Reviews with content warning for Violence - Caraval

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Caraval by Stephanie Garber

110 reviews

mahra's review

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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annamay1021's review

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adventurous dark 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? Yes

4.5

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booktrovertreader's review

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adventurous dark tense medium-paced

4.0

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chiaraculpo's review

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adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.75

<verso la metà del libro mi stavo un po' stufando però mi è piaciuto il colpo di scena finale. Tella non mi piace come personaggio, nonostante volesse aiutare la sorella si è presa gioco di lei e l'ha fatta molto soffrire, alla fine ha esagerato. Mi è piaciuta l'evoluzione di Rossella e mi piace Julien come personaggio anche se non so se l'avrei perdonato così velocemente alla fine.> In generale mi è piaciuto, l'ho letto abbastanza velocemente, credo che proverò a leggere anche il secondo perché il finale mi ha incuriosita.

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mcc004's review

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

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

4.5

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carnet_de_liseuse's review against another edition

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adventurous lighthearted mysterious tense fast-paced

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

3.5

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sophs_mood_reading_room's review against another edition

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adventurous dark lighthearted mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.5

Two sisters (Tella, an impulsive younger sister and Scarlett an older protective, conservative sister) flee an abusive father to take part in an annual, mysterious magical game to secure the prize, a wish. Throw in a handsome man who helps one minute and disappears the next, actors whose aim is to help and deceive you (you just don’t know which) and a kidnapping and you have a whole lot of thinking to do.

This novel (although a little slow to get the the action at first) pops the reader into a magical world where anything is possible although non of it is real (or so you are told). Every chapter comes with twists and turns and just when you think you (and the protagonist) have figured it out, suddenly you have it all wrong again.

The last 1/3 of the book really gets action packed and even in the end you have questions and still want to know more.

The descriptive writing was beautiful, I really felt I could picture the beautiful sets of the game. And the way in which the protagonist could see colour with her feelings made for such beautiful imagery and really got the sentiment across.

There were really clever and fun magical elements such as how the fortune teller discovered peoples inner desires and the affects of the drink to see clearly. I also loved that I didn’t guess what was going on at all as this is often a let down when reading fantasy books. I can’t wait to continue the series.

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rdmoreland0801's review against another edition

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adventurous funny mysterious medium-paced

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

4.0

I heard I should’ve read this series before OUABH, but I had already read it. I decided to go back and listen to the Caraval series before ACFTL is released.

I didn’t care for the narrator at first, then realized it was the same narrator as OUABH - who I loved. Turns out, I just can’t stand Scarlett.

I did not care for Scarlett. There was just something about her that annoyed me. Tells wasn’t much better. I adored Julian and would love to see more of him. Governor Draggna can go to hell where he belongs.

I will continue with the series to hopefully get a better backstory, but I do hope it improves with book two.

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lollipup's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional funny inspiring mysterious tense fast-paced

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

5.0

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