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Caraval by Stephanie Garber
Review by Katherine
Caraval by Stephanie Garber takes us on a journey through a fantastical world with a dark twist. Scarlett Dragna and her sister Donatella, nicknamed Tella, are trapped on an island with their cruel, overprotective father. When a sailor offers them a chance to escape, they take it, not caring where he takes them. But when Tella goes missing, Scarlett and her new companion, Julian, begin to worry. They find themselves swept up in a magical game called Caraval, where you discover clues to help you win the ultimate prize: one wish. But it’s clear that this Caraval is different from the ones before it. In order to win, Scarlett must find Tella and rescue her from the Caraval Master, Legend. Even though Scarlett has been told it’s “just a game”, sinister things are happening, and illusion and reality become one as Scarlett plunges even deeper into the game.
Caraval was really good, and I would recommend it for fans of The Hunger Games and Harry Potter. It feels a lot like the Hunger Games in the way that everything is really meant to be a game, but the players themselves are in extreme danger. It also has a magical element, like Harry Potter, because the Caraval Master, Legend, can control and make everything in Caraval. I think this book would be good for older middle school readers, since there are romantic scenes and lots of mentions of blood and death.
While some of the story follows Scarlett trying to solve Caraval, a lot of it is following Scarlett and Julian’s blossoming romance. In some parts I felt like the book was turning into less of a fantasy novel and more of a romance one. I do think that adding love interests for Scarlett is a good thing to put in the book, I just felt like it took over. Some scenes would be telling me that Scarlett was about to do something big, like figure out a clue or discover something big, and then she would look at Julian and get this sudden urge to kiss him, or just gaze at him, and then the big, exciting scene’s momentum is interrupted by a small, calm, romantic scene. I think that most good fantasy novels usually have a certain element of love, but Caraval felt more like a romance novel to me than a fantasy one.
There were also a lot of details that I felt were a little unnecessary about what the characters were wearing the whole time. Scarlett acquires a gown that changes based on her mood, and she wears it for almost the entire book. I understand that describing what a character is wearing gives you a better idea of their personality and what they look like, but the description was a little excessive for me. Every time Scarlett’s emotions changed, the book would describe the color, pattern, the beads and ribbons, skirt length and size, fabric, back, front, and everything about the dress every single time Scarlett felt any emotion, which was a lot. Another thing I found unnecessary was a character named Rosa. She is talked about a lot, but doesn’t actually have a huge role, and she isn’t mentioned in the other books, Legendary and Finale. She is only used as a warning, to tell people to not fall in love with Legend. But that isn’t even a problem for Scarlett, seeing that she already likes Julian.
I love the idea of Caraval. The idea that this grand game happens once a year, and you have to find magical clues that come in the form of riddle-like phrases seems so amazing to me. You never know if someone you meet is actually playing Caraval, or if they’re actually one of Legend’s performers, pretending to play the game. Does Tella get rescued by Scarlett, or will someone else beat her to it? And then there’s the added mystery of trying to figure out who Legend actually is, since Scarlett is told that Legend himself performs too, disguised as a random person. Overall, Caraval is a really interesting book, and I would definitely recommend it.