Author: Stephanie Garber
Pages: 402
Published: January 31, 2017
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Price: £9.06 (Paperback)
£12.11 (Hardback)
£2.99 (Kindle)
Series: Standalone
Source: Bought
Triggers (In the book,the review is safe): Suicide.
My review:
I've got a lot of love for this book! Often with books that focus on 'detective work', like finding clues and such, they are painfully hard to read. Either the protagonist is soooo slow and doesn't know their arse from their elbow, making you scream profanities at them just help them see the obvious. Or, the plot whizzes by super quickly and you've no idea what happened, who anyone is or what on earth they're supposed to be doing. But Garber hit the nail on the head with pacing, it was done perfectly. When Scarlett figured something out, so did we, which kept you guessing the whole time.
The plot was based on Scarlett's quest to find her sister, Tella, before she's lost in the game forever. There are five nights to find her and a clue is available to be found on each night. The clues could be literally anything, hence avoiding the 'It's right there!!!!' pleading. Guessing the perpetrator was really hard, if impossible to do, and this is coming from a girl who could guess most of the endings of Sherlock. Was that hard to do? I was banned from watching it with my friends because I always spoiled it, so it can't be that easy, but the solution was, most of the time, incredibly simple. Anyway, back to Caraval, if you guessed the ending I am immensely impressed! My guess changed after every chapter, which shows just how suspenseful Garber kept it, which is definitely one of the reasons I love this book so much!
I can't review Caraval without talking about the romance between Scarlett and Julian. It was refreshing. The romance between them forms very little of the book as a whole, as it focused a whole lot more on sisterly love. Nothing major happened between them, yes there was a romantic undertone to their conversations and a few racy thoughts, but that sums them up. Scarlett cared a lot more about finding her sister than forming a relationship with Julian, which is so rare in books these days, or at least in the ones I read. Normally, once feelings for another character have been acknowledged, that's it, goodbye plot, goodbye sense, goodbye personality traits and hello 'oh [insert lovers name here], let's forget all this and run away together into the sunset! I don't need anyone when I've got you, I'm going to love you forever etcetera, etcetera.... ' But not Caraval, Scarlett isn't going anywhere with any man until she's found her girl. Isn't hat the breath of fresh air we all need?
If you still need convincing as to whether you should read Caraval or not, there is a lot more pros to this book than I can possibly fit in any review. I could list them, but I feel like you need to know as little as you can about this book before you read it in order to get the full experience. All I will say is that this book is an easy 5 stars and I cannot wait for the second in the series to be released!
Have you read Caraval yet? Were you surprised by the ending? Which design did you get underneath the dust jacket? Let me know in the comments!
Triggers (In the book,the review is safe): Suicide.
My review:
I've got a lot of love for this book! Often with books that focus on 'detective work', like finding clues and such, they are painfully hard to read. Either the protagonist is soooo slow and doesn't know their arse from their elbow, making you scream profanities at them just help them see the obvious. Or, the plot whizzes by super quickly and you've no idea what happened, who anyone is or what on earth they're supposed to be doing. But Garber hit the nail on the head with pacing, it was done perfectly. When Scarlett figured something out, so did we, which kept you guessing the whole time.
The plot was based on Scarlett's quest to find her sister, Tella, before she's lost in the game forever. There are five nights to find her and a clue is available to be found on each night. The clues could be literally anything, hence avoiding the 'It's right there!!!!' pleading. Guessing the perpetrator was really hard, if impossible to do, and this is coming from a girl who could guess most of the endings of Sherlock. Was that hard to do? I was banned from watching it with my friends because I always spoiled it, so it can't be that easy, but the solution was, most of the time, incredibly simple. Anyway, back to Caraval, if you guessed the ending I am immensely impressed! My guess changed after every chapter, which shows just how suspenseful Garber kept it, which is definitely one of the reasons I love this book so much!
I can't review Caraval without talking about the romance between Scarlett and Julian. It was refreshing. The romance between them forms very little of the book as a whole, as it focused a whole lot more on sisterly love. Nothing major happened between them, yes there was a romantic undertone to their conversations and a few racy thoughts, but that sums them up. Scarlett cared a lot more about finding her sister than forming a relationship with Julian, which is so rare in books these days, or at least in the ones I read. Normally, once feelings for another character have been acknowledged, that's it, goodbye plot, goodbye sense, goodbye personality traits and hello 'oh [insert lovers name here], let's forget all this and run away together into the sunset! I don't need anyone when I've got you, I'm going to love you forever etcetera, etcetera.... ' But not Caraval, Scarlett isn't going anywhere with any man until she's found her girl. Isn't hat the breath of fresh air we all need?
If you still need convincing as to whether you should read Caraval or not, there is a lot more pros to this book than I can possibly fit in any review. I could list them, but I feel like you need to know as little as you can about this book before you read it in order to get the full experience. All I will say is that this book is an easy 5 stars and I cannot wait for the second in the series to be released!
Have you read Caraval yet? Were you surprised by the ending? Which design did you get underneath the dust jacket? Let me know in the comments!
Contact me! theintrovertswonderland@gmail.com
