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A review by illiteratewench
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
I decided to give Caraval a try since Once Upon a Broken Heart is so extremely popular and well liked. I know some have read OUaBH without reading the Caraval trilogy, but I wanted to at least give it a chance. While I didn't love the first book, I would consider continuing the series since the next book will be following a different main character, which could change up the experience.
Caraval is a weird read because it definitely reads as quite young YA most of the time, but the mild sexual content* and violence feels more older YA. (*No explicit smut on page, but allusions to sex from time to time). The mishmash of vibes and maturity level makes it a confusing read. The main character, Scarlett, is 17 or 18, while her sister Donnatella is 16. It's definitely implied that Donnatella has snuck around with boys a fair amount, which is normal for her age, but it's a case where it feels icky because of how immature Donnatella is portrayed otherwise. (Which again, is normal for the age, it's just with how young the writing feels that when these things crop up, it feels a little weird or icky.)
The main love interest nicknaming Scarlett "Crimson" is also... just not clever? He thought he ate but the oven was off.
Glancing at the reviews, Garber's purple prose has already been critiqued a lot, particularly the amount of weird metaphors and descriptors that don't make sense, so I'm not going to harp on it. I listened to the audiobook so it was easy for me to hear a weird phrase and then shrug it off. I found the writing to be just okay.
I didn't know that this book was a Spanish-inspired fantasy, so hearing the audiobook accents added some fun to the listening experience.
3 stars. The type of YA that makes me feel too old for YA, despite giving a different YA book 5 stars this year.
Caraval is a weird read because it definitely reads as quite young YA most of the time, but the mild sexual content* and violence feels more older YA. (*No explicit smut on page, but allusions to sex from time to time). The mishmash of vibes and maturity level makes it a confusing read. The main character, Scarlett, is 17 or 18, while her sister Donnatella is 16. It's definitely implied that Donnatella has snuck around with boys a fair amount, which is normal for her age, but it's a case where it feels icky because of how immature Donnatella is portrayed otherwise. (Which again, is normal for the age, it's just with how young the writing feels that when these things crop up, it feels a little weird or icky.)
The main love interest nicknaming Scarlett "Crimson" is also... just not clever? He thought he ate but the oven was off.
Glancing at the reviews, Garber's purple prose has already been critiqued a lot, particularly the amount of weird metaphors and descriptors that don't make sense, so I'm not going to harp on it. I listened to the audiobook so it was easy for me to hear a weird phrase and then shrug it off. I found the writing to be just okay.
I didn't know that this book was a Spanish-inspired fantasy, so hearing the audiobook accents added some fun to the listening experience.
3 stars. The type of YA that makes me feel too old for YA, despite giving a different YA book 5 stars this year.