A review by morgann_ashh
Caraval by Stephanie Garber

4.0

I was immediately entranced by the story's setting and plot from the book "blurb" and the first 50 pages. It felt like a carnival twist on Hunger Games: magic, wonder, escape, and competition. The setting was fascinating and Garber has a beautiful way with words when describing setting. She uses unique metaphors and descriptions to describe the setting or characters. In addition, I love how emotions were described by colors. It was such a unique reading experience seeing how Scarlett interpreted emotion through color. The plot had me HOOKED the first 250 pages. I stayed up until 4 am because I was engaged in the story. I woke up the next morning not fully remembering what happened because I was so tired when I forced myself to push through. I enjoyed the relationship between Julian and Scarlett. I especially loved Julian's character: his playful banter but also his assertiveness. The last hundred pages is when the book lost me a little bit, which is the reason for the docked star. [SPOILER] I liked the twist that all the characters we have come to know we're actually players in the game and there was an underlying motive taking place. Then, Scarlett found her sister and that whole scene felt off to me. The Tella at the end didn't feel like the Tella at the beginning, and I know it was all apart of the game but why couldn't they have let Scarlett in on it? Also, they put her through so much pain! She watched two people she loved DIE and then the next day Tella is all excited and chatting up a storm and Julian is just like standing there at a party. POOR GIRL is struggling with grief that she just found out was all an ACT??? and you want to go to a PARTY?? I don't know, it all just felt quick and not emotionally sensitive to Scarlett's situation. Also, I feel like this book could have been a stand alone. Either way, I will be continuing with the next book in the series.