Caraval
Caraval - Stephanie Garber
Blurb: Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval—the faraway, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show—are over.
But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt-of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.
Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away.
Rating: 4/5 stars
My Review:
Honestly, I went into this book knowing nothing. All I knew was that people had some mixed feelings about it, while others enjoyed the characters and the story behind it.
So let me get this thing out in the open first, since it was the one thing I disliked the most. Scarlett wanting to get married and mentioning it ALL the time! I don’t hate her for it because I completely understand why she would want to grab the safety of marriage due to her father. On the other hand, I think it was just mentioned too much, that I stopped caring about it half way through.
Another thing that got on my nerves was the world building and character development. The world wasn’t really built upon. Well, I personally thought the development of Caraval was to a minimal and it should have been built upon more so I could feel like I was there. However, it still gave of a dark feeling/sensation that helped build the story.
This leads me to my next point about the characters. The only character that develops is Scarlett in my opinion, due to her finally standing up against her father when people needed her. It was sort of empowering her being able to finally stand up against someone who has been beating her down and I applaud Stephanie Gaber for that! We get an insight into other characters like Tella and Julian, but I would like to know more about them! Apart from the ending when we get to truly see Julian for whom he is but I NEED MORE! I’m a big fan of character development if you haven’t noticed already! I would also like to know more about Tella, she honestly sounds like an interesting character! Hopefully in the 2nd book, after the cliff hanger we will get to know more about her. Another strong thing about the characters was their relationships. Scarlett and Tella definitely stole the limelight with their strong sister relationship. Usually it’s the romance, but I enjoyed the different take on it. Not many books focus on already existing blood relationships and this was an amazing take on it.
Another interesting aspect of this book was the quests and clues. I know some books already sort of do this, but I think this was done the best. I was constantly surprised while Scarlett was doing them. I didn’t expect half the things that she did and how she reacted, which was an amazing feeling. Also, it lets us as the readers guess and play along as well; I loved discovering new things with her! Even though we don’t know Tella like Scarlet does but through the quests we get to know them both even better.
The epilogue got me! I didn’t expect that and it wasn’t too over the top because as readers, we were also wondering what deal Tella made and SHE JUST LEFT US ON A CLIFF HANGER? OH NO! If the second book was out, I would’ve already finished it! I NEED to know!
Overall, this book is definitely one of my favourite reads so far but I still think it needs more world building and character development. I definitely enjoyed the story; it was refreshing to care about something that wasn’t about solely love!
