“Remember, it’s only a game…”
At A Glance
- Young Adult
- Fantasy
- Magic
- Mystery
- Romance
- Trilogy Book One
For Fans Of
- Leigh Bardugo
- Laini Taylor
- Sabaa Tahir
Star Rating
Buy From: Amazon | Waterstones
See it on Goodreads
Caraval Review
Caraval is the first book in Stephanie Garber’s YA fantasy trilogy about Scarlett Dragna, who escapes her father and an impending arranged marriage to join Caraval, a once-a-year five-night game show that is full of mystery and magic.
I was blown away by Caraval at the beginning. I loved the concept: a magical, mysterious game complete with cryptic clues and the threat of death or madness? Count me in! That is the kind of book I want to read. Twists, turns and a swoon-worthy romance? Sold. On paper, this is a bit of me.
I raced through it and couldn’t put it down. I was thinking about it when I was doing other things and couldn’t wait to get back to reading at every chance I got. I thought I’d loved it, but then I finished it and started to reflect on it and I realised a few things:
- There were clues and I loved them, but what actually happened with them? Scarlett seemed to figure them out, but I sure as hell don’t know how. She seemed to just have a random thought and then wander and easily find something related to the clue and that’s it, you’ve got the answer. I wanted to connect the dots with her, I wanted to understand how she figured it all out. I’m still nonethewiser.
- Where are the other players? There seemed to be almost no competition here? I wanted a rival, a proper one!
- There was a beautiful map at the beginning of Caraval. That map got me excited for some solid world building but… nope.
I’m so frustrated because this book conjured up amazing imagery for me, but those images are all over the place and I can’t really glue them together. This could have been up there among my favourite books of all time if those points were better, because it really did get me excited and I was addicted the whole way through.
I’d really recommend reading it, but I wish we could get a new version with a bit more depth. I’ve yet to read the rest of the series, and perhaps that will help. I’ll definitely give Caraval a reread before I delve into book two, too.
