brown muscles" or something similar THREE TIMES? I'm not sure whether I'm being overly sensitive, but something about that feels wrong. I only started paying attention to mentions of skin color halfway through the book (at the second "brown muscles" mention), and after that point, only one character's skin was described - a passing reference to "white/pale" or something in that vein. I felt as though the description of Julian in that light was too close to exoticizing POC, but again, I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into it.
Leaving that aside, I couldn't give the book more than three stars because the twists at the end seemed poorly planned. In an interview, the author mentioned that she doesn't like to outline and she'd written the first half of the book not sure what would turn out to be true and what would be part of the twist(s). I assume that was during the initial drafting process, but I would've liked some hints to what was coming added during revisions. As it is, the ending is more of a blindside situation than something you can look back on and say, "Ah, I see the clues now!"
Also, while I thought the descriptions were beautiful, the overall prose and the characters—and, come to think of it, the world itself—weren't as special as I'd hoped for a book surrounded by so much hype.
Given the number of other highly original YA fantasy books out there, I can't honestly recommend Caraval. Other novels do the same things more convincingly and with more emotional impact. I might give Legendary a try, but only because I already had it on hold at the library in anticipation of (I assumed) loving Caraval.
Firstly, did anyone else take issue with Scarlett (and therefore, the author) describing Julian's "row of brown muscles" or something similar THREE TIMES? I'm not sure whether I'm being overly sensitive, but something about that feels wrong. I only started paying attention to mentions of skin color halfway through the book (at the second "brown muscles" mention), and after that point, only one character's skin was described - a passing reference to "white/pale" or something in that vein. I felt as though the description of Julian in that light was too close to exoticizing POC, but again, I'm not sure if I'm reading too much into it.
Leaving that aside, I couldn't give the book more than three stars because the twists at the end seemed poorly planned. In an interview, the author mentioned that she doesn't like to outline and she'd written the first half of the book not sure what would turn out to be true and what would be part of the twist(s). I assume that was during the initial drafting process, but I would've liked some hints to what was coming added during revisions. As it is, the ending is more of a blindside situation than something you can look back on and say, "Ah, I see the clues now!"
Also, while I thought the descriptions were beautiful, the overall prose and the characters—and, come to think of it, the world itself—weren't as special as I'd hoped for a book surrounded by so much hype.
Given the number of other highly original YA fantasy books out there, I can't honestly recommend Caraval. Other novels do the same things more convincingly and with more emotional impact. I might give Legendary a try, but only because I already had it on hold at the library in anticipation of (I assumed) loving Caraval.