Title: Caraval
Author: Stephanie Garber
Genre: Fantasy
Year Published: 2017
Number of Pages: 407 pages
Date Read: 10/11/2017
Series: Caraval #1
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Source: Purchased
Content Rating: Ages 15+ (Themes of Child Abuse and Deaths)
Trigger Warnings: Child Abuse
Buy on: Amazon // Book Depository
“Every person has the
power to change their fate if they are brave enough to fight for what they
desire more than anything.”
2017 is the
year of new releases that are full of books that contain adventure, romance,
horror and excitement and I happened to stumble upon a new release for this
year called “Caraval” by Stephanie Garber and I was seriously
blown away by this book!
Scarlett Dragna has lived on a tiny island for most of her
life, along with her little sister Donatella Dragna and her cruel and powerful
father Governor Dragna. One day,
Scarlett’s father has decided to arrange a marriage between Scarlett and a Lord
that she does not know and even though Scarlett believes that this would be the
only way to escape her miserable life on the island and her abusive father,
Scarlett still thinks that something is missing from her life. It wasn’t until that very day that Scarlett
meets a roguish and mysterious sailor named Julian who offered Scarlet the
chance to visit the place of Scarlett’s deepest dreams: CARAVAL!
Even though Scarlett was unsure about going to Caraval because she feared
that her father will punish her severely for her disobedience, Scarlett decided
to leave the island once she finds out that her sister Donatella had suddenly
vanished from the island. So, Scarlett
and Julian set out to the mysterious island of Caraval to find Donatella; but
once Scarlet gets to Caraval, she will soon discover that her sister Donatella
is a part of some sort of sadistic game where whoever finds Donatella will be
able to receive a wish from the legendary magician Legend himself! So, Scarlett and Julian try to compete in the
game in order to find Donatella before it is too late!
Wow! Stephanie Garber has truly woven a
truly magical and intense story about the importance of sibling love while also
exploring the importance of true love! Stephanie Garber has done a brilliant
job at detailing the magical world of Caraval as the concept of this world is
that everyone is doing a performance for the people and you have to decide what
is real and what is not real in order to survive the game! I loved the fact that this book focuses on a
carnival theme as it is rare for me to read a young adult book that involves
carnivals and games as a major plot of the story. I loved the way that Stephanie Garber focused on the sisterly relationship between Scarlett
and Donatella as it is also rare that I had read young adult books that focuses
mostly on the relationship between siblings and I loved the fact that Scarlett
truly does care about her sister Donatella and is willing to put her life on
the line in order to protect Donatella from any kind of danger in the world of
Caraval. But what I loved the most in
this book was the relationship shared between Julian and Scarlett! When I went into this book, I actually
thought that this book was just going to be about the sisterly relationship
between Scarlett and Donatella and while that was a major part of the plot, it
was Julian and Scarlett’s relationship with each other that really sold
me! I loved the fact that Julian and
Scarlett both brought out the positive aspects in each other, such as Julian
bringing out the bravery in Scarlett that she has held back due to her father
instilling fear in her and Scarlett bringing out a softer side to Julian who
was introduced as being aloof and not caring about who he hurts to get what he
wants until he met Scarlett. Even though
their romantic bantering was downplayed in this book, it was still interesting
seeing how different these two are from each other and yet, they become quite a
compatible pair!
For anyone who does not like some language in this book, there
is some language in this book, although it is not as strong as some other young
adult books. Also, this book deals with
the subject of child abuse as both Scarlett and Donatella are beaten up by
their father for various reasons and that might be uncomfortable for some
readers to handle.
***SPOILER
WARNING!!!***
This is a bit of a small nitpick for me, but the fact that it
turned out that Donatella put her own sister through the game and tricking her
into thinking that she died to prove Scarlett’s love for her kind of rubbed me
the wrong way. This made me see Donatella
as being a bit manipulative towards Scarlett in making a deal with Legend
without telling Scarlett and it made me question about whether or not Donatella
actually cared about Scarlett’s feelings during the whole ordeal.
***SPOILER
WARNING!!!***
Overall, “Caraval”
is a wonderful book about the importance of sisterly love and anyone who loves
reading books about siblings will surely enjoy this book! I will definitely be checking out the second
book as soon as it is released!
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