Reviews with content warning for Child abuse - Caraval

The mystery and plot twists are pretty intriguing and fun but the writing is kindof cheesy and the author really over uses similes. The conclusion is also infodump-y.

Spoiler

personally I would never forgive them for any of that

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thebookaholic's review against another edition

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lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? No
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I'll be completely honest and say that the only reason I'm reading this series is because I want to read Once Upon a Broken Heart... and I DNFd this one a couple years ago so it took a lot to get me here lol.

I'd say I did enjoy the book, it was whimsical and the setting was lovely and I liked the premise, however a fair few things fell fast for me. Namely, I didn't really like any of the main characters and that meant I was way less interested in what was happening. They were all just a little flat without much growth, or I they just came across as bad people to me and even with good intentions, I disagreed with their outcoming actions. The audiobook definitely helped a lot as it was much easier motivation, and I didn't hate the book by any means I'm just not a huge fan!

I'm gonna try to give the next one a go but I already know its about

Spoiler

Tella and not Scarlett

and that makes me SO UNMOTIVATED

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michelle_l_d's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? N/A
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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freckles's review against another edition

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adventurous mysterious tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

I just don't knooow. I really wanted to like it but the romance felt weirdly horny and I got weird vibes all the time and the resolution at the end felt super unsatisfying. I dunno.

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lolzyuh's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

LUVED THIS ONE GUYS!!!! it was the right pace for me and still gave all the juicy details and goss about the characters lol. The twists were predictable but idk if it's just cause I read about the book online first??? Anyways SEE YA SOON LEGENDARY!!!!!!@

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mahra's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

Welcome, welcome to Caraval! The grandest show on land or by sea. Inside you’ll experience more wonders than most people see in a lifetime. You can sip magic from a cup and buy dreams in a bottle. But before you fully enter into our world, you must remember it’s all a game.

I did not like this. The main issue that I have is that this book does not deliver on its promises.

There are good elements. The premise of the story is quite interesting (which is why I am so disappointed with the way it unfolds). I really enjoyed this dark carnival setting with some latin influences. I liked that the romance between the main character, Scarlett, and her love interest, Julian, was slowly built. It is believable.

However, I had many issues with the prose. I do not think that the author is a bad writer. I have read a lot worse, but the prose in this one feels overly colorful (*wink*). The superfluous descriptions started to interfere with the pacing. The author also uses color adjectives to describe smells, tastes, and emotions and ends up creating sentences that do not make any sense.

Spoiler

(I know it is because of Scarlett’s ability to see emotions as colors, but it was very distracting)

For example: "Shades of the rich ruby love she'd felt during the game mixed with hues of deep-indigo hurt" or "Something about him made her feel perilous shades of silky black". And since she described Scarlett’s emotions that way, it made it difficult to understand and connect with her. I really did not learn much about her outside of what was written verbatim, so I did not have any reason to care about her. She is also quite unlikable because of how foolish she is. I understand that this is supposed to be a story about much she learns during the game, but she very annoying at times.

I did not find any of the characters likeable or enjoyable. Even, Legend, as a villain felt… strangely boring (?). I also found them quite stereotypical and "one note" (opposite sisters, cold and cunning love interest

Spoiler

who is a double agent

, mysterious villain who is manipulating everyone…), which is not always an issue, but in this case it did not help. The father felt like a moustache-twirling villain, and I find those very difficult to do well… The author also used a trope that I hate:

Spoiler

the very old man who does not age (Julian) who ends up with the very young and naive main character and manipulates her before he falls in love with her.

The story was also somewhat predictable. I consume a lot of fantasy, so it is quite difficult to surprise me. It does not always bother me, but in this case, I guessed most of it pretty quickly (and what I did not guess was not well introduced to the story, it came out of nowhere).

I was expecting a harrowing story full of twists,

Spoiler

but ultimately they are all rendered pointless by that final twist. Donatella, the sister, was behind all of it. Everything was a lie. It is comparable to an "it was all a dream" ending, in my opinion. What was the point of all of this? Escaping their father and Scarlett’s fiancé? Was all of this necessary to achieve that? None of it makes sense. The other books may answer that question, but if that is the case, this one does not lead me to believe that. Scarlett simply accepts everything, and very easily forgives her sister. Which brings me to my next point: the book does not accurately describe how horrible of a sister she truly is. She put Scarlet through all of this — unnecessarily in my opinion — and she was completely unapologetic about it. Again. Why?

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viselik's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.0

By the end, I only gave a damn about the Legend and sort of Jullian. I didn't connect with either Scarlett or Tella.

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gillshea's review against another edition

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adventurous dark hopeful mysterious slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

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