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Caraval #1-3
Caraval Series Collection Set - Caraval, Legendary, Finale
The hardcover box set (3 books) of the #1 New York Times bestselling Caraval series!
All three books in the New York Times bestselling Caraval series are now available together in a beautiful hardcover boxed set.
Welcome, welcome to the world of Caraval—Stephanie Garber's sweeping tale of the unbreakable bond between two sisters and the game that is more than what it seems...
All three books in the New York Times bestselling Caraval series are now available together in a beautiful hardcover boxed set.
Welcome, welcome to the world of Caraval—Stephanie Garber's sweeping tale of the unbreakable bond between two sisters and the game that is more than what it seems...
Paperback
First published October 29, 2019
798 people are currently reading
11733 people want to read
About the author
Stephanie Garber
18 books86.7k followersStephanie Garber is the #1 New York Times and internationally bestselling author of the Caraval and Once Upon a Broken Heart series. Her books have been translated into more than thirty languages. Alchemy of Secrets is her debut novel for adults and will be published around the world.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 278 reviews
June 3, 2020
Very intricate and complex story. This trilogy is extremely detailed and not for the faint of heart. Caraval seemed a little easier to me since it does a little better job of explaining things and setting the stage. Legendary though also good, was hard to fall into since I read it a few months after and it took me a while to get my bearings. Still, it’s a very interesting story and nicely plotted out. Finale was a nice end and I'm happy I was able to immerse myself into this story and these characters.
February 23, 2022
Done and dusted.
Overall 3.5 stars.
Good in terms of world building and characters along with atmospheric and whimsical environment.
But the finale book is quite predictable
Overall 3.5 stars.
Good in terms of world building and characters along with atmospheric and whimsical environment.
But the finale book is quite predictable
February 1, 2023
I LITERALLY GOT THIS FOR LIKE 18 DOLLARS AND IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL OMG
It has a lot of details and it's rlly cool
It has a lot of details and it's rlly cool
October 4, 2025
Stephanie Garber has long been a favourite author of mine, I actually read Once upon a broken heart before reading this series, if Stephanie has wrote it I’ve read it.
Welcome to the world of Caraval where nothing is what it seems. Scarlett Dragna longs to leave the conquered Isle of Trisda and see the enchanting world of Caraval, the week long performance that the audience takes part in, but she knows her abusive father will never let her leave. Instead she has settled for an engagement as a way of escaping her father. When Scarlett and her sister Tella receive invites to Caraval, they feel like their dreams have come true, with help from a mysterious stranger they make it to Caraval only for Tella to vanish. Kidnapped by the shows mastermind Legend, Scarlett faces a race against time to find Tella before she disappears forever.
I love this series, when I eventually got read to reading it I devoured the whole series over a matter of days. Tella comes across as rather spoilt at times and doesn’t often think of the consequences of her actions but you can tell that the two sisters love each other. Scarlett has had to bear the weight of her fathers abuse, trying to protect Tella as much as she can but she sees her engagement as way to get them both of the Isle and away from their father. I loved the whole series as it was magical, even if it did keep me guessing all the way through as to how it was going to end. Jacks the Prince of hearts, stole my heart away and I’m glad he got his own series as I never thought he was all bad. Scarlett and Julian were cute but Tella and Legend you can see the sparks fly. I love the world that Stephanie Garber has created and the characters, I reread this series often and it’s one of my favourites. Highly recommended.
Welcome to the world of Caraval where nothing is what it seems. Scarlett Dragna longs to leave the conquered Isle of Trisda and see the enchanting world of Caraval, the week long performance that the audience takes part in, but she knows her abusive father will never let her leave. Instead she has settled for an engagement as a way of escaping her father. When Scarlett and her sister Tella receive invites to Caraval, they feel like their dreams have come true, with help from a mysterious stranger they make it to Caraval only for Tella to vanish. Kidnapped by the shows mastermind Legend, Scarlett faces a race against time to find Tella before she disappears forever.
I love this series, when I eventually got read to reading it I devoured the whole series over a matter of days. Tella comes across as rather spoilt at times and doesn’t often think of the consequences of her actions but you can tell that the two sisters love each other. Scarlett has had to bear the weight of her fathers abuse, trying to protect Tella as much as she can but she sees her engagement as way to get them both of the Isle and away from their father. I loved the whole series as it was magical, even if it did keep me guessing all the way through as to how it was going to end. Jacks the Prince of hearts, stole my heart away and I’m glad he got his own series as I never thought he was all bad. Scarlett and Julian were cute but Tella and Legend you can see the sparks fly. I love the world that Stephanie Garber has created and the characters, I reread this series often and it’s one of my favourites. Highly recommended.
October 8, 2020
| Reader Fox Blog |
Have you ever done something you find yourself immensely regretting just a mere five minutes later? That's right, folks, I just made the mistake of requesting Finale on NetGalley. And I cannot for the life of me believe that I did it. This is what hype does to me because 99% of the decision making behind the request came from excitement over the book posted all around the internet that didn't, in fact, belong to me. And while, yes, I am vaguely interested in reading the last book in this series since I always hate not knowing what happens and I have a very hard time turning away from books once I've already read another in that series, I genuinely forgot for a moment how much I hated Stephanie Garber's Caraval. So, I'll be honest, there's probably some judgment I've earned here. But I digress.
Here's the truth; I read Caraval some months (I should probably say years) ago at the request of a friend whose recommendations have almost always managed to not work for me so much so that I'm at the point where I rarely take them at face value anymore. It was mid-2017. I can still remember the wind rustling like blue waves through the trees around me--
Sound familiar?
I don't know how this book ever got popular. It's riddled with purple prose, so much to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if it made a great many more people than me gag at the ridiculous of it all. And it's not simply that the book was undercoated with purple and then painted again and again until the crap was dripping all over your hands whenever you touched it, but it was also confusing as all hell. Nearly all the descriptions given didn't make the slightest of sense and that confusing lack of any real substance spilled over like an ashen coated waterfall into the rest of the book from plot to characters.
It's a genuine struggle to determine where to begin with my complaints regarding this book, but I suppose I can begin with Scarlett, a selfish and inept girl who masquerades herself through the entire novel as someone strong, protective, and caring (all for her sister, mind, who has been kidnapped by Legend and she now has to save). Nevermind that she spends the majority of the novel mooning over her love life, whether it's concern about the Count her father wishes her to marry or the boy she's regularly rude to and supposedly distrustful of and rarely ever makes decisions that will actually result in finding and saving her sister. We press on through the book, however, and encounter a rather ridiculous number of easily found and deciphered clues, many of which just seem to fall into Scarlett's lap. I suppose it was meant to be this way, manipulated for Scarlett to win--and if you've read the book, you'll know why.
Now to the matter of the Count that Scarlett is engaged to and her own father; everything involving these two characters is unnecessarily gross and uncomfortable. And while I'm not saying that there always has to be a purpose for a character to be abusive, the purpose behind the two girls' father's abusiveness is just truly ridiculous. And his attempt to get Scarlett raped was so unnecessarily awful that I honestly can't believe more people didn't condemn this book for it. Who honestly believes that such an act is an acceptable plot device used merely to show how much worse these characters are? Believe me, we already knew they were despicable.
And then there's that ending. From Julian to Donatella, that ending. It was ridiculous. It was dumb. It was just...not worth it. I simply cannot get over the non-deaths. The lack of any real consequences, the sheer arrogance in losing nothing after all of that. And if everything else hadn't already ruined the book for me up to this point, this was the catch all of book destroyers. And while I know that this is a spoiler (but it's been a few years), I'm just going to say this: It just makes the shock value you earned feel stolen.
I just do not understand why people like this series. With every additional word I read, I find myself hating it more and more. And here's the thing, I'm convinced at this point that the author has no idea how to write a likable character. Legendary by Stephanie Garber was just awful. So awful, in fact, that I wish I could rate it lower than I already have. And here's the thing; if Garber's goal was to have her readers leave the story hating her main characters, then I could probably respect it at least a little bit.
But I think it's very clear that we're supposed to adore Donatella Dragna and feel some sort of strange love/hate for her two love interests. And I just cannot deal with the ridiculousness of it all. I don't feel anything for these characters. I have no desire to see them succeed nor do I care if they fail. It could not matter less to me what happens to them. And that, my friends, is the biggest problem that Legendary has.
Following the events of Caraval, Tella hooks up with Dante--why he had to return is frustrating beyond belief because I couldn't stand him in the first novel and in fact, he's even worse in this one--at a party and then follows the Caraval performers to their next location in order to play the game herself so that she can repay the apparently evil man who helped her and Scarlett get themselves into the first game. Unfortunately, she never managed to get his payment from before by the deadline, so now the stakes have been increased and if she does not hand over the mysterious Caraval Master by the end of the game, she will not only lose her mother but she will also lose her life.
Garber's inability to get me to care about what happens to these characters comes from a number of places. The first lies in the fact that they're all incredibly selfish--especially Tella--and we, as readers, are expected to like them for being selfish. I don't think Garber even realizes how incredibly selfish these characters are and attempts rather poorly to masquerade the majority of them as caring individuals. In fact, the only character who seems to give a damn about anyone but themselves is Dante and it is in the most annoying of ways. Ironically enough, while Dante has several selfless moments he is the character eventually pinned down as the most selfish and uncaring. Tella, in fact, is so utterly stupid that she questions whether or not he cares for her simply because, at one point, he runs off and this is in spite of the fact that he saves her life multiple times throughout the course of the novel. Not only is Tella selfish and stupid, but she is also unnecessarily dramatic on almost every damn page of the book, often over the most idiotic of things.
The love interests in this story are absolutely ridiculous, largely because they are all representative of deeply unhealthy relationships. Jacks is stereotypical abusive, so I suppose its a good thing that Tella doesn't actually love him, but the fact that he is presented as a potential suitor is incredibly frustrating. I also find the entire plot surrounding who he is, why he kisses Tella, and what that kiss ultimately results in at the end are thoroughly ridiculous and unrealistic. Dante is shrouded in secrecy for no reason because it's incredibly easy for readers to figure out all of his secrets.
He gets annoyed with Tella for no reason and then decides to knowingly put her in danger, which he later regrets all because he cares about her. Ironically, when he and Tella discuss this, her thoughts turn immediately to the fact that she would have reciprocated his actions had the situation been reversed. It's good to know that, when they are feeling annoyed with each other, they'll go out of their way to put the other one in danger. Of course, it is when Tella knowingly throws herself into risky situations all with the express purpose of angering him that Dante apparently falls in love with her. I just...how is this okay?
To add to all of this buffoonery, I've read two books in this world now, both focused on the main characters playing Caraval, and I still don't have the faintest idea as to how or what, even, the damn game actually is? The clues are nonsense and at the end of the day all of the answers simply fall into the laps of the main characters despite the fact that they just run around literally doing nothing for the entire bloody novel. And don't even get me started on the absolute ridiculousness that was the vapidly stupid plot twist behind Scarlett's fiancée from the previous book. I rolled my eyes so hard I think I'm going to have a hard time seeing for the next week and a half.
And Legend's identity? Yeah, I saw that coming a mile away. The magic in the novel makes absolutely no sense, which ultimately leaves me feeling as though the main plot was entirely useless. There's so much riding on the fact that the fates are bad and must not be released from their card prisons and while everyone seems to understand this, the character with the most to lose doesn't seem to care. In fact, this character who is supposed to be quite intelligent doesn't even pause for a second to consider other options? The idiocy of the characters who are supposed to be smart just astounds me sometimes. I'm sorry, but an author cannot simply tell me that their character is smart and expect me to believe this nonsense when everything written shows me the exact opposite.
At this point, I'm fairly certain that nothing will really ever alleviate the vast amount of confusion I have as to why and how this book ever gained the level of popularity that it did.
A part of me, a very small part, wanted to be a little generous and give this book two stars. I very nearly did, initially, as credit is deserved when credit is due and Finale definitely improved over the disasters that the first two novels were. Unfortunately, when I look back at all my notes while reading this novel, it becomes pretty clear that despite improvements, this book retains a great number of the problems that arose in previous novels of the series. And while the villain of this particular novel was a nice change of pace from the prior books, various decisions that Garber made on his end were incredibly ridiculous, predictable, and even manipulative on her end.
Ultimately, I am still left wondering what on earth possesses Garber to believe that I, as a reader, should have any sort of positive feeling toward a single one of these characters. It all comes down to, I think, the image that Garber has in her head and the poor portrayal of the characters. She tells us regularly who each of these characters are and then proceeds to write them in a manner that does not match those previous statements.
Lets begin with the characters; they're all generally awful people. Not a single one, literally aside from Legend who is purported as one of the most selfish, comes across as unselfish. Scarlet is selfish, Julian is selfish, and Tella is the most selfish. Worse, she is petty to the point of instantly hating another woman for simply being pretty and knowing Legend somewhat intimately.
Yet, somehow I am supposed to believe that these characters are loving and self-sacrificing. They're just not. Of all the characters, ironically the only one I could ever bring myself to like a tiny amount, surprisingly enough as I hated him in the past two novels, was Legend if only for his few moments of sacrifice. And then the single moment where I actually felt anything for what was happening in this novel came from a heart-wrenching moment with a dog who really never deserved to be made part of the disaster that is the lives of these characters.
The men in this story are disturbingly predatory in a great many ways and fortunately Garber does call this behavior out as problematic. But even so, there was a moment within the story in which one of the characters is forced, unknowingly, into doing something that she would never willingly do and then later made to feel bad for hurting the character who'd forced her out of a desire to reverse it, though reversal was impossible. This entire side plot made me extremely uncomfortable and made the implication that one should feel bad for hurting the person who took away your ability to consent.
And, to cherry top the novel is the inclusion of not one but two ridiculous love triangles. The love triangles only exist to further show the selfishness of the main characters, though I suppose Garber's desire for them was to make readers doubt and guess at her ultimate goal for the ships. It doesn't work, of course, and predicting the relationship outcome for the novel takes no time or work at all. Not only do we already know who both Tella and Scarlett will end up with, but we spend a ridiculous amount of time on Tella's runabout between the two immortal men in her life who supposedly only want to possess her. Tella regularly questions which man actually "loves" her, despite the answer being painstakingly obvious in every way aside from the character in question actually making the statement, "I love you." Scarlett's love triangle is blessedly short-lived in comparison, though it lasted much longer than necessary and also served as a plot point to further the rest of the story. It was all rather painful to read.
The main villain of the story had potential. In fact, it was the work that went into the fates that made me almost appreciate the story. They were interesting and, had the main characters been better, might have served for decent adversaries. But not only were all their efforts to defeat these villains somewhat paltry and silly, following the previous novels by having everything relevant simply land in the laps of the characters trying to defeat the monsters the fates were, the moment in which they finally win was incredibly anti-climactic. Add in the fact that Garber goes as far as she can to make us feel bad for the villain as he's defeated and I was left more annoyed than before. The backstory of the villain doesn't make me care about him, though it is made clear that Garber wants me to care. It was a poor attempt at manipulating the emotions of her readers and later resulted in one of the
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Have you ever done something you find yourself immensely regretting just a mere five minutes later? That's right, folks, I just made the mistake of requesting Finale on NetGalley. And I cannot for the life of me believe that I did it. This is what hype does to me because 99% of the decision making behind the request came from excitement over the book posted all around the internet that didn't, in fact, belong to me. And while, yes, I am vaguely interested in reading the last book in this series since I always hate not knowing what happens and I have a very hard time turning away from books once I've already read another in that series, I genuinely forgot for a moment how much I hated Stephanie Garber's Caraval. So, I'll be honest, there's probably some judgment I've earned here. But I digress.
Here's the truth; I read Caraval some months (I should probably say years) ago at the request of a friend whose recommendations have almost always managed to not work for me so much so that I'm at the point where I rarely take them at face value anymore. It was mid-2017. I can still remember the wind rustling like blue waves through the trees around me--
Sound familiar?
I don't know how this book ever got popular. It's riddled with purple prose, so much to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if it made a great many more people than me gag at the ridiculous of it all. And it's not simply that the book was undercoated with purple and then painted again and again until the crap was dripping all over your hands whenever you touched it, but it was also confusing as all hell. Nearly all the descriptions given didn't make the slightest of sense and that confusing lack of any real substance spilled over like an ashen coated waterfall into the rest of the book from plot to characters.
It's a genuine struggle to determine where to begin with my complaints regarding this book, but I suppose I can begin with Scarlett, a selfish and inept girl who masquerades herself through the entire novel as someone strong, protective, and caring (all for her sister, mind, who has been kidnapped by Legend and she now has to save). Nevermind that she spends the majority of the novel mooning over her love life, whether it's concern about the Count her father wishes her to marry or the boy she's regularly rude to and supposedly distrustful of and rarely ever makes decisions that will actually result in finding and saving her sister. We press on through the book, however, and encounter a rather ridiculous number of easily found and deciphered clues, many of which just seem to fall into Scarlett's lap. I suppose it was meant to be this way, manipulated for Scarlett to win--and if you've read the book, you'll know why.
Now to the matter of the Count that Scarlett is engaged to and her own father; everything involving these two characters is unnecessarily gross and uncomfortable. And while I'm not saying that there always has to be a purpose for a character to be abusive, the purpose behind the two girls' father's abusiveness is just truly ridiculous. And his attempt to get Scarlett raped was so unnecessarily awful that I honestly can't believe more people didn't condemn this book for it. Who honestly believes that such an act is an acceptable plot device used merely to show how much worse these characters are? Believe me, we already knew they were despicable.
And then there's that ending. From Julian to Donatella, that ending. It was ridiculous. It was dumb. It was just...not worth it. I simply cannot get over the non-deaths. The lack of any real consequences, the sheer arrogance in losing nothing after all of that. And if everything else hadn't already ruined the book for me up to this point, this was the catch all of book destroyers. And while I know that this is a spoiler (but it's been a few years), I'm just going to say this: It just makes the shock value you earned feel stolen.
I just do not understand why people like this series. With every additional word I read, I find myself hating it more and more. And here's the thing, I'm convinced at this point that the author has no idea how to write a likable character. Legendary by Stephanie Garber was just awful. So awful, in fact, that I wish I could rate it lower than I already have. And here's the thing; if Garber's goal was to have her readers leave the story hating her main characters, then I could probably respect it at least a little bit.
But I think it's very clear that we're supposed to adore Donatella Dragna and feel some sort of strange love/hate for her two love interests. And I just cannot deal with the ridiculousness of it all. I don't feel anything for these characters. I have no desire to see them succeed nor do I care if they fail. It could not matter less to me what happens to them. And that, my friends, is the biggest problem that Legendary has.
Following the events of Caraval, Tella hooks up with Dante--why he had to return is frustrating beyond belief because I couldn't stand him in the first novel and in fact, he's even worse in this one--at a party and then follows the Caraval performers to their next location in order to play the game herself so that she can repay the apparently evil man who helped her and Scarlett get themselves into the first game. Unfortunately, she never managed to get his payment from before by the deadline, so now the stakes have been increased and if she does not hand over the mysterious Caraval Master by the end of the game, she will not only lose her mother but she will also lose her life.
Garber's inability to get me to care about what happens to these characters comes from a number of places. The first lies in the fact that they're all incredibly selfish--especially Tella--and we, as readers, are expected to like them for being selfish. I don't think Garber even realizes how incredibly selfish these characters are and attempts rather poorly to masquerade the majority of them as caring individuals. In fact, the only character who seems to give a damn about anyone but themselves is Dante and it is in the most annoying of ways. Ironically enough, while Dante has several selfless moments he is the character eventually pinned down as the most selfish and uncaring. Tella, in fact, is so utterly stupid that she questions whether or not he cares for her simply because, at one point, he runs off and this is in spite of the fact that he saves her life multiple times throughout the course of the novel. Not only is Tella selfish and stupid, but she is also unnecessarily dramatic on almost every damn page of the book, often over the most idiotic of things.
The love interests in this story are absolutely ridiculous, largely because they are all representative of deeply unhealthy relationships. Jacks is stereotypical abusive, so I suppose its a good thing that Tella doesn't actually love him, but the fact that he is presented as a potential suitor is incredibly frustrating. I also find the entire plot surrounding who he is, why he kisses Tella, and what that kiss ultimately results in at the end are thoroughly ridiculous and unrealistic. Dante is shrouded in secrecy for no reason because it's incredibly easy for readers to figure out all of his secrets.
He gets annoyed with Tella for no reason and then decides to knowingly put her in danger, which he later regrets all because he cares about her. Ironically, when he and Tella discuss this, her thoughts turn immediately to the fact that she would have reciprocated his actions had the situation been reversed. It's good to know that, when they are feeling annoyed with each other, they'll go out of their way to put the other one in danger. Of course, it is when Tella knowingly throws herself into risky situations all with the express purpose of angering him that Dante apparently falls in love with her. I just...how is this okay?
To add to all of this buffoonery, I've read two books in this world now, both focused on the main characters playing Caraval, and I still don't have the faintest idea as to how or what, even, the damn game actually is? The clues are nonsense and at the end of the day all of the answers simply fall into the laps of the main characters despite the fact that they just run around literally doing nothing for the entire bloody novel. And don't even get me started on the absolute ridiculousness that was the vapidly stupid plot twist behind Scarlett's fiancée from the previous book. I rolled my eyes so hard I think I'm going to have a hard time seeing for the next week and a half.
And Legend's identity? Yeah, I saw that coming a mile away. The magic in the novel makes absolutely no sense, which ultimately leaves me feeling as though the main plot was entirely useless. There's so much riding on the fact that the fates are bad and must not be released from their card prisons and while everyone seems to understand this, the character with the most to lose doesn't seem to care. In fact, this character who is supposed to be quite intelligent doesn't even pause for a second to consider other options? The idiocy of the characters who are supposed to be smart just astounds me sometimes. I'm sorry, but an author cannot simply tell me that their character is smart and expect me to believe this nonsense when everything written shows me the exact opposite.
At this point, I'm fairly certain that nothing will really ever alleviate the vast amount of confusion I have as to why and how this book ever gained the level of popularity that it did.
A part of me, a very small part, wanted to be a little generous and give this book two stars. I very nearly did, initially, as credit is deserved when credit is due and Finale definitely improved over the disasters that the first two novels were. Unfortunately, when I look back at all my notes while reading this novel, it becomes pretty clear that despite improvements, this book retains a great number of the problems that arose in previous novels of the series. And while the villain of this particular novel was a nice change of pace from the prior books, various decisions that Garber made on his end were incredibly ridiculous, predictable, and even manipulative on her end.
Ultimately, I am still left wondering what on earth possesses Garber to believe that I, as a reader, should have any sort of positive feeling toward a single one of these characters. It all comes down to, I think, the image that Garber has in her head and the poor portrayal of the characters. She tells us regularly who each of these characters are and then proceeds to write them in a manner that does not match those previous statements.
Lets begin with the characters; they're all generally awful people. Not a single one, literally aside from Legend who is purported as one of the most selfish, comes across as unselfish. Scarlet is selfish, Julian is selfish, and Tella is the most selfish. Worse, she is petty to the point of instantly hating another woman for simply being pretty and knowing Legend somewhat intimately.
Yet, somehow I am supposed to believe that these characters are loving and self-sacrificing. They're just not. Of all the characters, ironically the only one I could ever bring myself to like a tiny amount, surprisingly enough as I hated him in the past two novels, was Legend if only for his few moments of sacrifice. And then the single moment where I actually felt anything for what was happening in this novel came from a heart-wrenching moment with a dog who really never deserved to be made part of the disaster that is the lives of these characters.
The men in this story are disturbingly predatory in a great many ways and fortunately Garber does call this behavior out as problematic. But even so, there was a moment within the story in which one of the characters is forced, unknowingly, into doing something that she would never willingly do and then later made to feel bad for hurting the character who'd forced her out of a desire to reverse it, though reversal was impossible. This entire side plot made me extremely uncomfortable and made the implication that one should feel bad for hurting the person who took away your ability to consent.
And, to cherry top the novel is the inclusion of not one but two ridiculous love triangles. The love triangles only exist to further show the selfishness of the main characters, though I suppose Garber's desire for them was to make readers doubt and guess at her ultimate goal for the ships. It doesn't work, of course, and predicting the relationship outcome for the novel takes no time or work at all. Not only do we already know who both Tella and Scarlett will end up with, but we spend a ridiculous amount of time on Tella's runabout between the two immortal men in her life who supposedly only want to possess her. Tella regularly questions which man actually "loves" her, despite the answer being painstakingly obvious in every way aside from the character in question actually making the statement, "I love you." Scarlett's love triangle is blessedly short-lived in comparison, though it lasted much longer than necessary and also served as a plot point to further the rest of the story. It was all rather painful to read.
The main villain of the story had potential. In fact, it was the work that went into the fates that made me almost appreciate the story. They were interesting and, had the main characters been better, might have served for decent adversaries. But not only were all their efforts to defeat these villains somewhat paltry and silly, following the previous novels by having everything relevant simply land in the laps of the characters trying to defeat the monsters the fates were, the moment in which they finally win was incredibly anti-climactic. Add in the fact that Garber goes as far as she can to make us feel bad for the villain as he's defeated and I was left more annoyed than before. The backstory of the villain doesn't make me care about him, though it is made clear that Garber wants me to care. It was a poor attempt at manipulating the emotions of her readers and later resulted in one of the
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April 24, 2020
-The first book was wonderful because it shows the magic in Caraval and the twist was fun, though kind of rushed, fun nonetheless.
-The second book was nice because it was entertaining. I’ve been in a reading slump and still read it pretty quickly. I don’t remember much of the specifics of it, but I enjoyed the adventure.
-The finale was magical because it tried to expand on characters and vilains. It was rushed and I wish there were more pages for the villains because they need their own stories, their true endings of after-stories, and maybe even epilogues for some (*cough* Jacks *cough*).
I enjoyed all of them, differently, but enjoyed nevertheless.
3.5 rounded up for all of them.
-The second book was nice because it was entertaining. I’ve been in a reading slump and still read it pretty quickly. I don’t remember much of the specifics of it, but I enjoyed the adventure.
-The finale was magical because it tried to expand on characters and vilains. It was rushed and I wish there were more pages for the villains because they need their own stories, their true endings of after-stories, and maybe even epilogues for some (*cough* Jacks *cough*).
I enjoyed all of them, differently, but enjoyed nevertheless.
3.5 rounded up for all of them.
July 31, 2025
دلم برای ثانیه به ثانیهی بودن کنار این کرکترا تنگ میشه :)
September 19, 2021
This is the series where each book just got better with plot development, character development and even adventure development.
The thrill of the game enhanced with each book and every character got chaotic developments throughout the book. Although some rumors did remain unsettled, some acts did remain unexplained and some questions did remain unanswered.
Instead of typical romance, Sisters love is what drove the entire series and that's what I liked most about this series.
The thrill of the game enhanced with each book and every character got chaotic developments throughout the book. Although some rumors did remain unsettled, some acts did remain unexplained and some questions did remain unanswered.
Instead of typical romance, Sisters love is what drove the entire series and that's what I liked most about this series.
June 8, 2019
Found the 1st book at Costco, 2 days later I went back to get the other 2! I’m not one to binge read, it usually takes me months to finish a book but I read these in 1 week! I was just so hooked and couldn’t put them down! Already thinking about reading them again to see if I missed clues 😆
June 11, 2023
Scrivere questa recensione è difficile.
Difficile perché la trilogia di Caraval mi è piaciuta un sacco, l’ho letta con piacere e con curiosità, non mi ha annoiata nemmeno per un istante. Il problema è che, pensandoci in maniera oggettiva, questa saga è completamente sbagliata. Ci sono così tante incongruenze, errori, stupidaggini, che in teoria dovrei odiarla. Invece non ci riesco.
Proviamoci step by step.
🎭 Caraval [1] - ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5.
Rossella è carina. Ho letto un sacco di commenti negativi su di lei, ma a me non è dispiaciuta così tanto. Tra l’altro secondo me Julian come supporter character funziona, rappresenta quella spinta in più di cui Rossella ha bisogno per non risultare noiosa.
Ho apprezzato molto l’ambientazione — c’è poco worldbuilding, vero, ma onestamente non ne ho sentito la necessità.
Il gioco è…. non lo so, c’è qualcuno che ha davvero capito in cosa consiste Caraval? Personalmente, non io, però penso che l’autrice sia riuscita a dare al contesto la giusta dose di fascino e magia per cui si riesce a dimenticare per un po’ il fatto che questo gioco non abbia assolutamente senso.
Penso che il vero punto debole di tutta la storia sia il colpo di scena. Il piano di Tella è completamente illogico, il fatto che suo padre finisca per accettare la situazione non ha senso, il modo in cui si risolve il problema è del tutto inverosimile. Però ce lo accolliamo? Certo che ce lo accolliamo, perché vogliamo sapere chi è Legend.
🎩 Legend [2] - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5.
Francamente scoprire che Tella fosse la protagonista di questa storia non mi ha fatto fare i salti di gioia. Insomma, nel primo libro era il personaggio più irritante di tutti — biasimatemi.
Devo ammettere che andando avanti ho iniziato ad apprezzarla di più, forse anche più di Rossella, che per altro in questo libro si vede a malapena. Mi dispiace proprio questo in effetti: perché il rapporto tra le sorelle, al centro del primo libro, è passato totalmente in secondo piano? Questo è il classico non-esempio di “show don’t tell”. L’autrice non fa che ripetere quanto si amino, ma nella pratica le vediamo insieme pochissimo e, quelle poche volte in cui si vedono, litigano o si raccontano bugie.
Poi vabbè, la cazzata per eccellenza: Rossella che chiede a Jacks di trovarle Nicolas e lui che la aiuta praticamente gratis.
A parte questo momento piuttosto discutibile, inutile dire che Jacks sia il miglior personaggio di questa trilogia. È l’unico personaggio a risultare affascinante, misterioso e, soprattutto, coerente.
Non mi è dispiaciuto neanche Dante, e ammetto di essere stata per tutto il tempo sotto un treno per la sua ship con Donatella.
Anche in questo libro non ho assolutamente capito il gioco ma va bene così, suppongo che neanche gli altri giocatori a parte Donatella ci abbiano capito qualcosa visto che gli indizi poteva capirli solo lei.
Il colpo di scena: Dante come Legend? Bello. Mi è piaciuto. Non me lo aspettavo. 🙌🏻
♠️ Finale [3] - ⭐️⭐️/5.
Secondo me è questo il vero problema di Caraval. Questo terzo libro. È COMPLETAMENTE FUCKED UP.
Prima cosa: Dante >> Legend. Change my mind. Da personaggio affascinante diventa un minchione che dice cose cringe come “angelo mio”. Dovrebbe essere super potente ma perde sempre.
Poi scusate, il modo in cui la sua identità dovrebbe essere “celata” è ridicolo. Nel giro di due giorni lo sgamano TUTTI. Rossella non si fa più nemmeno domande.
Poi vabbè, l’arco narrativo di Rossella che rivuole Nicolas è imbarazzante, specie se pensiamo al fatto che quando lui muore lei dice soltanto “ah ok e vbb”.
Tutti fanno UNA QUANTITÀ SPROPOSITATA DI CAZZATE. Un piano stupido dopo l’altro.
Fare innamorare Gavriel di Rossella? Manipolare le sue emozioni? TORNARE INDIETRO NEL TEMPO PER RUBARE UN VESTITO E NON PER CAMBIARE LA SITUAZIONE? No scusate io esco.
Ma poi i Fati che li aiutano nonostante così facendo perderanno la propria immortalità. MA COME. PERCHÉ. CHI.
Paradise che muore tipo immediatamente. L’incantesimo di Jacks che si spezza SUBITO nonostante l’abbiano menata per interi capitoli sul fatto che con i suoi pieni poteri sarebbe stato invincibile.
No, no, no.
Queste due stelle sono solo per Jacks. Tutte per lui. Vuoi il mio cuore e la mia anima? Tieni, tutti tuoi.
Difficile perché la trilogia di Caraval mi è piaciuta un sacco, l’ho letta con piacere e con curiosità, non mi ha annoiata nemmeno per un istante. Il problema è che, pensandoci in maniera oggettiva, questa saga è completamente sbagliata. Ci sono così tante incongruenze, errori, stupidaggini, che in teoria dovrei odiarla. Invece non ci riesco.
Proviamoci step by step.
🎭 Caraval [1] - ⭐️⭐️⭐️/5.
Rossella è carina. Ho letto un sacco di commenti negativi su di lei, ma a me non è dispiaciuta così tanto. Tra l’altro secondo me Julian come supporter character funziona, rappresenta quella spinta in più di cui Rossella ha bisogno per non risultare noiosa.
Ho apprezzato molto l’ambientazione — c’è poco worldbuilding, vero, ma onestamente non ne ho sentito la necessità.
Il gioco è…. non lo so, c’è qualcuno che ha davvero capito in cosa consiste Caraval? Personalmente, non io, però penso che l’autrice sia riuscita a dare al contesto la giusta dose di fascino e magia per cui si riesce a dimenticare per un po’ il fatto che questo gioco non abbia assolutamente senso.
Penso che il vero punto debole di tutta la storia sia il colpo di scena. Il piano di Tella è completamente illogico, il fatto che suo padre finisca per accettare la situazione non ha senso, il modo in cui si risolve il problema è del tutto inverosimile. Però ce lo accolliamo? Certo che ce lo accolliamo, perché vogliamo sapere chi è Legend.
🎩 Legend [2] - ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️/5.
Francamente scoprire che Tella fosse la protagonista di questa storia non mi ha fatto fare i salti di gioia. Insomma, nel primo libro era il personaggio più irritante di tutti — biasimatemi.
Devo ammettere che andando avanti ho iniziato ad apprezzarla di più, forse anche più di Rossella, che per altro in questo libro si vede a malapena. Mi dispiace proprio questo in effetti: perché il rapporto tra le sorelle, al centro del primo libro, è passato totalmente in secondo piano? Questo è il classico non-esempio di “show don’t tell”. L’autrice non fa che ripetere quanto si amino, ma nella pratica le vediamo insieme pochissimo e, quelle poche volte in cui si vedono, litigano o si raccontano bugie.
Poi vabbè, la cazzata per eccellenza: Rossella che chiede a Jacks di trovarle Nicolas e lui che la aiuta praticamente gratis.
A parte questo momento piuttosto discutibile, inutile dire che Jacks sia il miglior personaggio di questa trilogia. È l’unico personaggio a risultare affascinante, misterioso e, soprattutto, coerente.
Non mi è dispiaciuto neanche Dante, e ammetto di essere stata per tutto il tempo sotto un treno per la sua ship con Donatella.
Anche in questo libro non ho assolutamente capito il gioco ma va bene così, suppongo che neanche gli altri giocatori a parte Donatella ci abbiano capito qualcosa visto che gli indizi poteva capirli solo lei.
Il colpo di scena: Dante come Legend? Bello. Mi è piaciuto. Non me lo aspettavo. 🙌🏻
♠️ Finale [3] - ⭐️⭐️/5.
Secondo me è questo il vero problema di Caraval. Questo terzo libro. È COMPLETAMENTE FUCKED UP.
Prima cosa: Dante >> Legend. Change my mind. Da personaggio affascinante diventa un minchione che dice cose cringe come “angelo mio”. Dovrebbe essere super potente ma perde sempre.
Poi scusate, il modo in cui la sua identità dovrebbe essere “celata” è ridicolo. Nel giro di due giorni lo sgamano TUTTI. Rossella non si fa più nemmeno domande.
Poi vabbè, l’arco narrativo di Rossella che rivuole Nicolas è imbarazzante, specie se pensiamo al fatto che quando lui muore lei dice soltanto “ah ok e vbb”.
Tutti fanno UNA QUANTITÀ SPROPOSITATA DI CAZZATE. Un piano stupido dopo l’altro.
Fare innamorare Gavriel di Rossella? Manipolare le sue emozioni? TORNARE INDIETRO NEL TEMPO PER RUBARE UN VESTITO E NON PER CAMBIARE LA SITUAZIONE? No scusate io esco.
Ma poi i Fati che li aiutano nonostante così facendo perderanno la propria immortalità. MA COME. PERCHÉ. CHI.
Paradise che muore tipo immediatamente. L’incantesimo di Jacks che si spezza SUBITO nonostante l’abbiano menata per interi capitoli sul fatto che con i suoi pieni poteri sarebbe stato invincibile.
No, no, no.
Queste due stelle sono solo per Jacks. Tutte per lui. Vuoi il mio cuore e la mia anima? Tieni, tutti tuoi.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2024
So many people really loved this series so I had to try it. It was really hard to get into, especially in the second book (which I ended up DNFing) the pacing was a little too slow for my liking. The game did not make much sense at all, but the concept was cool. TW: abuse and make out scene.
Overall review: 2.5
Overall review: 2.5
June 3, 2023
The only thing I can imagine better than reading Caraval is PLAYING Caraval!
Highly Recommended!!
Highly Recommended!!
September 27, 2024
Confermo quanto ho sempre detto nel corso della lettura di questa trilogia: è stata piacevole, ma niente di trascendentale, quindi il mio voto rimane fermo a tre stelle su cinque.
Nonostante anche il terzo libro a mio avviso sia sulla stessa lunghezza d'onda di quelli precedenti, devo dire che ho apprezzato molto le figure dei Fati, i loro poteri e tutto il loro background.
In particolare, ho adorato l'Assassino e la Morte Fanciulla.
Ovviamente NON sconsiglio la lettura di questa trilogia perché magari per me non è stata la lettura della vita, ma altri potrebbero apprezzarla e valorizzarla molto più di quanto abbia fatto io.
Quindi prendete la mia valutazione con le pinze e anzi, leggete questa trilogia se vi piacciono gli intrighi, le illusioni, la magia… e le storie d'amore.
Nonostante anche il terzo libro a mio avviso sia sulla stessa lunghezza d'onda di quelli precedenti, devo dire che ho apprezzato molto le figure dei Fati, i loro poteri e tutto il loro background.
In particolare, ho adorato l'Assassino e la Morte Fanciulla.
Ovviamente NON sconsiglio la lettura di questa trilogia perché magari per me non è stata la lettura della vita, ma altri potrebbero apprezzarla e valorizzarla molto più di quanto abbia fatto io.
Quindi prendete la mia valutazione con le pinze e anzi, leggete questa trilogia se vi piacciono gli intrighi, le illusioni, la magia… e le storie d'amore.
May 29, 2022
Здравейте, обитатели на книжната вселена! 🤗
От доста време трилогията "Каравал" на Стефани Гарбър ме чакаше на рафта и вече гордо мога да заявя, че и тя е отметната от списъка с непрочетени книги😁.
Добре дошли в Каравала, където е пълно с магия, всичко е представено просто като игра, но нищо не е такова, каквото изглежда. Ако го спечелите имате право на награда, но внимавайте, защото пътят до нея е осеян с трудности и загадки.
Скарлет от малка иска да участва в Каравала и когато най-накрая получава билети, по-малката ѝ сестра Тела е категорична, че трябва да избягат там, за да се спасят от малтретирането на баща си. Но когато пристигат на острова Тела изчезва, а за да я намери, Скарлет трябва не само да играе играта, а и да я спечели. Но това звучи по-лесно, отколкото в действителност е.
Навътре в играта сестрите намират любов, отговори, които само пораждат повече въпроси, приключение, опасности, но най-вече - магия!
~~~
"Каравал" е трилогия, която много хора обожават и за която не спира да се говори, въпреки че последната излезе на българския пазар преди година и половина. Имах много високи очаквания за нея и силно се надявах аз също да стана част от фен клуба ѝ, но за жалост не се получи точно така.
Не мога да отрека обаче, че ми хареса. Цялостната история е интересна и ме караше да продължавам да чета, за да разбера какво ще се случи по-натам. Сюжета е добре замислен, динамичен, цветен и магичен. Стилът на писане ми хареса - описателен, но не тягостно или прекалено, вникващ в обстановката и героите и в никакъв случай повърхностен или плосък. И предполагам се питате в такъв случай какво не ми е харесало и защо оценката не е по-висока.
Истината е, че въпреки че ми харесаха толкова много неща и трилогията ми беше интересна, историята не успя да ме грабне достатъчно, не ме потопи в сюжета, така че да забравя, че чета и с нетърпение да чакам да подхвана отново книгата. Не ме погълна между страниците и доста трудно и бавно започнах да симпатизирам на героите. Нито успя да ми влезе под кожата или да изкара някакви емоции от мен (като изключим може би последната книга).
"Каравал":
Историята започва плавно, но е интересна, докато сюжета лека полека започва да се заплита. И с течение на времето се разбира, че не само сюжета е оплетен, а също и героите, защото всеки по някакъв начин е свързан с някого, което пък прави интересна мистерия за разплитане как и защо са свързани.
Книгата е пълна с обрати, които ме караха да се чудя кое е истина и кое поредната илюзия на Каравала.
Имаме силна главна героиня, която все още не е открила силата си и е плаха, но впоследствие успява да изкара куража и това, на което е способна наяве. Израстването на Скарлет е приятно за гледане и със сигурност вдъхва смелост на читателите, че всеки е способен на всичко, ако го желае достатъчно.
С Джулиан са сладка двойка, въпреки че след втората и третата книга бих казала, че са доста невзрачни и безинтересни в сравнение с другите двойки, които се заформят. Така и героят на Джулиан не придоби особена дълбочина или не мина през голяма метаморфоза, която да помогне да го харесам повече.
Тела, от друга страна, през цялата книга ми правеше лошо впечатление. Персонажът ѝ е отвратителен - типичната разглезена, неблагодарна и неинтересуваща се ит никого другиго освен от себе си девойка, която само от време на време се сеща да защити Скарлет или поне да застане на нейна страна. В края на книгата поне се оказа по-добра, отколкото се показваше през останалото време, та имах някакви надежди, че може да я захаресам във втората и третата.
Краят обещава продължение, което се очертава интересно.
Оценка: 3/5⭐
~~~
"Легендата":
Тук началото е по-заинтригуващо и подсказва за една от посоките, в които ще поеме по-натам трилогията.
В цялата книга обаче няма нищо непредвидимо или неочаквано и отново имах същия проблем с привързването към героите, въпреки че двама от тях имаха потенциал, които много се радвам, че се разви.
Мога да кажа, че Данте ми се превърна в любимец, но след влизането си в историята, Джакс му дишаше във врата упорито.
Тела е представена в една съвсем нова и по-добра светлина, което много я издигна в очите ми, докато Скарлет падаше надолу с гръм и трясък с решенията и държанието си. Всички тайни между тях двете през повечето време ме товареха и ме изнервяха, вместо да правят книгата по-интересна.
Любовната история на Данте и Тела ми беше много по-интересна за проследяване, отколкото тази на Скарлет и Джулиан и със сигурност по-тежка, трагична и епична.
За жалост, като изключим наградата, уликите и развитието на двойката, основния сюжет много се повтаря с този на първата книга. Все пак завърши по-добре и по-интересно от нея, така че искам да видя как ще се развият нещата в третата.
Оценка: 3/5⭐
~~~
"Финал":
Ах, Джакс! Няма нужда май да казвам повече за тази книга, той е всичко, което трябва да се знае и на което трябва да се обръща внимание през нея. И ако в предишната се чудех между него и Данте, в последната от трилогията бих избрала Джакс с всички крайници без да се поколебая!
Скарлет и Тела от друга страна са изключително дразнещи, поне в началото. И двете нямат идея какво искат от мъжете, които обичат, мрънкат и се държат като разглезени малки деца. Голямата сестра (Скарлет) ми ставаше все по-противна и непоносима с действията си до към средата на книгата, когато най-накрая героинята ѝ се оправи и започна да се държи както трябва.
"Финал" ми беше най-интересна от цялата трилогия и най-много ми хареса, защото сюжета беше почти коренно различен от предишните две книги, имаше неща, които наистина не очаквах и ме изненадаха, а и ще си призная честно - Джакс се появяваше по-често и оставаше за по-дълго😁.
И дори краят да е хубав и да оставя вратичка за нови приключения, то развръзката ми дойде прекалено претупана, съсипвайки кулминацията, която беше изградена.
Оценка: 3.5/5⭐
~~~
Обща оценка за поредицата: 3/5⭐
От доста време трилогията "Каравал" на Стефани Гарбър ме чакаше на рафта и вече гордо мога да заявя, че и тя е отметната от списъка с непрочетени книги😁.
Добре дошли в Каравала, където е пълно с магия, всичко е представено просто като игра, но нищо не е такова, каквото изглежда. Ако го спечелите имате право на награда, но внимавайте, защото пътят до нея е осеян с трудности и загадки.
Скарлет от малка иска да участва в Каравала и когато най-накрая получава билети, по-малката ѝ сестра Тела е категорична, че трябва да избягат там, за да се спасят от малтретирането на баща си. Но когато пристигат на острова Тела изчезва, а за да я намери, Скарлет трябва не само да играе играта, а и да я спечели. Но това звучи по-лесно, отколкото в действителност е.
Навътре в играта сестрите намират любов, отговори, които само пораждат повече въпроси, приключение, опасности, но най-вече - магия!
~~~
"Каравал" е трилогия, която много хора обожават и за която не спира да се говори, въпреки че последната излезе на българския пазар преди година и половина. Имах много високи очаквания за нея и силно се надявах аз също да стана част от фен клуба ѝ, но за жалост не се получи точно така.
Не мога да отрека обаче, че ми хареса. Цялостната история е интересна и ме караше да продължавам да чета, за да разбера какво ще се случи по-натам. Сюжета е добре замислен, динамичен, цветен и магичен. Стилът на писане ми хареса - описателен, но не тягостно или прекалено, вникващ в обстановката и героите и в никакъв случай повърхностен или плосък. И предполагам се питате в такъв случай какво не ми е харесало и защо оценката не е по-висока.
Истината е, че въпреки че ми харесаха толкова много неща и трилогията ми беше интересна, историята не успя да ме грабне достатъчно, не ме потопи в сюжета, така че да забравя, че чета и с нетърпение да чакам да подхвана отново книгата. Не ме погълна между страниците и доста трудно и бавно започнах да симпатизирам на героите. Нито успя да ми влезе под кожата или да изкара някакви емоции от мен (като изключим може би последната книга).
"Каравал":
Историята започва плавно, но е интересна, докато сюжета лека полека започва да се заплита. И с течение на времето се разбира, че не само сюжета е оплетен, а също и героите, защото всеки по някакъв начин е свързан с някого, което пък прави интересна мистерия за разплитане как и защо са свързани.
Книгата е пълна с обрати, които ме караха да се чудя кое е истина и кое поредната илюзия на Каравала.
Имаме силна главна героиня, която все още не е открила силата си и е плаха, но впоследствие успява да изкара куража и това, на което е способна наяве. Израстването на Скарлет е приятно за гледане и със сигурност вдъхва смелост на читателите, че всеки е способен на всичко, ако го желае достатъчно.
С Джулиан са сладка двойка, въпреки че след втората и третата книга бих казала, че са доста невзрачни и безинтересни в сравнение с другите двойки, които се заформят. Така и героят на Джулиан не придоби особена дълбочина или не мина през голяма метаморфоза, която да помогне да го харесам повече.
Тела, от друга страна, през цялата книга ми правеше лошо впечатление. Персонажът ѝ е отвратителен - типичната разглезена, неблагодарна и неинтересуваща се ит никого другиго освен от себе си девойка, която само от време на време се сеща да защити Скарлет или поне да застане на нейна страна. В края на книгата поне се оказа по-добра, отколкото се показваше през останалото време, та имах някакви надежди, че може да я захаресам във втората и третата.
Краят обещава продължение, което се очертава интересно.
Оценка: 3/5⭐
~~~
"Легендата":
Тук началото е по-заинтригуващо и подсказва за една от посоките, в които ще поеме по-натам трилогията.
В цялата книга обаче няма нищо непредвидимо или неочаквано и отново имах същия проблем с привързването към героите, въпреки че двама от тях имаха потенциал, които много се радвам, че се разви.
Мога да кажа, че Данте ми се превърна в любимец, но след влизането си в историята, Джакс му дишаше във врата упорито.
Тела е представена в една съвсем нова и по-добра светлина, което много я издигна в очите ми, докато Скарлет падаше надолу с гръм и трясък с решенията и държанието си. Всички тайни между тях двете през повечето време ме товареха и ме изнервяха, вместо да правят книгата по-интересна.
Любовната история на Данте и Тела ми беше много по-интересна за проследяване, отколкото тази на Скарлет и Джулиан и със сигурност по-тежка, трагична и епична.
За жалост, като изключим наградата, уликите и развитието на двойката, основния сюжет много се повтаря с този на първата книга. Все пак завърши по-добре и по-интересно от нея, така че искам да видя как ще се развият нещата в третата.
Оценка: 3/5⭐
~~~
"Финал":
Ах, Джакс! Няма нужда май да казвам повече за тази книга, той е всичко, което трябва да се знае и на което трябва да се обръща внимание през нея. И ако в предишната се чудех между него и Данте, в последната от трилогията бих избрала Джакс с всички крайници без да се поколебая!
Скарлет и Тела от друга страна са изключително дразнещи, поне в началото. И двете нямат идея какво искат от мъжете, които обичат, мрънкат и се държат като разглезени малки деца. Голямата сестра (Скарлет) ми ставаше все по-противна и непоносима с действията си до към средата на книгата, когато най-накрая героинята ѝ се оправи и започна да се държи както трябва.
"Финал" ми беше най-интересна от цялата трилогия и най-много ми хареса, защото сюжета беше почти коренно различен от предишните две книги, имаше неща, които наистина не очаквах и ме изненадаха, а и ще си призная честно - Джакс се появяваше по-често и оставаше за по-дълго😁.
И дори краят да е хубав и да оставя вратичка за нови приключения, то развръзката ми дойде прекалено претупана, съсипвайки кулминацията, която беше изградена.
Оценка: 3.5/5⭐
~~~
Обща оценка за поредицата: 3/5⭐
July 17, 2022
❗️❗️ Trigger warnings: physical abuse and murder, parental abuse and suicide
Caraval ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Legendary ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Finale ⭐⭐⭐.5
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Caraval ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Legendary ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Finale ⭐⭐⭐.5
Follow me on Instagram 🙂
May 15, 2025
I remember loving it so much more the 1st time reading it. I re-red it after getting the boxed set and because I had forgotten the story (beyond the general feel of magic). Beautiful storytelling and magical scenes but I guess it’s hard to live up to the memory.
May 3, 2024
This whole series was a whirlwind, I was nervous to read it because its so well loved and I didnt want to be disappointed. This is so enjoyable though, the unique world the author has built with complicated characters and complex dynamics.
Book 1) scarlett was way too naive for my liking and I hugely disliked Tella the betrayer. Well intentioned or not I really couldnt forgive Tella if it were me, she wanted to be rid of their father but it was at the expense of scarletts heart and mental stability at points. Julian is also a massive liar and honestly scarlett just deserved better the whole book.
Book 2) Jacks appearance was fantastic, he was as rude as ever! I dont much like Jacks to be honest but he is a good villain, Dante was confusing during this book and the ending where he turned out to be legend is something you may have predicted in the 1st book & you should’ve stuck to your guns. Tella earned my forgiveness after book 1, she really made some big strides with character development. The twist with her mother and the fates was a wild ride too.
Book 3) this was pure chaos and i loved it. So much happens in this book I probs should’ve annotated along the way. Legend is god awful at the beginning, just so self centred and arrogant its horrible. Jacks is obsessive and unhelpful as always unless the price of his help suits him. Scarlett was a weird one at the start, it felt like Tella was on this big adventure against the fates and avenging Paradise/Paloma, meanwhile scarlett was playing games with Julian and nicolas 🤣. However after midway scarlett does become more key in this story line which is a little funny because she does obtain a key and its super important. Wild she turned out to be a fates daughter and tella a fate slayer of the father in question. Also scarlett becoming empress at the end????? And so is legend tellas baby dad or what????
All in all a fantastic mystery fantasy series with high stakes and cute romance story lines.
Book 1) scarlett was way too naive for my liking and I hugely disliked Tella the betrayer. Well intentioned or not I really couldnt forgive Tella if it were me, she wanted to be rid of their father but it was at the expense of scarletts heart and mental stability at points. Julian is also a massive liar and honestly scarlett just deserved better the whole book.
Book 2) Jacks appearance was fantastic, he was as rude as ever! I dont much like Jacks to be honest but he is a good villain, Dante was confusing during this book and the ending where he turned out to be legend is something you may have predicted in the 1st book & you should’ve stuck to your guns. Tella earned my forgiveness after book 1, she really made some big strides with character development. The twist with her mother and the fates was a wild ride too.
Book 3) this was pure chaos and i loved it. So much happens in this book I probs should’ve annotated along the way. Legend is god awful at the beginning, just so self centred and arrogant its horrible. Jacks is obsessive and unhelpful as always unless the price of his help suits him. Scarlett was a weird one at the start, it felt like Tella was on this big adventure against the fates and avenging Paradise/Paloma, meanwhile scarlett was playing games with Julian and nicolas 🤣. However after midway scarlett does become more key in this story line which is a little funny because she does obtain a key and its super important. Wild she turned out to be a fates daughter and tella a fate slayer of the father in question. Also scarlett becoming empress at the end????? And so is legend tellas baby dad or what????
All in all a fantastic mystery fantasy series with high stakes and cute romance story lines.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 15, 2024
Il mio rapporto con questo romanzo è stato molto complicato. La prima parte, l'ho amata, per me merita cinque stelle. Rossella all'inizio non mi convinceva come personaggio, poi però mi sono affezionata. Il world Building pazzesco, la storia mi ha tenuto incollata alle pagine fino alla fine. Dalla seconda parte (Legend), secondo me iniziano i problemi. Vengono aggiunti molti elementi (forse troppi ad un certo punto). E ci sono rimasta male perché il secondo libro è dal punto di vista di Donatella (che apprezzo ancora di più di Rossella) e si concentra molto sulla figura di Legen. Finale invece non so. Succedono COSE. Il finale è anche carino e, senza fare spoiler, la storia d'amore tra Donatella e un altro personaggio, secondo me meriterebbe pure un film a parte. Forse non l'ho letto nello stato mentale giusto, ma dovendo dare una valutazione complessiva di tutta la trilogia, non posso dare più di tre stelle
January 7, 2024
this is a really good book series and i love the characters. the plot is really interesting, creative, and unique. it’s great writing and the plot twists were surprising. the first book really messed with my mind and i was second guessing myself at every turn. the second book was heartbreaking, but id say a bit worse than the first (this is still REALLY good tho). the last book was quite good as well and had a different tune compared to the first two. overall i’d really recommend this book series.
December 7, 2022
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February 3, 2026
Caraval
Caraval #1
★★★★★ (5)
10 September 2023 - 11 September 2023
Caraval has been on my TBR for a very long time; upon discovering some fan art, I've been enthusiastic to learn more about the series. Caraval was chosen by @friendswithbooks as the September Book of the Month, and in all honesty, I believe it's about time I finally read it. Caraval is a masterfully created novel that draws you in and makes you never want to leave its universe. I would most definitely suggest reading Caraval because it is a unique tale of mystery and love. I was completely engrossed in this fantastical universe where nothing is what it seems, thanks to Stephanie Garber's beautiful writing. Her characters are exquisitely rendered, and the plot hooked me right away. Although the romance is beautiful, what I loved most about the story was the bond between the two sisters. Caraval evolved from fascinating to captivating when the game progressed in so many unexpected directions. Just when you think you've got the story figured out, another layer of mystery and magic is revealed. The ending pulled my heart in so many directions, and I absolutely can't wait for the next book.
"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."
Legendary
Caraval #2
★★★★★ (5)
13 November 2023 - 13 November 2023
In many series, I find that the second novel does not captivate me as much as the first. But much like with A Court of Thorns and Roses, I discovered that I absolutely loved the second Caraval book so much more. This time around, we follow Tella's perspective in Legendary as she plays Caraval in Valenda, the empire's capital, for the first time. Tella's perspective is far more compelling than Scarlett's, as she experiences far more. She is not the naïve little child that Scarlett portrays her as being in Caraval, in my opinion! Legendary picks up right when Caraval leaves off. Everything I cherished about the first book was elevated to a whole new level in this one. There is a lot more passion in romance, deceit, and secrets. I liked how the game was brought back but in a fresh way. The key player and the stakes are drastically different this time. I've always been fascinated by tarot cards, so I really enjoyed how this book integrated all of their legends, particularly that of the Prince of Hearts. It truly took all of my strength, I must admit, to not just look up the identity of the legend. I needed the answer to his identification like yesterday, and it was burning a hole in my pocket! Even though I anticipated it, I have one last thing to mention before I end this review: I was definitely shocked by that ending.
“The air tasted like wonder. Like candied butterfly wings caught in sugared spiderwebs, and drunken peaches coated in luck.”
Finale
Caraval #3
★★★★★ (5)
31 December 2023 - 6 January 2024
The Caraval series comes to a breathtaking end with its third book, Finale. From romance, longing, and heartbreak to magic, mystery, and adventure, Finale had something for everyone. Since book one, Caraval, Tella, and Scarlett have undergone significant personal growth. Their journey to find true love, stop the Fates, and save their mother is packed with rewarding character development. This book was an emotional rollercoaster ride that dragged me through the mud, but I loved every second of it, and I still can't get enough. After each sister got their own perspective book (Scarlet-Caraval and Tella-Legendary), I enjoyed that Finale gave us both sisters' points of view. Every one of them was fascinating and engaging, and whenever the points of view would change, I would read quickly to get back, only to discover that I had become completely invested in the new story. The way Stephanie Garber weaves together the intricate plot lines and connects them in Finale is truly masterful. The intense emotions and high stakes kept me on the edge of my seat, eagerly turning the pages to see how everything would unfold. I couldn't put the book down until I reached the very last page. Caraval is the first ever series that I have finished, and every book has been a star read. I have to say that this series has been the most entertaining and interesting series I have ever read. I don't think I have ever been so immersed and invested in fictional book characters and their stories before. I'm going to miss this world so damn much. It's so unique and magical, and I loved every second of every book in this series. I'm so sad that this series is over, but I can't wait to see what's in store for the Prince of Hearts in his spinoff, Once Upon a Broken Heart. I hope it lives up to my expectations and brings the same level of excitement and emotional attachment as the Caraval series did.
“He didn't kiss her as if he'd simply just come back to life. He kissed her as if he'd died, been buried, and clawed his way out of the grave and through the dirt just to get to her.”
Caraval #1
★★★★★ (5)
10 September 2023 - 11 September 2023
Caraval has been on my TBR for a very long time; upon discovering some fan art, I've been enthusiastic to learn more about the series. Caraval was chosen by @friendswithbooks as the September Book of the Month, and in all honesty, I believe it's about time I finally read it. Caraval is a masterfully created novel that draws you in and makes you never want to leave its universe. I would most definitely suggest reading Caraval because it is a unique tale of mystery and love. I was completely engrossed in this fantastical universe where nothing is what it seems, thanks to Stephanie Garber's beautiful writing. Her characters are exquisitely rendered, and the plot hooked me right away. Although the romance is beautiful, what I loved most about the story was the bond between the two sisters. Caraval evolved from fascinating to captivating when the game progressed in so many unexpected directions. Just when you think you've got the story figured out, another layer of mystery and magic is revealed. The ending pulled my heart in so many directions, and I absolutely can't wait for the next book.
"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."
Legendary
Caraval #2
★★★★★ (5)
13 November 2023 - 13 November 2023
In many series, I find that the second novel does not captivate me as much as the first. But much like with A Court of Thorns and Roses, I discovered that I absolutely loved the second Caraval book so much more. This time around, we follow Tella's perspective in Legendary as she plays Caraval in Valenda, the empire's capital, for the first time. Tella's perspective is far more compelling than Scarlett's, as she experiences far more. She is not the naïve little child that Scarlett portrays her as being in Caraval, in my opinion! Legendary picks up right when Caraval leaves off. Everything I cherished about the first book was elevated to a whole new level in this one. There is a lot more passion in romance, deceit, and secrets. I liked how the game was brought back but in a fresh way. The key player and the stakes are drastically different this time. I've always been fascinated by tarot cards, so I really enjoyed how this book integrated all of their legends, particularly that of the Prince of Hearts. It truly took all of my strength, I must admit, to not just look up the identity of the legend. I needed the answer to his identification like yesterday, and it was burning a hole in my pocket! Even though I anticipated it, I have one last thing to mention before I end this review: I was definitely shocked by that ending.
“The air tasted like wonder. Like candied butterfly wings caught in sugared spiderwebs, and drunken peaches coated in luck.”
Finale
Caraval #3
★★★★★ (5)
31 December 2023 - 6 January 2024
The Caraval series comes to a breathtaking end with its third book, Finale. From romance, longing, and heartbreak to magic, mystery, and adventure, Finale had something for everyone. Since book one, Caraval, Tella, and Scarlett have undergone significant personal growth. Their journey to find true love, stop the Fates, and save their mother is packed with rewarding character development. This book was an emotional rollercoaster ride that dragged me through the mud, but I loved every second of it, and I still can't get enough. After each sister got their own perspective book (Scarlet-Caraval and Tella-Legendary), I enjoyed that Finale gave us both sisters' points of view. Every one of them was fascinating and engaging, and whenever the points of view would change, I would read quickly to get back, only to discover that I had become completely invested in the new story. The way Stephanie Garber weaves together the intricate plot lines and connects them in Finale is truly masterful. The intense emotions and high stakes kept me on the edge of my seat, eagerly turning the pages to see how everything would unfold. I couldn't put the book down until I reached the very last page. Caraval is the first ever series that I have finished, and every book has been a star read. I have to say that this series has been the most entertaining and interesting series I have ever read. I don't think I have ever been so immersed and invested in fictional book characters and their stories before. I'm going to miss this world so damn much. It's so unique and magical, and I loved every second of every book in this series. I'm so sad that this series is over, but I can't wait to see what's in store for the Prince of Hearts in his spinoff, Once Upon a Broken Heart. I hope it lives up to my expectations and brings the same level of excitement and emotional attachment as the Caraval series did.
“He didn't kiss her as if he'd simply just come back to life. He kissed her as if he'd died, been buried, and clawed his way out of the grave and through the dirt just to get to her.”
April 21, 2025
This was my favorite read in high school. The magical settings in Caraval, the unique characters, and the whirlwind of emotions it stirred left a lasting impression. If this ever becomes a movie, it would no doubt be a blockbuster, but I won’t forgive the producers if they ruin the storyline!
June 10, 2023
I loved this series sooooo much !! I liked the fantasy aspect of it, the mystery and the love between the characters.
October 8, 2020
| Reader Fox Blog |
Have you ever done something you find yourself immensely regretting just a mere five minutes later? That's right, folks, I just made the mistake of requesting Finale on NetGalley. And I cannot for the life of me believe that I did it. This is what hype does to me because 99% of the decision making behind the request came from excitement over the book posted all around the internet that didn't, in fact, belong to me. And while, yes, I am vaguely interested in reading the last book in this series since I always hate not knowing what happens and I have a very hard time turning away from books once I've already read another in that series, I genuinely forgot for a moment how much I hated Stephanie Garber's Caraval. So, I'll be honest, there's probably some judgment I've earned here. But I digress.
Here's the truth; I read Caraval some months (I should probably say years) ago at the request of a friend whose recommendations have almost always managed to not work for me so much so that I'm at the point where I rarely take them at face value anymore. It was mid-2017. I can still remember the wind rustling like blue waves through the trees around me--
Sound familiar?
I don't know how this book ever got popular. It's riddled with purple prose, so much to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if it made a great many more people than me gag at the ridiculous of it all. And it's not simply that the book was undercoated with purple and then painted again and again until the crap was dripping all over your hands whenever you touched it, but it was also confusing as all hell. Nearly all the descriptions given didn't make the slightest of sense and that confusing lack of any real substance spilled over like an ashen coated waterfall into the rest of the book from plot to characters.
It's a genuine struggle to determine where to begin with my complaints regarding this book, but I suppose I can begin with Scarlett, a selfish and inept girl who masquerades herself through the entire novel as someone strong, protective, and caring (all for her sister, mind, who has been kidnapped by Legend and she now has to save). Nevermind that she spends the majority of the novel mooning over her love life, whether it's concern about the Count her father wishes her to marry or the boy she's regularly rude to and supposedly distrustful of and rarely ever makes decisions that will actually result in finding and saving her sister. We press on through the book, however, and encounter a rather ridiculous number of easily found and deciphered clues, many of which just seem to fall into Scarlett's lap. I suppose it was meant to be this way, manipulated for Scarlett to win--and if you've read the book, you'll know why.
Now to the matter of the Count that Scarlett is engaged to and her own father; everything involving these two characters is unnecessarily gross and uncomfortable. And while I'm not saying that there always has to be a purpose for a character to be abusive, the purpose behind the two girls' father's abusiveness is just truly ridiculous. And his attempt to get Scarlett raped was so unnecessarily awful that I honestly can't believe more people didn't condemn this book for it. Who honestly believes that such an act is an acceptable plot device used merely to show how much worse these characters are? Believe me, we already knew they were despicable.
And then there's that ending. From Julian to Donatella, that ending. It was ridiculous. It was dumb. It was just...not worth it. I simply cannot get over the non-deaths. The lack of any real consequences, the sheer arrogance in losing nothing after all of that. And if everything else hadn't already ruined the book for me up to this point, this was the catch all of book destroyers. And while I know that this is a spoiler (but it's been a few years), I'm just going to say this: It just makes the shock value you earned feel stolen.
I just do not understand why people like this series. With every additional word I read, I find myself hating it more and more. And here's the thing, I'm convinced at this point that the author has no idea how to write a likable character. Legendary by Stephanie Garber was just awful. So awful, in fact, that I wish I could rate it lower than I already have. And here's the thing; if Garber's goal was to have her readers leave the story hating her main characters, then I could probably respect it at least a little bit.
But I think it's very clear that we're supposed to adore Donatella Dragna and feel some sort of strange love/hate for her two love interests. And I just cannot deal with the ridiculousness of it all. I don't feel anything for these characters. I have no desire to see them succeed nor do I care if they fail. It could not matter less to me what happens to them. And that, my friends, is the biggest problem that Legendary has.
Following the events of Caraval, Tella hooks up with Dante--why he had to return is frustrating beyond belief because I couldn't stand him in the first novel and in fact, he's even worse in this one--at a party and then follows the Caraval performers to their next location in order to play the game herself so that she can repay the apparently evil man who helped her and Scarlett get themselves into the first game. Unfortunately, she never managed to get his payment from before by the deadline, so now the stakes have been increased and if she does not hand over the mysterious Caraval Master by the end of the game, she will not only lose her mother but she will also lose her life.
Garber's inability to get me to care about what happens to these characters comes from a number of places. The first lies in the fact that they're all incredibly selfish--especially Tella--and we, as readers, are expected to like them for being selfish. I don't think Garber even realizes how incredibly selfish these characters are and attempts rather poorly to masquerade the majority of them as caring individuals. In fact, the only character who seems to give a damn about anyone but themselves is Dante and it is in the most annoying of ways. Ironically enough, while Dante has several selfless moments he is the character eventually pinned down as the most selfish and uncaring. Tella, in fact, is so utterly stupid that she questions whether or not he cares for her simply because, at one point, he runs off and this is in spite of the fact that he saves her life multiple times throughout the course of the novel. Not only is Tella selfish and stupid, but she is also unnecessarily dramatic on almost every damn page of the book, often over the most idiotic of things.
The love interests in this story are absolutely ridiculous, largely because they are all representative of deeply unhealthy relationships. Jacks is stereotypical abusive, so I suppose its a good thing that Tella doesn't actually love him, but the fact that he is presented as a potential suitor is incredibly frustrating. I also find the entire plot surrounding who he is, why he kisses Tella, and what that kiss ultimately results in at the end are thoroughly ridiculous and unrealistic. Dante is shrouded in secrecy for no reason because it's incredibly easy for readers to figure out all of his secrets.
He gets annoyed with Tella for no reason and then decides to knowingly put her in danger, which he later regrets all because he cares about her. Ironically, when he and Tella discuss this, her thoughts turn immediately to the fact that she would have reciprocated his actions had the situation been reversed. It's good to know that, when they are feeling annoyed with each other, they'll go out of their way to put the other one in danger. Of course, it is when Tella knowingly throws herself into risky situations all with the express purpose of angering him that Dante apparently falls in love with her. I just...how is this okay?
To add to all of this buffoonery, I've read two books in this world now, both focused on the main characters playing Caraval, and I still don't have the faintest idea as to how or what, even, the damn game actually is? The clues are nonsense and at the end of the day all of the answers simply fall into the laps of the main characters despite the fact that they just run around literally doing nothing for the entire bloody novel. And don't even get me started on the absolute ridiculousness that was the vapidly stupid plot twist behind Scarlett's fiancée from the previous book. I rolled my eyes so hard I think I'm going to have a hard time seeing for the next week and a half.
And Legend's identity? Yeah, I saw that coming a mile away. The magic in the novel makes absolutely no sense, which ultimately leaves me feeling as though the main plot was entirely useless. There's so much riding on the fact that the fates are bad and must not be released from their card prisons and while everyone seems to understand this, the character with the most to lose doesn't seem to care. In fact, this character who is supposed to be quite intelligent doesn't even pause for a second to consider other options? The idiocy of the characters who are supposed to be smart just astounds me sometimes. I'm sorry, but an author cannot simply tell me that their character is smart and expect me to believe this nonsense when everything written shows me the exact opposite.
At this point, I'm fairly certain that nothing will really ever alleviate the vast amount of confusion I have as to why and how this book ever gained the level of popularity that it did.
A part of me, a very small part, wanted to be a little generous and give this book two stars. I very nearly did, initially, as credit is deserved when credit is due and Finale definitely improved over the disasters that the first two novels were. Unfortunately, when I look back at all my notes while reading this novel, it becomes pretty clear that despite improvements, this book retains a great number of the problems that arose in previous novels of the series. And while the villain of this particular novel was a nice change of pace from the prior books, various decisions that Garber made on his end were incredibly ridiculous, predictable, and even manipulative on her end.
Ultimately, I am still left wondering what on earth possesses Garber to believe that I, as a reader, should have any sort of positive feeling toward a single one of these characters. It all comes down to, I think, the image that Garber has in her head and the poor portrayal of the characters. She tells us regularly who each of these characters are and then proceeds to write them in a manner that does not match those previous statements.
Lets begin with the characters; they're all generally awful people. Not a single one, literally aside from Legend who is purported as one of the most selfish, comes across as unselfish. Scarlet is selfish, Julian is selfish, and Tella is the most selfish. Worse, she is petty to the point of instantly hating another woman for simply being pretty and knowing Legend somewhat intimately.
Yet, somehow I am supposed to believe that these characters are loving and self-sacrificing. They're just not. Of all the characters, ironically the only one I could ever bring myself to like a tiny amount, surprisingly enough as I hated him in the past two novels, was Legend if only for his few moments of sacrifice. And then the single moment where I actually felt anything for what was happening in this novel came from a heart-wrenching moment with a dog who really never deserved to be made part of the disaster that is the lives of these characters.
The men in this story are disturbingly predatory in a great many ways and fortunately Garber does call this behavior out as problematic. But even so, there was a moment within the story in which one of the characters is forced, unknowingly, into doing something that she would never willingly do and then later made to feel bad for hurting the character who'd forced her out of a desire to reverse it, though reversal was impossible. This entire side plot made me extremely uncomfortable and made the implication that one should feel bad for hurting the person who took away your ability to consent.
And, to cherry top the novel is the inclusion of not one but two ridiculous love triangles. The love triangles only exist to further show the selfishness of the main characters, though I suppose Garber's desire for them was to make readers doubt and guess at her ultimate goal for the ships. It doesn't work, of course, and predicting the relationship outcome for the novel takes no time or work at all. Not only do we already know who both Tella and Scarlett will end up with, but we spend a ridiculous amount of time on Tella's runabout between the two immortal men in her life who supposedly only want to possess her. Tella regularly questions which man actually "loves" her, despite the answer being painstakingly obvious in every way aside from the character in question actually making the statement, "I love you." Scarlett's love triangle is blessedly short-lived in comparison, though it lasted much longer than necessary and also served as a plot point to further the rest of the story. It was all rather painful to read.
The main villain of the story had potential. In fact, it was the work that went into the fates that made me almost appreciate the story. They were interesting and, had the main characters been better, might have served for decent adversaries. But not only were all their efforts to defeat these villains somewhat paltry and silly, following the previous novels by having everything relevant simply land in the laps of the characters trying to defeat the monsters the fates were, the moment in which they finally win was incredibly anti-climactic. Add in the fact that Garber goes as far as she can to make us feel bad for the villain as he's defeated and I was left more annoyed than before. The backstory of the villain doesn't make me care about him, though it is made clear that Garber wants me to care. It was a poor attempt at manipulating the emotions of her readers and later resulted in one of the
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Have you ever done something you find yourself immensely regretting just a mere five minutes later? That's right, folks, I just made the mistake of requesting Finale on NetGalley. And I cannot for the life of me believe that I did it. This is what hype does to me because 99% of the decision making behind the request came from excitement over the book posted all around the internet that didn't, in fact, belong to me. And while, yes, I am vaguely interested in reading the last book in this series since I always hate not knowing what happens and I have a very hard time turning away from books once I've already read another in that series, I genuinely forgot for a moment how much I hated Stephanie Garber's Caraval. So, I'll be honest, there's probably some judgment I've earned here. But I digress.
Here's the truth; I read Caraval some months (I should probably say years) ago at the request of a friend whose recommendations have almost always managed to not work for me so much so that I'm at the point where I rarely take them at face value anymore. It was mid-2017. I can still remember the wind rustling like blue waves through the trees around me--
Sound familiar?
I don't know how this book ever got popular. It's riddled with purple prose, so much to the point that I wouldn't be surprised if it made a great many more people than me gag at the ridiculous of it all. And it's not simply that the book was undercoated with purple and then painted again and again until the crap was dripping all over your hands whenever you touched it, but it was also confusing as all hell. Nearly all the descriptions given didn't make the slightest of sense and that confusing lack of any real substance spilled over like an ashen coated waterfall into the rest of the book from plot to characters.
It's a genuine struggle to determine where to begin with my complaints regarding this book, but I suppose I can begin with Scarlett, a selfish and inept girl who masquerades herself through the entire novel as someone strong, protective, and caring (all for her sister, mind, who has been kidnapped by Legend and she now has to save). Nevermind that she spends the majority of the novel mooning over her love life, whether it's concern about the Count her father wishes her to marry or the boy she's regularly rude to and supposedly distrustful of and rarely ever makes decisions that will actually result in finding and saving her sister. We press on through the book, however, and encounter a rather ridiculous number of easily found and deciphered clues, many of which just seem to fall into Scarlett's lap. I suppose it was meant to be this way, manipulated for Scarlett to win--and if you've read the book, you'll know why.
Now to the matter of the Count that Scarlett is engaged to and her own father; everything involving these two characters is unnecessarily gross and uncomfortable. And while I'm not saying that there always has to be a purpose for a character to be abusive, the purpose behind the two girls' father's abusiveness is just truly ridiculous. And his attempt to get Scarlett raped was so unnecessarily awful that I honestly can't believe more people didn't condemn this book for it. Who honestly believes that such an act is an acceptable plot device used merely to show how much worse these characters are? Believe me, we already knew they were despicable.
And then there's that ending. From Julian to Donatella, that ending. It was ridiculous. It was dumb. It was just...not worth it. I simply cannot get over the non-deaths. The lack of any real consequences, the sheer arrogance in losing nothing after all of that. And if everything else hadn't already ruined the book for me up to this point, this was the catch all of book destroyers. And while I know that this is a spoiler (but it's been a few years), I'm just going to say this: It just makes the shock value you earned feel stolen.
I just do not understand why people like this series. With every additional word I read, I find myself hating it more and more. And here's the thing, I'm convinced at this point that the author has no idea how to write a likable character. Legendary by Stephanie Garber was just awful. So awful, in fact, that I wish I could rate it lower than I already have. And here's the thing; if Garber's goal was to have her readers leave the story hating her main characters, then I could probably respect it at least a little bit.
But I think it's very clear that we're supposed to adore Donatella Dragna and feel some sort of strange love/hate for her two love interests. And I just cannot deal with the ridiculousness of it all. I don't feel anything for these characters. I have no desire to see them succeed nor do I care if they fail. It could not matter less to me what happens to them. And that, my friends, is the biggest problem that Legendary has.
Following the events of Caraval, Tella hooks up with Dante--why he had to return is frustrating beyond belief because I couldn't stand him in the first novel and in fact, he's even worse in this one--at a party and then follows the Caraval performers to their next location in order to play the game herself so that she can repay the apparently evil man who helped her and Scarlett get themselves into the first game. Unfortunately, she never managed to get his payment from before by the deadline, so now the stakes have been increased and if she does not hand over the mysterious Caraval Master by the end of the game, she will not only lose her mother but she will also lose her life.
Garber's inability to get me to care about what happens to these characters comes from a number of places. The first lies in the fact that they're all incredibly selfish--especially Tella--and we, as readers, are expected to like them for being selfish. I don't think Garber even realizes how incredibly selfish these characters are and attempts rather poorly to masquerade the majority of them as caring individuals. In fact, the only character who seems to give a damn about anyone but themselves is Dante and it is in the most annoying of ways. Ironically enough, while Dante has several selfless moments he is the character eventually pinned down as the most selfish and uncaring. Tella, in fact, is so utterly stupid that she questions whether or not he cares for her simply because, at one point, he runs off and this is in spite of the fact that he saves her life multiple times throughout the course of the novel. Not only is Tella selfish and stupid, but she is also unnecessarily dramatic on almost every damn page of the book, often over the most idiotic of things.
The love interests in this story are absolutely ridiculous, largely because they are all representative of deeply unhealthy relationships. Jacks is stereotypical abusive, so I suppose its a good thing that Tella doesn't actually love him, but the fact that he is presented as a potential suitor is incredibly frustrating. I also find the entire plot surrounding who he is, why he kisses Tella, and what that kiss ultimately results in at the end are thoroughly ridiculous and unrealistic. Dante is shrouded in secrecy for no reason because it's incredibly easy for readers to figure out all of his secrets.
He gets annoyed with Tella for no reason and then decides to knowingly put her in danger, which he later regrets all because he cares about her. Ironically, when he and Tella discuss this, her thoughts turn immediately to the fact that she would have reciprocated his actions had the situation been reversed. It's good to know that, when they are feeling annoyed with each other, they'll go out of their way to put the other one in danger. Of course, it is when Tella knowingly throws herself into risky situations all with the express purpose of angering him that Dante apparently falls in love with her. I just...how is this okay?
To add to all of this buffoonery, I've read two books in this world now, both focused on the main characters playing Caraval, and I still don't have the faintest idea as to how or what, even, the damn game actually is? The clues are nonsense and at the end of the day all of the answers simply fall into the laps of the main characters despite the fact that they just run around literally doing nothing for the entire bloody novel. And don't even get me started on the absolute ridiculousness that was the vapidly stupid plot twist behind Scarlett's fiancée from the previous book. I rolled my eyes so hard I think I'm going to have a hard time seeing for the next week and a half.
And Legend's identity? Yeah, I saw that coming a mile away. The magic in the novel makes absolutely no sense, which ultimately leaves me feeling as though the main plot was entirely useless. There's so much riding on the fact that the fates are bad and must not be released from their card prisons and while everyone seems to understand this, the character with the most to lose doesn't seem to care. In fact, this character who is supposed to be quite intelligent doesn't even pause for a second to consider other options? The idiocy of the characters who are supposed to be smart just astounds me sometimes. I'm sorry, but an author cannot simply tell me that their character is smart and expect me to believe this nonsense when everything written shows me the exact opposite.
At this point, I'm fairly certain that nothing will really ever alleviate the vast amount of confusion I have as to why and how this book ever gained the level of popularity that it did.
A part of me, a very small part, wanted to be a little generous and give this book two stars. I very nearly did, initially, as credit is deserved when credit is due and Finale definitely improved over the disasters that the first two novels were. Unfortunately, when I look back at all my notes while reading this novel, it becomes pretty clear that despite improvements, this book retains a great number of the problems that arose in previous novels of the series. And while the villain of this particular novel was a nice change of pace from the prior books, various decisions that Garber made on his end were incredibly ridiculous, predictable, and even manipulative on her end.
Ultimately, I am still left wondering what on earth possesses Garber to believe that I, as a reader, should have any sort of positive feeling toward a single one of these characters. It all comes down to, I think, the image that Garber has in her head and the poor portrayal of the characters. She tells us regularly who each of these characters are and then proceeds to write them in a manner that does not match those previous statements.
Lets begin with the characters; they're all generally awful people. Not a single one, literally aside from Legend who is purported as one of the most selfish, comes across as unselfish. Scarlet is selfish, Julian is selfish, and Tella is the most selfish. Worse, she is petty to the point of instantly hating another woman for simply being pretty and knowing Legend somewhat intimately.
Yet, somehow I am supposed to believe that these characters are loving and self-sacrificing. They're just not. Of all the characters, ironically the only one I could ever bring myself to like a tiny amount, surprisingly enough as I hated him in the past two novels, was Legend if only for his few moments of sacrifice. And then the single moment where I actually felt anything for what was happening in this novel came from a heart-wrenching moment with a dog who really never deserved to be made part of the disaster that is the lives of these characters.
The men in this story are disturbingly predatory in a great many ways and fortunately Garber does call this behavior out as problematic. But even so, there was a moment within the story in which one of the characters is forced, unknowingly, into doing something that she would never willingly do and then later made to feel bad for hurting the character who'd forced her out of a desire to reverse it, though reversal was impossible. This entire side plot made me extremely uncomfortable and made the implication that one should feel bad for hurting the person who took away your ability to consent.
And, to cherry top the novel is the inclusion of not one but two ridiculous love triangles. The love triangles only exist to further show the selfishness of the main characters, though I suppose Garber's desire for them was to make readers doubt and guess at her ultimate goal for the ships. It doesn't work, of course, and predicting the relationship outcome for the novel takes no time or work at all. Not only do we already know who both Tella and Scarlett will end up with, but we spend a ridiculous amount of time on Tella's runabout between the two immortal men in her life who supposedly only want to possess her. Tella regularly questions which man actually "loves" her, despite the answer being painstakingly obvious in every way aside from the character in question actually making the statement, "I love you." Scarlett's love triangle is blessedly short-lived in comparison, though it lasted much longer than necessary and also served as a plot point to further the rest of the story. It was all rather painful to read.
The main villain of the story had potential. In fact, it was the work that went into the fates that made me almost appreciate the story. They were interesting and, had the main characters been better, might have served for decent adversaries. But not only were all their efforts to defeat these villains somewhat paltry and silly, following the previous novels by having everything relevant simply land in the laps of the characters trying to defeat the monsters the fates were, the moment in which they finally win was incredibly anti-climactic. Add in the fact that Garber goes as far as she can to make us feel bad for the villain as he's defeated and I was left more annoyed than before. The backstory of the villain doesn't make me care about him, though it is made clear that Garber wants me to care. It was a poor attempt at manipulating the emotions of her readers and later resulted in one of the
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December 9, 2022
Oggi sono qui per parlarvi di un'altra bellissima opera arrivata nelle nostre librerie.
Come sapete sono una grande amante del genere, quindi potevo mai farmelo scappare?
Assolutamente no.
Ho scoperto questa saga tanto tempo fa e me ne sono innamorata. Rileggere la trilogia in questa edizione tre in uno mi ha emozionato come la prima volta.
La saga comprende:
• Caraval
• Legend
• Finale
• C'era una volta un cuore spezzato (spin-off)
Già il fatto che sia scritto in terza persona, dava per scontato che sarebbe stato tra i miei romanzi del cuore ahah no, dai, scherzo, ma una stella era in automatico solo per questo e un'altra per il bellissimo lavoro grafico che questa serie ci regala.
Per non farvi spoiler, vi parlerò solo del primo volume.
La nostra protagonista è Rossella, una ragazza che per scappare da un padre violento e salvare così sia lei che sua sorella, decide di accettare un matrimonio con un uomo mai visto prima, un Conte.
Ma pochi giorni prima del matrimonio, le arrivano tre inviti da Legend, proprietario dello spettacolo itinerante Caraval, una risposta che attendeva praticamente da tantissimo tempo (ma riceverla è un po' come il fortuito biglietto d'oro di Willy Wonka).
Mentre Rossella ci pensa due volte alla fuga, sua sorella molto più impulsiva, organizza un piano per scappare e raggiungere l'isola privata di Legend. Peccato che lì, Donatella scompare, vittima del nuovo gioco di Caraval: trovarla.entro cinque giorni.
" Qualsiasi cosa tu abbia sentito raccontare di Caraval non è paragonabile alla realtà. È molto più di un semplice gioco o di uno spettacolo. È quanto di più vicino alla magia esista a questo mondo. "
Julian quanto ti amo, voglio dire questo prima di ogni altra cosa al mondo.
Caraval è una di quelle saghe che leggerei mille volte ahah lo stile della Garber è elegante, semplice e intrigante, e i mondi che crea sono magici e accattivanti. La storia poi, si sviluppa in modo avvincente pagina dopo pagina.
Se amate emozionarvi e entrare in mondi magici con protagonisti bellissimi (e nel caso di Julian anche qualcosa in più) dovete assolutamente recuperare questa saga. Specialmente ora che c'è la versione tre in uno.
Come sapete sono una grande amante del genere, quindi potevo mai farmelo scappare?
Assolutamente no.
Ho scoperto questa saga tanto tempo fa e me ne sono innamorata. Rileggere la trilogia in questa edizione tre in uno mi ha emozionato come la prima volta.
La saga comprende:
• Caraval
• Legend
• Finale
• C'era una volta un cuore spezzato (spin-off)
Già il fatto che sia scritto in terza persona, dava per scontato che sarebbe stato tra i miei romanzi del cuore ahah no, dai, scherzo, ma una stella era in automatico solo per questo e un'altra per il bellissimo lavoro grafico che questa serie ci regala.
Per non farvi spoiler, vi parlerò solo del primo volume.
La nostra protagonista è Rossella, una ragazza che per scappare da un padre violento e salvare così sia lei che sua sorella, decide di accettare un matrimonio con un uomo mai visto prima, un Conte.
Ma pochi giorni prima del matrimonio, le arrivano tre inviti da Legend, proprietario dello spettacolo itinerante Caraval, una risposta che attendeva praticamente da tantissimo tempo (ma riceverla è un po' come il fortuito biglietto d'oro di Willy Wonka).
Mentre Rossella ci pensa due volte alla fuga, sua sorella molto più impulsiva, organizza un piano per scappare e raggiungere l'isola privata di Legend. Peccato che lì, Donatella scompare, vittima del nuovo gioco di Caraval: trovarla.entro cinque giorni.
" Qualsiasi cosa tu abbia sentito raccontare di Caraval non è paragonabile alla realtà. È molto più di un semplice gioco o di uno spettacolo. È quanto di più vicino alla magia esista a questo mondo. "
Julian quanto ti amo, voglio dire questo prima di ogni altra cosa al mondo.
Caraval è una di quelle saghe che leggerei mille volte ahah lo stile della Garber è elegante, semplice e intrigante, e i mondi che crea sono magici e accattivanti. La storia poi, si sviluppa in modo avvincente pagina dopo pagina.
Se amate emozionarvi e entrare in mondi magici con protagonisti bellissimi (e nel caso di Julian anche qualcosa in più) dovete assolutamente recuperare questa saga. Specialmente ora che c'è la versione tre in uno.
December 4, 2022
Trilogia promossa a pieni voti.
Lo stile della Garber è unico: le descrizioni dettagliate, la narrazione carica di mistero e magia, i personaggi perfettamente caratterizzati e l’atmosfera stregata e circense trasportano il lettore nella lettura, trascinandolo per le insidie di Caraval e per le vie di Valenda.
Le protagoniste sono due sorelle: la coraggiosa e responsabile Rossella e la ribelle e intrepida Donatella. Le loro vite verranno completamente sconvolte: scappando da un padre crudele e violento, le due sorelle verranno invitate a partecipare a Caraval, lo spettacolo itinerante più ambito al mondo. Chiunque farebbe carte false pur di partecipare almeno una volta nella vita a questo gioco, ma Caraval è molto più di un semplice spettacolo circense. Caraval è magia, mistero e pericolo e diventa impossibile distinguere con chiarezza realtà e finzione.
Nei primi due volumi, vediamo le due sorelle partecipare al gioco. Il terzo volume, invece, non prevede nessuna partecipazione a Caraval, ma si tratta di un gioco reale, in cui creature immortali e crudeli minacciano la vita dei personaggi. Questo terzo libro contiene più romance rispetto agli altri e chiarisce molte questioni rimaste irrisolte.
Una menzione d’onore va ai personaggi maschili: Julian, con il suo sorriso arrogante e il suo amore per Rossella; Jacks, il Principe di Cuori, personaggio intrigante e che non vedo l’ora di rivedere nello spin-off; e, last but not least, Legend, con i suoi trucchi di magia e il suo conflitto interiore nella scelta tra immortalità e amore.
Tra colpi di scena imprevedibili, scelte complicate, alleanze improvvise, baci passionali e sacrifici necessari, le due protagoniste si districheranno dai misteri e dai pericoli del gioco e combatteranno con l’unica arma in grado di sconfiggere ogni male: l’amore.
Non sono mai pronta a dire addio a una saga che ho amato.
Leggete questa trilogia e lasciatevi trasportare all’interno delle sue pagine.
Leggetela e immergetevi in un mondo di inganni e sogni pericolosi.
Leggetela, perché tutti abbiamo bisogno di un po’ magia nella nostra vita.
Lo stile della Garber è unico: le descrizioni dettagliate, la narrazione carica di mistero e magia, i personaggi perfettamente caratterizzati e l’atmosfera stregata e circense trasportano il lettore nella lettura, trascinandolo per le insidie di Caraval e per le vie di Valenda.
Le protagoniste sono due sorelle: la coraggiosa e responsabile Rossella e la ribelle e intrepida Donatella. Le loro vite verranno completamente sconvolte: scappando da un padre crudele e violento, le due sorelle verranno invitate a partecipare a Caraval, lo spettacolo itinerante più ambito al mondo. Chiunque farebbe carte false pur di partecipare almeno una volta nella vita a questo gioco, ma Caraval è molto più di un semplice spettacolo circense. Caraval è magia, mistero e pericolo e diventa impossibile distinguere con chiarezza realtà e finzione.
Nei primi due volumi, vediamo le due sorelle partecipare al gioco. Il terzo volume, invece, non prevede nessuna partecipazione a Caraval, ma si tratta di un gioco reale, in cui creature immortali e crudeli minacciano la vita dei personaggi. Questo terzo libro contiene più romance rispetto agli altri e chiarisce molte questioni rimaste irrisolte.
Una menzione d’onore va ai personaggi maschili: Julian, con il suo sorriso arrogante e il suo amore per Rossella; Jacks, il Principe di Cuori, personaggio intrigante e che non vedo l’ora di rivedere nello spin-off; e, last but not least, Legend, con i suoi trucchi di magia e il suo conflitto interiore nella scelta tra immortalità e amore.
Tra colpi di scena imprevedibili, scelte complicate, alleanze improvvise, baci passionali e sacrifici necessari, le due protagoniste si districheranno dai misteri e dai pericoli del gioco e combatteranno con l’unica arma in grado di sconfiggere ogni male: l’amore.
Non sono mai pronta a dire addio a una saga che ho amato.
Leggete questa trilogia e lasciatevi trasportare all’interno delle sue pagine.
Leggetela e immergetevi in un mondo di inganni e sogni pericolosi.
Leggetela, perché tutti abbiamo bisogno di un po’ magia nella nostra vita.
February 14, 2023
Poco ma sicuro: questa trilogia si fa leggere che è un piacere. E, nonostante tutti i difetti (che sono tanti, ahimè), merita sicuramente quattro stelle belle piene, per come ti tiene incollato alle pagine e per la capacità che ha di farti affezionare alla storia, ai personaggi (anche odiarli a morte è un modo di farteli ricordare, no?) e al mondo che l’autrice ha voluto creare, pur facendocelo assaggiare solo sommariamente. Una scoperta piacevole, senza dubbio. Continuerò con la nuova trilogia? Forse. Alla fine Jacks resta uno dei personaggi meglio riusciti della storia. Nel frattempo, spero che i Fati, Legend, Julian e Donatella stiano bene. E pure Rossella, anche se quella che è diventata nel terzo libro. :)
April 9, 2023
Ho amato questa saga come.poche volte accade. Amo che l'ambiente reso sia unico e coinvolgente con personaggi estremente caratteristizzati e non scontati, avendo un sfaccettatura di emozioni e ragionamento determinati a livello psicologico in modo dinamico e coinvolgente.
Il primo libro presenta una storia lineare, mentre dal secondo libro parte una sottotrama che era accennata in maniera estremamente veloce (in meno di due righe) nel primo libro e ho apprezzato molto la cosa.
Ambienti descritti in modo impeccabile come un mondo di regole sue con coinvolgente creatività, lo consiglio ampiamente a tutti gli amanti che amano immergersi in una storia d'amore che resta nel cuore.
Il primo libro presenta una storia lineare, mentre dal secondo libro parte una sottotrama che era accennata in maniera estremamente veloce (in meno di due righe) nel primo libro e ho apprezzato molto la cosa.
Ambienti descritti in modo impeccabile come un mondo di regole sue con coinvolgente creatività, lo consiglio ampiamente a tutti gli amanti che amano immergersi in una storia d'amore che resta nel cuore.
May 3, 2023
Trilogia stupenda, mi ha presa sin dalle prime pagine, trama decisamente ben studiata, curatissima nei dettagli. Insomma, non é la classica storia d'amore che finisce con la morte del cattivo e il "vissero tutti felici e contenti". Leggendo Caraval ho avuto l'impressione che se le cose devono succedere, succedono e basta. Una storia inaspettata e ricca di momenti che ti fanno trattenere il fiato.
Assolutamente consigliato, soprattutto a chi ha voglia di leggere un mix tra amore, avventura e salti tra realtà e finzione.
Assolutamente consigliato, soprattutto a chi ha voglia di leggere un mix tra amore, avventura e salti tra realtà e finzione.
January 8, 2023
Ho finito il libro in una settimana! Quindi non posso dire non mi sia piaciuto…vola via che è una meraviglia!
Ma ci sono dei però:
1. La protagonista non mi è molto simpatica e questa cosa mi succede molto ma molto raramente! Penso di preferire Donatella.
2. Alcune parti della trama non mi convincono molto
3. Personaggi poco sviluppati, non mi hanno suscitato alcuna emozione.
Per un giudizio definitivo aspetterò comunque di leggere gli altri due.
Ma ci sono dei però:
1. La protagonista non mi è molto simpatica e questa cosa mi succede molto ma molto raramente! Penso di preferire Donatella.
2. Alcune parti della trama non mi convincono molto
3. Personaggi poco sviluppati, non mi hanno suscitato alcuna emozione.
Per un giudizio definitivo aspetterò comunque di leggere gli altri due.
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