Ab’s Book Reviews - Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Hi everyone!
I know it has been a LONG time since I’ve posted, but a lot has happened in the past three months. I’m one month deep into school, I’ve read more books to keep me busy, and time has been flying a lot faster than usual due to the stack of homework that’s taller than me.
I did have some time to spare today, so I decided to start a new series: a book review series. I’m going to call it AB’s Book Reviews. I know, right? Original.
I myself only started reading a couple of months ago, and it all started with the amazing book Caraval by Stephanie Garber. This book is what reignited my fire and passion for reading.
Caraval is a romance/fantasy book, and it is truly one of my favorite books of all time. Garber’s writing and word choice are explicit and so delectable (I felt like it was the right word). She uses imagery, and the way she plays with words is just amazing. The words just curve around your head to create detailed images of the shops and trinkets they find in the book.
If you don’t want any spoilers for the book, you should probably stop reading now and go find one of my other posts to read.
I’ll give you some more time by talking about the background of the book, because I know some people who won’t go away that quickly.
The story starts off with two main characters, Donatella Dragna and Scarlet Dragna. Their father is the head of the island and is abusive, so they learned to live on their own, as well as hide from him.
In book one, which is Caraval, Scarlet is the main sister, and the story goes from her perspective. But in book two, Legendary, Donatella is the main character.
Donatella has always had this dream to see the performing circus, Caraval, and each year Scarlet sends the Caraval legend letters to invite them to come watch the game. Years and years after trying, Scarlet and her sister finally get the invitation to go and attend Caraval.
Just so conveniently, some random sailor guy, Julian, spawns to take them away to this whole other island. The boat can only carry two at a time, so Julian takes Donatella first, leaves her at Caraval, and then comes back to fetch Scarlet.
Surprise, surprise: Donatella gets kidnapped.
Like, as if you didn’t know that leaving somebody on an unknown island means there is a 99.99% possibility of them getting kidnapped. But sure, I guess that’s how the book works, because without it, we wouldn’t really have the plot.
So Donatella becomes the prize of this year’s game, along with a wish, and Scarlet has to be the one to find her so, you know, they can be happily ever after.
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The game only lasted five days, but this book was WOW.
In the span of five days, she basically did ten trips around the solar system, because I think my head would’ve exploded on the first day.
I don’t want to go into more detail about the background of the book, but the time has now come for my opinion on the story itself.
Personally, when I found out that Julian died, I was having a heart attack because, what do you mean Scarlet and Julian just ended because he died?!
I was so sad because the last 100 pages of the book just weren’t the same without their romance, but when he spawned back to life, I was honestly overjoyed.
One of the main reasons I could not put down the book was mostly because of its detail. I know I already went over this, but the excessive amount of DETAIL in the book was crazy.
It was so helpful for me to picture how the shops looked, how the doorknob was shaped, and the way the architecture looked. Garber did nothing short of amazing when describing each room and event in the book.
The last 100 pages of the book were insane between the climax and the action packed ending, putting down the book was impossible. Everything major happened in those last pages, like Dante dying, Julian dying, Tella dying. It was mostly dying, but still, it was CRAZY.
When Tella jumped off the ledge, I was wondering how book two was going to go if everybody had already died, but ok, I trust Stephanie Garber.
Her descriptive word choice — I can still remember these lines: “her honey blond curls drenched in blood, surrounding her pale face.” I’m pretty sure that’s how it goes.
Overall, for somebody who wants to get into reading, this is the perfect book for you. If you are into mystery, fantasy, and romance, this has all of those combined into one book.
You cannot put this down if you haven’t finished it. It just keeps you guessing until the last page.
Next week, I will cover another book that I have read, and I will post my TBR list so you guys can see what book review I might post next.
Any books you want me to read, please let me know, and you might see them here once I’m done reading them.
Thank you for reading, and I’ll keep you posted! AB signing off, until next week :p
