Pages: 416
ISBN: 978-1473629165
Genre : Fiction, High fantasy, Fantasy
Quote: “Welcome to Caraval….beware of getting swept too far away”
So welcome to the review of Caraval by Stephanie Garber(did that sound like Caraval host?) So let’s get into the review of Caraval but as usual after a little overview of the story.
A little overview of the story: We follow two sisters Scarlett and Donatella, their life is controlled by their father who is governor of The Isle of Trisda. He decides that Scarlett must be married to a count she never met, of course her father considers only his benefits in this too. But Scarlett longs to go to one of the best once in a year performance of the year hosted by the Caraval.
When Legend, the owner of the enchanting Caraval sends an invitation to the sisters to play the game of Caraval for five days. Scarlett and Donatella escape their cage with a sailor named Julian, but their mights are tested as soon as they reach Caraval. Every year, there is a task to find something or someone. This year it seems that the participants have to find Donatella who is kidnapped as soon as the game starts. The one who finds her, wins the price of a wish! But they say all the things that occur at Caraval is only a part of the game, are they really? Don’t get swept too far away!
Scarlett with Julian tries to find her sister. She has to get back to the Isle soon for her father is no good to them with such decisions. Follow her into this adventure filled with love, heartbreak and magic.
My review: So first of all, I am saying that it is a very unique and individual book. And I never got into it thinking that it will be anyhow similar to “The Night Circus”, so if you have read The night circus then don’t just go expecting a lot from it. You will enjoy it more.
I liked the plot, most of you who read my reviews from a while know that I just love atmospheric books. So I really loved that aspect about it, the narration, writing style is great.
I liked all the characters but there was not much character growth. It has really strong characters but somewhere even with this less number of characters, I didn’t feel connected to most of them. Also I expected it to be more driven towards the game like more about all the participants, more about the games. But it turned out that this years game was set by Legend just for personal reasons. There was not much to the game,the Caraval, the participants and that was just bland for me. I know I didn’t expect much, but it did exaggerate about the game in the blurb and so I thought it will be served properly at least. But that didn’t happen.
Also I was not satisfied in the end. I know it has two more books in the series, so it might end with a cliffhanger. But there were little things which were unanswered. I would have loved it so much more if it gave me a little bit of wows about the game. It is character driven but I saw no character growth. But I enjoyed reading it, so it was a 3 out of 5 stars read for me.
Maybe I didn’t get swept too far away in the game. We will see if I get into the second one in series.
P.C. I, me, myself
~Kashish~
A New World 