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3.75 stars! This review will contain no spoilers!
Synopsis:
"Whatever you've heard about Caraval, it doesn't compare to the reality. It's more than just a game or a performance. It's the closest you'll ever find to magic in this world…" Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved 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 far-away, 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. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.
Thoughts:
Stephanie Garber produced one heck of a book as her debut novel. Caraval is magical, mysterious, and suspenseful! The plot reads like a mystery twisted in with a quest to find Donatella, with another twist to evade pursuit by their father. The setting is what adds in that bit of magic. Caraval is bright, and colorful, and vibrant, and just downright a brilliant creation. Even the currency in this land is creative. They don't deal in money, but in secrets and fears and lies. Caraval blurs the lines between reality and fantasy. There is always this sense that you don't really know what's happening. She kept me guessing the entire book! Garber also blurs the lines between creepy and beautiful, romantic and heart breaking. The tone of the story already starts off on a darker note, but as the story gets darker and darker, there are sparks of light brought out by the characters and the romance and the magic. I love how the strength of the relationship between Donatella and Scarlett could be felt throughout the whole book, it was the driving force of the story. There was a romantic relationship woven into the plot as well (which I loved of course), but it wasn't the center of attention. This story is not without it's heartache and tears, but the ending is very much worth it. The epilogue is not one that leaves you on a tragic cliffhanger. All loose ends were tied up; all but one! And its the one that will definitely suck you into reading the sequel. The epilogue left a blank page for the story to take off in a new direction. What knocked this book down for me was the beginning and Scarlett’s initial personality. However, if you find yourself dragging through the beginning of the book like I did, push through! Push through to experience the wonderfulness that is Caraval. All I can say about this book now is get ready for your mind to be turn upside down and remember don't let the game sweep you too far away!
*Also, I read this book using Audible! The narrator for this book, Rebecca Soler, was amazing! She also did the Lunar Chronicles and she’s done as wonderful job on Caraval as she did with TLC. So so so good, def recommend!*
Plot:
This book gave me a lot of nostalgic feels like Pirates of the Caribbean with Scarlett getting abducted to a mysterious island and into a world of magical adventures. Felt Peter Pan vibes, too, mixed in with some serious suspense with Scarlett and Julian trying to avoid Scarlett’s father. Just SO MANY emotions going on after finishing this book.
I like Stephanie’s writing style. It almost reads like poetry sometimes, and she makes these metaphors and descriptions that at their own kind of magic to Caraval. I think this story shows exactly how much attention to detail Stephanie puts into her world building. We haven't even explored the full extent of this world we are in, but you absorb so much from Caraval alone.
Every line in the book has a reason for being there, every detail and I mean EVERY detail, could be a clue or an indication, and if you don’t pay attention, you could miss it. It’s that aspect of the story that really amazed me. There was not one single moment I felt that I could predict. Every twist and every turn thrown at me took me by surprise. She keeps you on your feet, guessing the the next curveball, then throwing it at you before you’ve caught the one she threw before that. LOVED that. I love being surprised.
And then the whole pacing of the second half of the book leaves you needing to catch your breath in the last few chapters. The ending was absolutely not what I expected. My mind was flipped upside down, shaken around, and then put back together. Literally mind f*cked. And as you catch your breath after reading all that, you’re reading the epilogue and just thinking… How could this book possibly have a sequel when it ends so nicely. The she gives you a how, and you’re like I need book two now! I can only hope now that we get to explore more of this world in book two.
Now, if I could rate this book in two halves, the first half would be 2.5, and the second half would be 5 stars. The beginning is what really brought down this book for me because of how slow it took to take off. I think most the reason for the slowness is centralized around the personality of the main character, Scarlett. She was just super super annoying to me in the beginning of this book. Really whiny and she literally had no backbone whatsoever. I mean I get it, it's needed so that you can see how much she changes in the story, but some of her whining and naivety was just a little over the top sometimes. Granted, it made the ending way way way more satisfying and her character development is spot on! I loved Scarlett by the end. Clearly, since I would give the second half full marks, I loved every bit of it. I never wanted to put the book down.
*Edit*
If you're expecting this book to be "circus-like" I can tell you not, you'll probably be disappointed. It's been advertised as a circus kind of book and is supposed to have a lot of similarities to "The Night Circus," but I doubt you'll find those similarities. This book is way way way more of a carnival/fully-immersive-game/mystery kind of book. I want to say it has more Alice in Wonderland and "summer carnival at the beach" kind of feels with the magic, and ever changing dress, and walking around a whole city meeting people/looking at vendors.
Characters:
I’ve already said my piece on Scarlett mostly. Didn’t like her in the beginning, but she grew on me once she found her voice and backbone. I can appreciate the struggle it was to deal with her annoyingness in the beginning all for how much she changed by the end of the book. I most definitely like her now and I have and always will love the love she has for her sister. That is what gave her the strength to fight through Caraval and it highlights a wonderful sistership in the book.
Then there’s Julian, that snarky and uncaring sailor with a hidden heart. He didn’t seem too hard to figure out for me, but for Scarlett it may have been since she is so unexperienced. I so wanted to be in his head for a chapter or two just to know what he was really thinking. He may seem flat and simple in the beginning, but that is all facade. As his character becomes more and more flushed out, you find out just how complex and central he is as a character in this book.
Donatella we don’t get to see much of in this story, but from what we do get I know she is CLEVER. Extremely clever. She's also vibrant, sweet, adventurous, and brave. The juxtaposition of two such different sisters, but sisters who love each other to the ends of the Earth was perfect. I can appreciate sisterly bonds in any book.
Overall:
WHERE IS BOOK TWO. I NEED IT ALREADY. I can only imagine how beautiful it will be considering how beautiful Caraval was.
