Caraval, by Stephanie Garber (Book Review)

 

“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.”

Scarlett Dranga has always dreamed of going to Caraval, the faraway performance that happens once a year held by the mysterious ring master Legend. 

Scarlett and her younger sister, Tella, have never left the small island where they live with their over powerful father. Now, Scarlett has a chance as getting away from her evil father and life, by agreeing to an arranged marriage with a far away count she has never met. 

But Scarlett gets a new chance to escape when a letter from Legend himself arrives inviting her personally to join in Caraval. With the help from a mysterious sailor, the girls are whisked away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella goes missing and it turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella herself, and whoever finds her first will win and receive the most esteemed Caraval prize. 
Although Scarlett’s always been told this performance was only a game, she is swept into the game. Whether it is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before she’s goes missing forever, all while reminding herself that it’s all only a game…

“Beware of getting swept too far…”

Well, well, well. This is one of those book reviews I’ve been putting off for a while now (hence the reason I am I am quite behind on them). This book was a heart wrencher.  There were so many things about this book initially that I was so annoyed with. If you ask any of my friends the “Finlee phases” of reading a book, they will all tell you that I tend to over critic books to start. Well, that was definitely accurate with this book. So much so, that my favorite characters I hating in the beginning of this book. Stephanie Garber was tugging on my heat strings. 

Like I said, I originally hated some of these characters. And I mean, I desperately disliked them. Especially with the way that the book started, nothing about them was appealing. I found them very morally grey and unattractive. But as I kept reading, and you get backstory and more characteristics, and lemme just say, most of the ones I really didn’t like initially, I ended up loving at the end. Clear case of one of my “phases” right here. For instance, Julian Santos was one of the character to start that really disgusted me, if I am being honest. The way Garber introduces his character does kinda have that effect. But this is proof that in my opinion, her characters were decent. And if they weren’t necessarily morally good, I found them interesting and a key part of the plot. Just well written characters if that makes sense. She made you feel attached to them. Julian ended up being my favorite character :)

The humor of this book was definitely on point. I think that might be one of the other reasons I liked the characters subsequently. There was definitely a lot of highlight-worthy quotes in this book. 

The story was very original. I think that was one of the key things at the end for me after I read it that made me like it more. Like, you’ve never seen anything like this storyline. The whole idea of Caraval itself was very intriguing.  She definitely kept you interested in what was gonna happen next, cause while I didn’t love the book while reading it, I couldn’t seem to stop. I wanted to know what happened next.

“Don’t look at me like that. It doesn’t work on me.”

“That’s why it is so fun.”

Now, so far you are probably thinking, “She seems like she should love this book so far!” But there was just a lot about this book that just kinda had ehh vibes for me. While it might seem like it should be a good thing, I found Garber a little too descriptive for my personally liking. And while I did like a lot of the characters, I still definitely didn’t like all of them. 

Being that Caraval is a game for pleasures, a lot of this book was solely based on desire. I found it a lot like the Vanity Fair from Pilgrim’s Progress, which is sorta ironic being that they are both carnivals. While God usually appeals to our wills through our reason, the devil tends to appeal through our emotions and desires. Another one of the points that John Bunyan makes in the Vanity Fair portion in his Pilgrim’s Progress, is that people are often fueled by our desires. Influence is a big part of this as well. Whatever influences our minds then simulates our desires. A lot of the things put before Scarlett in Caraval are things that the game maker knows she wants. Similar to all of the characters. I found all of that very interesting when I was reading this book. It was kinda all I big life lesson. 

The romance in this book was actually really sweet at the end—yes, I kinda had a love-hate relationship with it during the whole book, but the conclusion was to my standards and yes, definitely swoon-worthy. Again, it was all kinda based on desires, the way the characters looked and acted and less of their actual characters, which you know I have a hard time with, and I found a lot of the thoughts and talk of the characters a little crude and over the top, but the ending was sweet and delightful. I liked it a lot. 

“Relax Crimson—“

“It’s Scarlett.”

“Same difference.”

All that being said, I’d probably give this book a solid 7 out of 10. Originally I gave this book a 5, but again, this is proof of my “phases”! I think it had some good lessons in it, and while I think it could have been much better, I am glad I read it, and I do want to read the next in the series eventually. I’d recommend this book for 14+. The crude language is to note. There was nothing that crossed the line, but there was definitely some things that kinda made me annoyed and felt unnecessary. 

And so, with much ado and plenty of Forrest Frank on loop, this wraps up my Caraval review. CLICK HERE to get the book!

“She just wanted to be with him. The boy who’d saved her from drowning in more ways than one.”

Tally ho,

Finlee