I’ve had a devil of a time starting this review since I have too many thoughts about this story and I just love it so much!
The premise of it is pretty simple: it’s about a girl and her sister who are invited to this place called Caraval, which is this kind of game/carnival/murder-mystery/puzzle island. The point of Caravel is to solve the mystery before the last day and you will get the coveted prize of a magical wish from the magician guy who runs the show. It’s a pretty good sell-point for the girl and her sister who only want to be free of their abusive father, but the game, Caraval is…isn’t at all very innocent and pure as the main character has romanticized. At the beginning of the book she thinks it’s just a fun carnival of magic and happiness, two things she desperately wants in her life, but girl was misinformed. Utterly.
This kind of book is very difficult to write about without giving too much away. But I want to mention that this is exactly my cup of tea. This is the kind of book that has so many twists and turns, illusions, betrayals, heartache, and obstacles that after you finish reading it, you want to read it all over with your new perspective of all the events. This book deals heavily with trust issues, too. Because of all the betrayals, lies, and illusions created by the magician who runs the game, I couldn’t even trust the main character’s perception to be real. I COULDN’T TRUST ANY CHARACTER IN THIS WHOLE BOOK! WHAT IS REAL? I DON’T KNOW ANYMORE! Thankfully, at the end of the story we get all the plot lines tied up nicely, but I think if I were the main character I would have excommunicated everyone at the end of the game, even the sister.
My gosh. That sister. She drove me up the wall.
—————–SPOILER!!!!!!———————
I know that the sister (Tella) meant well by pushing main girl (Scarlett) out of her comfort zone to find her/save her. But really, THERE ARE BETTER WAYS TO DO THAT THEN TO DRAG YOUR SISTER THROUGH HELL AND LET HER THINK THE WORST OF YOU AND THEN LET HER THINK YOU ARE DEAD! And she did all of that because she thought her sister needed to change her ways. Excuse me, little sister Tella, if anyone needs to be given a realty check, it’s you. How dare you think you know what’s best for your sister. On top of which, how dare you TRAUMATIZE HER like that to get your way!
Tella rankles me something fierce.
It’s a testimony to the author’s ability to create such an intense character that actually gets under your skin and makes you feel such raw anger towards a fictional person.
Super high five to you, Stephanie Garber. You done good.
Tori Bird 