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| Caraval by Stephanie Garber |
Book title:
Caraval
Author:
Stephanie Garber
Genre:
Young Adult fantasy
Published: September
29, 2016
407 pages
My rating:
4/5
“Remember it’s all a game. What happens beyond this gate may frighten or excite you, but don’t let any of it trick you.”
Scarlett Dragna’s life-long dream has been to see Caraval, a performance where the audience participates in the show and competes for a prize. A few weeks before her arranged marriage, she finally gets an invitation to Caraval for herself, her sister Tella, and her fiancĂ©. With the help of a mysterious sailor Julian, Scarlett and Tella escape their cruel and abusive father and journey to a far-away island, but as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s organizer, Legend. Now Scarlett must find Tella before the game ends, or she risks losing her forever.
Caraval is the first book in Stephanie Garber’s young adult fantasy trilogy of the same name. I have heard a lot of people rave about this series as well as the Once Upon a Broken Heart series, so I was intrigued to read both trilogies, starting with Caraval.
Caraval was an action-packed read, but I’m not sure it lived up to my expectations. I found the world building slightly confusing. The fantasy world with its many islands and nations was vague, and I didn’t get a sense of what the world was supposed to be like and whether magic played a larger role in the world. An even bigger problem is that what Caraval and the games are about isn’t explained until later in the book, and even then, it wasn’t clear why people were so eager to join the game. I felt that I was told that people loved the games rather than shown what made the place and the game so fascinating to the participants.
That being said, the book is full of vivid descriptions. Part of that is because Scarlett has synesthesia, and she sees her emotions in color. At times the descriptions are a bit too much, and I must admit I got overwhelmed reading about all those turquoises and emeralds and melting peacock feather colors.
The story focuses so heavily on Scarlett that the other players in the game were pushed to the background. They are mentioned in the beginning, but they don’t form much of an obstacle to Scarlett, and we don’t learn what they are doing most of the time. Instead, Scarlett stumbles upon the clues way too easily. In hindsight, it makes sense, but because everything is so easy for her, the book felt very low stakes. It also didn’t feel like she was very concerned about saving her sister, as most of the time she spends pining after her love interest and being conflicted about her engagement to a man she’s never met.
The relationship between Julian and Scarlett developed rapidly. At the end of the book, she’s known him for only a few days and claims that she’s in love with him, even though she admits she doesn’t even know him and doesn’t know whether he’s telling her the truth or not. I also had a hard time getting over the fact that the first time we meet Julian, he’s with another woman (Scarlett’s sister, no less).
For the most of the book, Scarlett is passive, overly concerned with propriety, and constantly making bad decisions. Although the themes of confidence and rising up against her abusive father are important, the lessons Scarlett learns were presented in a heavy-handed manner. In the end, I didn’t feel like Scarlett had really grown as a person. I hope the rest of the series includes bigger character development.
“Whatever you’ve heard about Caraval, it doesn’t compare to the reality. It’s more than just a game or a performance. It’s the closest you’ll ever find to magic in this world.”
I have to say that the book didn’t live up to the promise of the quote above. Still, I enjoyed the book enough to give it four stars, and I’m curious to see how the series continues.
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