Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Title: Caraval
Author: Stephanie Garber
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Rating: 📖📖📖/ 5

Caraval, the magical isle of deception and fantasy. The only way you can visit is by invite. After many, many letters to Caraval's leader, Legend, Scarlett Dragna has been invited to partake in the adventure of a lifetime! This year the prize for winning Caraval is a wish. The only problem is that Scarlett is to be married in a week to a man she has never seen. Along with her headstrong sister, Donnatella and a stranger whom she just met, Julian, the girls run away from home and their abusive father to finally have an adventure of their own. Soon Scarlett finds out just how easy it is to get swept away in the game as she tries to save her sister from the dangers Caraval poses while at the same time trying not to change entirely herself.

Garber's Caraval is a mixed bag for me. I loved the premise of a magical game where you don't know what is real and what is fantasy. Who doesn't want to get whisked away in a game like that? But on the other hand, Caraval fell short. We have Scarlett who literally will not make a decision or be honest that maybe not everything revolves around Tella, while at the same time she repeatedly says Tella is all that matters. Which is it Scarlett?? I loved Garber's whimsical writing style as it helped create in my mind the world we were traveling through. I do applaud her for this aspect as many authors forsake the imagery for character development. But, frustratingly, I have no idea why Caraval exists or really any backstory to it at all other than that Legend is a scorned lover with a wicked carnival as a result.

It just had so much potential mixed in...why couldn't it follow through??

Anyway, I believe the story is good enough to tell others to read it if they like a light fantasy, but I probably wouldn't recommend it to my heavy fantasy readers due to a lack of substance. I will likely check out the second book at the library just to see if the series gets any better.

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