“Hope is a powerful thing. Some say it’s a different breed of magic altogether. Elusive, difficult to hold on to. But not much is needed.”

Caraval, Stephanie Garber

This is honestly going to be a short one. 

I wanted to love Caraval by Stephanie Garber, but I just didn’t. It was very forgettable for me. I don’t have a lot to say about it. I didn’t even keep any notes or make annotations. In fact, I read it a while ago. I’ve been struggling to write this review, to scramble my brain enough to have something of substance to say. I definitely didn’t hate it. I’d have way more to say if I did. It was just average — which is totally OK. Sometimes books are just that … average. 

The book follows Scarlett as she awaits her arranged marriage but is derailed when an invitation arrives to experience the magical, once-a-year performance of Caraval.

I will say, I loved the idea of Caraval — particularly the way it blurs the line between reality and fantasy. It felt so whimsical and sinister. The concept of playing a game where you can’t trust what you’re even seeing or experiencing just captured me. 

With that, the plot was also good — not great, but good. I enjoy a mystery, and it reminded me of The Inheritance Games a bit. Having Tella be at the center of the game to make it personal to Scarlett was a great way to invest readers more thoroughly in the outcome.

However, I did think Scarlett solved some clues too easily. The suspense overall was lacking to me, and the consequences didn’t hold to the narrative. When multiple people come back from death, I check out. 

I didn’t care much for Scarlett as the main character either. She just fell flat to me. She didn’t feel like a complex character. Maybe because she was so one-track-minded with saving Tella and the repercussions of everything, it made her appear one-dimensional. Perhaps her character will evolve in the following books. 

I did enjoy the banter between Scarlett and Julian. I thought they made a good pair, and the twist of Julian working for Legend caught me off guard.

I thought Legend was a curious character, as well. I guess I could lump in the entire Caraval cast — including Julian. There’s so much mystery surrounding them. The magic of it all is enticing. It’s like a tangled web that I want to unravel.

Finally, I read Once Upon a Broken Heart a little bit ago, and I was obsessed with it. I was told Caraval is meant to be read first, and I don’t see why. It didn’t seem connected at all. Maybe something down the line intertwines the story? 

The two are written very similarly. They both are a bit juvenile in style with simple world-building and a cliche story. But overall OUaBH had so much more heart to me, and Caraval couldn’t live up to that. … I did buy the other two books because I’m curious where it will go. 

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