Author: Stephanie Garber
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Publication Date: May 29, 2018
Pages: 416
Format: NetGalley/For Review
A heart to protect. A debt to repay. A game to win.
After being swept up in the magical world of Caraval, Donatella Dragna has finally escaped her father and saved her sister Scarlett from a disastrous arranged marriage. The girls should be celebrating, but Tella isn’t yet free. She made a desperate bargain with a mysterious criminal, and what Tella owes him no one has ever been able to deliver: Caraval Master Legend’s true name.
The only chance of uncovering Legend’s identity is to win Caraval, so Tella throws herself into the legendary competition once more—and into the path of the murderous heir to the throne, a doomed love story, and a web of secrets…including her sister's. Caraval has always demanded bravery, cunning, and sacrifice. But now the game is asking for more. If Tella can’t fulfill her bargain and deliver Legend’s name, she’ll lose everything she cares about—maybe even her life. But if she wins, Legend and Caraval will be destroyed forever.
Welcome, welcome to Caraval...the games have only just begun.
Review: Well I was right. I did enjoy Tella's POV much more than Scarlett's. I don't know. Tella is just a lot more interesting than her sister and more open to things than her as well. Scarlett still bugged me in the little bits here and there we got of her. She still acted exactly like she did in Caraval. First, she was still incredibly closed minded about anything Tella tried to tell her about this Caraval actually being real. She still treated Tella like a child that was stupid and didn't know what she was talking about with anything. I felt no emotion for Scarlett when we were told anything happened with Julian. And I can't even begin to talk about her little idea at the end with giving Julian competition. She already worded it like she's choosing Julian despite what happened but yet she's trying to introduce competition to make him prove that he loves her. No. Just no. Trying to make someone prove they love you by putting competition in is seriously such a bad idea. I just can't with Scarlett. She is so bad of a character.
Moving on. Like I said. I really liked Tella. To me, she was much more likable and relate-able than Scarlett. I like when our main character is open minded and willing to explore all options regarding whats happening, not just what sounds realistic. This is Caraval after all! If your not willing to think there's magic behind the whole idea of it, there's some issues. Tella was more than willing to be open minded, especially since what was happening related to the deck of cards she saw her mother have. She knew it wasn't just pure coincidence and was willing to pursue the idea of the fates characters actually being real in Caraval. She was also much more open minded with her mother. All Scarlett ever did was put Tella down for even thinking anything about finding their mother. She was just incredibly bitter she left them and refused to forgive it. Tella did want to find her mother, but was also interested in the part her mother was playing in this years Caraval and how she was related to the Fates story-line. She was also a lot more ballsy than Scarlett. I liked this so much! She did what she needed to do regardless of what Scarlett or anyone else tried to convince her of. She didn't allow herself to get bullied into not doing things, things she needed to chase after to get answers. Not even just answers revolving around Caraval, but her life and family too. This was so important to Tella and I'm glad she was willing to go to whatever lengths she needed to to get answers. Yeah, sometimes it backfired or caused issues, but at least she was more willing to try.
Now lets get to the Caraval itself. I was actually slightly disappointed with this Caraval. The last one had so much magic all over it. The people, the buildings, everything! This one didn't seem like it had as much. The magic seemed to be more focused on the actors and Fates rather than the entirety of everything. We seem to explore the real world Valenda with Caraval actors and events mixed into it. This made me kinda sad. One of the things I actually did enjoy in the first book was the magic with everything. It was so fun seeing the magic everywhere and how it made everything look. And it just wasn't prevalent in this book. I get why for this book the magic was heavily focused on the Fates and the actors but it still. We had Caraval built into this huge magical world and we didn't get as much of the actual magical world this time. I did think it was interesting seeing how the story of the Fates, Legend, and his power were all intertwined. I wasn't expecting it to be the story as a whole, but it was interesting nonetheless.
So I'm not sure what others are seeing in Jacks to be honest. He seemed incredibly full of himself and all about me, myself and I. I didn't find his character that likable at all. And on top of that, when it was revealed really early on the whole story about the Prince of Hearts and that Jacks was the actual Prince of Hearts in this story, it was extremely obvious where this particular bit of the story would go involving Jacks and Tella. Kinda just took all the surprise of that bit of story right out of there. Dante on the other hand. I liked him. I didn't like him in Caraval but he grew on me in Legendary. That is, until the very end of the book. I thought it was nice seeing him play a bigger role in Legendary and build on that little bit of opening story we get with him and Tella the morning after Caraval. And the thing is, I really liked him. I liked that he cared about Tella. I liked that he was trying to help her through the game and protect her from certain people. And I thought it was interesting how we get the same "could he be Legend?" intrigue that we saw with Julian in Caraval. But I just didn't like how this turned out with Dante in the end.
I really liked how this had a better pace than the first book. I also liked how Tella and what she got wrapped up in seemed 1000x more interesting to read about than Scarlett. But I was also kinda sad to see some of the magic I did really like from Caraval not be used in this book. I definitely enjoyed this book more than Caraval but it still wasn't a blow my mind read. I will say however, that the very end of the book does make me curious as to how book 3 will play out. I wasn't exactly seeing that particular event happening.
Moving on. Like I said. I really liked Tella. To me, she was much more likable and relate-able than Scarlett. I like when our main character is open minded and willing to explore all options regarding whats happening, not just what sounds realistic. This is Caraval after all! If your not willing to think there's magic behind the whole idea of it, there's some issues. Tella was more than willing to be open minded, especially since what was happening related to the deck of cards she saw her mother have. She knew it wasn't just pure coincidence and was willing to pursue the idea of the fates characters actually being real in Caraval. She was also much more open minded with her mother. All Scarlett ever did was put Tella down for even thinking anything about finding their mother. She was just incredibly bitter she left them and refused to forgive it. Tella did want to find her mother, but was also interested in the part her mother was playing in this years Caraval and how she was related to the Fates story-line. She was also a lot more ballsy than Scarlett. I liked this so much! She did what she needed to do regardless of what Scarlett or anyone else tried to convince her of. She didn't allow herself to get bullied into not doing things, things she needed to chase after to get answers. Not even just answers revolving around Caraval, but her life and family too. This was so important to Tella and I'm glad she was willing to go to whatever lengths she needed to to get answers. Yeah, sometimes it backfired or caused issues, but at least she was more willing to try.
Now lets get to the Caraval itself. I was actually slightly disappointed with this Caraval. The last one had so much magic all over it. The people, the buildings, everything! This one didn't seem like it had as much. The magic seemed to be more focused on the actors and Fates rather than the entirety of everything. We seem to explore the real world Valenda with Caraval actors and events mixed into it. This made me kinda sad. One of the things I actually did enjoy in the first book was the magic with everything. It was so fun seeing the magic everywhere and how it made everything look. And it just wasn't prevalent in this book. I get why for this book the magic was heavily focused on the Fates and the actors but it still. We had Caraval built into this huge magical world and we didn't get as much of the actual magical world this time. I did think it was interesting seeing how the story of the Fates, Legend, and his power were all intertwined. I wasn't expecting it to be the story as a whole, but it was interesting nonetheless.
So I'm not sure what others are seeing in Jacks to be honest. He seemed incredibly full of himself and all about me, myself and I. I didn't find his character that likable at all. And on top of that, when it was revealed really early on the whole story about the Prince of Hearts and that Jacks was the actual Prince of Hearts in this story, it was extremely obvious where this particular bit of the story would go involving Jacks and Tella. Kinda just took all the surprise of that bit of story right out of there. Dante on the other hand. I liked him. I didn't like him in Caraval but he grew on me in Legendary. That is, until the very end of the book. I thought it was nice seeing him play a bigger role in Legendary and build on that little bit of opening story we get with him and Tella the morning after Caraval. And the thing is, I really liked him. I liked that he cared about Tella. I liked that he was trying to help her through the game and protect her from certain people. And I thought it was interesting how we get the same "could he be Legend?" intrigue that we saw with Julian in Caraval. But I just didn't like how this turned out with Dante in the end.
I really liked how this had a better pace than the first book. I also liked how Tella and what she got wrapped up in seemed 1000x more interesting to read about than Scarlett. But I was also kinda sad to see some of the magic I did really like from Caraval not be used in this book. I definitely enjoyed this book more than Caraval but it still wasn't a blow my mind read. I will say however, that the very end of the book does make me curious as to how book 3 will play out. I wasn't exactly seeing that particular event happening.
Sorry this was a bit of a pity :( But I'm glad you enjoyed reading from Tella's pov. One of the main reasons I didn't like Caraval was because of Scarlett, so I'm glad Tella's better!
ReplyDeleteGreat review :)
Thanks! :) I'm so glad I'm not the only one whose not a fan of Scarlett. I thought Caraval in itself was cool but Scarlett was the buzzkill for me. I really thought Tella was so much better. She is definitely a stronger and more interesting main character than Scarlett and it made a huge difference in Legendary.
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