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A review by hailstorm9
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
4.0
“It's better this way, sister. There's more to life than staying safe...”
The world of Caraval is a beautiful, high fantasy world that I would love to get lost in. And I definitely did between the 400 pages of this book. The circus feel and the secret passageways and the turned around time and the magic made this book extremely enjoyable and enticing. The kooky characters of Caraval also helped the story move along in a way that added more intrigue but didn't stop or ruin the story of the main character.
Let's talk about the main characters though... I'm big about character development and while there was some in this story for Scarlett, Tella and Julian, I was not impressed. Tella was extremely unreliable and I'm honestly not sure what to think of her. I feel we'll learn more about her in the next book though. Julian's part in all of this was definitely a surprise at the end, but otherwise he was predictable and your usual male co-star in a young adult book. That being said, I loved him! He's my type of guy so I will always root for Julian. Scarlett was the main character and my favorite. She showed a lot of growth and while I didn't always agree with her, I was rooting for her. Also, fuck her dad.
This book is getting 4 out of 5 stars because of the ending. Caraval was a beautiful narrative and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and then the end, the resolution, just fell flat for me. It was rushed and confusing and I'm still not sure about the motivation behind the character's participation in Caraval. I think book two will clarify some things left out of book one and I'm very excited to read it!
The world of Caraval is a beautiful, high fantasy world that I would love to get lost in. And I definitely did between the 400 pages of this book. The circus feel and the secret passageways and the turned around time and the magic made this book extremely enjoyable and enticing. The kooky characters of Caraval also helped the story move along in a way that added more intrigue but didn't stop or ruin the story of the main character.
Let's talk about the main characters though... I'm big about character development and while there was some in this story for Scarlett, Tella and Julian, I was not impressed. Tella was extremely unreliable and I'm honestly not sure what to think of her. I feel we'll learn more about her in the next book though. Julian's part in all of this was definitely a surprise at the end, but otherwise he was predictable and your usual male co-star in a young adult book. That being said, I loved him! He's my type of guy so I will always root for Julian. Scarlett was the main character and my favorite. She showed a lot of growth and while I didn't always agree with her, I was rooting for her. Also, fuck her dad.
This book is getting 4 out of 5 stars because of the ending. Caraval was a beautiful narrative and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time and then the end, the resolution, just fell flat for me. It was rushed and confusing and I'm still not sure about the motivation behind the character's participation in Caraval. I think book two will clarify some things left out of book one and I'm very excited to read it!