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A review by booksbytheglass
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
adventurous
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
3.5
okay hear me out, I enjoyed it, I binged it, but I didn’t… love it? it felt like a combination of a bunch of different fantasy books together with not as much character development 🤔
sisters scarlett and donatella want nothing more than to escape their abusive home and start their own lives - so when they’re invited to the elusive caraval by the master legend himself, everything changes 🤯 they’re immediately wrapped up in a land of magic, mystery, and more danger than they anticipated…
scarlett was not the main character I was expecting, nor was she someone who was smart enough to survive the game, I fear. she quickly abandoned all of her morals as soon as she met morally grey characters, and even forgot her goal of saving her own sister for a bit?? and nativity was certainly her theme here 🙄
I wanted so much more from julian and scarlett’s story, even though the main themes surrounded family and sisterhood. it barely touched upon the desire for forbidden love and totally gave the same energy as elsa when she tells anna “you can’t marry a man you just met”
and while donatella wasn’t much better, she wasn’t disguised as the older and “wiser” sister so 🤷🏼♀️
I did enjoy the world building and magical mystery behind caraval, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this journey expands in the rest of the series!
rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: blanc de noirs champagne
sisters scarlett and donatella want nothing more than to escape their abusive home and start their own lives - so when they’re invited to the elusive caraval by the master legend himself, everything changes 🤯 they’re immediately wrapped up in a land of magic, mystery, and more danger than they anticipated…
scarlett was not the main character I was expecting, nor was she someone who was smart enough to survive the game, I fear. she quickly abandoned all of her morals as soon as she met morally grey characters, and even forgot her goal of saving her own sister for a bit?? and nativity was certainly her theme here 🙄
I wanted so much more from julian and scarlett’s story, even though the main themes surrounded family and sisterhood. it barely touched upon the desire for forbidden love and totally gave the same energy as elsa when she tells anna “you can’t marry a man you just met”
and while donatella wasn’t much better, she wasn’t disguised as the older and “wiser” sister so 🤷🏼♀️
I did enjoy the world building and magical mystery behind caraval, and I’m looking forward to seeing how this journey expands in the rest of the series!
rating: 3.5 stars
wine pairing: blanc de noirs champagne