The acclaimed New York Times bestseller! Welcome, welcome to Caraval—Stephanie Garber’s sweeping tale of the unbreakable bond between two sisters. It’s the closest you’ll ever find to magic in this world…Scarlett has never left the tiny island where she and her beloved sister, Tella, live with their powerful, and cruel, father. Now Scarlett’s father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett … father has arranged a marriage for her, and Scarlett thinks her dreams of seeing Caraval, the far-away, once-a-year performance where the audience participates in the show, are over.
But this year, Scarlett’s long-dreamt of invitation finally arrives. With the help of a mysterious sailor, Tella whisks Scarlett away to the show. Only, as soon as they arrive, Tella is kidnapped by Caraval’s mastermind organizer, Legend. It turns out that this season’s Caraval revolves around Tella, and whoever finds her first is the winner.
Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is only an elaborate performance. But she nevertheless becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic with the other players in the game. And whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, a dangerous domino effect of consequences is set off, and her sister disappears forever.
Welcome, welcome to Caraval . . . beware of getting swept too far away.
New York Times bestseller
#1 IndieNext Pick
Publishers Weekly Flying Start
Entertainment Weekly Best 10 YA Books of 2017
Teen Vogue Best YA Book of the Year
Amazon Best Book of the Year
Barnes & Noble Best Book of the Year
BuzzFeed Best Book of the Year
“The Hunger Games meets The Night Circus. Grade: A-.” —Entertainment Weekly
“Impressive, original, wondrous.” —USA Today
“Spellbinding.” —US Weekly
“Magnificent.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review
“I lost myself in this world.” —Sabaa Tahir, author of An Ember in the Ashes
“Beautifully written.” —Renée Ahdieh, author of The Wrath and the Dawn
“Shimmers with magic.” —Marie Rutkoski, author of The Winner’s Curse
“Darkly enchanting.” —Kiersten White, author of And I Darken
“Decadent.” —Roshani Chokshi, author of The Star-Touched Queen
“Like stepping into a living dream.” —Stacey Lee, author of Outrun the Moon
“Destined to capture imaginations.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Ideal for fans of The Night Circus, Stardust, and The Hunger Games.” —School Library Journal
more
This book was entertaining and full of vivid imagination. I enjoyed the way the two sisters stood for each other under the most horrible circumstances. The mystery of the magic of Caraval kept the reader engaged. The love interest for Scarlett kept us you hoping for the happy ending. I really enjoyed this book and can’t wait to read the next one in the series.
Scarlett and Tella are trapped by their father. Ever since their mother disappeared he has never let them leave home. Exacting horrible “punishments” when he feels in the mood, acting cold and indifferent towards them and withdrawing any fatherly warmth he may have once had, the sisters feel betrayed and alone.
When the chance to attend Caraval, the magical game that promises the winner a wish, has landed in their laps Tella plots their escape. She knows Scarlett won’t leave willingly so she hatches a plan to throw off their father and make it seem like they are kidnapped.
What Scarlett doesn’t know is that Caraval is more than what it seems and magic there is real. When her sister Tella goes missing and seems to be the point of the game this year, Scarlett has no choice but to leave her fear and uncertainty behind. What Scarlett also doesn’t realize is that her sister is in danger and that some parts of the game are very real. Can she find her sister in time and save them both? Or will she be swept away in the madness of Caraval and forget who she is?
I’m glad I finally picked this one up. I’ve had it sitting on my shelf for about a year now. I love carnivals and the magic that seems to surround them. Caraval is surrounded by magic, mystery, danger and more. I was easily sucked into this one and didn’t want it to end.
This is re-read of “Caraval” and it lived up to my first time love of it! Scarlett has to enter Caraval to find her missing sister, Tella. The descriptive setting and character development are so strong. I loved the mystery and suspense throughout the story also!!
Scarlett and her sister Tella grew listening to stories about Caraval from their grandmother. The magical circus, that never visits the same place twice. Scarlett wrote numerous letters to the mastermind behind it, Legend. When she finally gets an invite it’s at the worst time. She is about to be married to someone she never met, and be able to escape her abusive father and just maybe take her sister with her. In the end, they both go to carnival, but her sister vanishes. Caraval is a dangerous game, where nothing is real and nothing is what it seems.
I was very excited to read it, but for some reason, I had the hardest time getting into it and connecting to any characters. While it has all the elements of my kind of book, in the end, it wasn’t.
“Hope is a powerful thing. Some say it’s a different breed of magic altogether. Elusive, difficult to hold on to. But not much is needed..”
Caraval has to be the most hyped young adult release of 2017. I had very high expectations from Caraval and it did not disappoint.
The story begins on the isle of Trisda. Scarlett is engaged to Count d’Arcy, a man she has never met before, but she is convinced that he is the key to freeing her and her sister from their father’s tyranny. After a failed escape attempt two year earlier, this seems like their only option.
However, every year, Scarlett has written a letter to Caraval Master Legend, begging him to bring his magical five-day show to Trisda. She has never received a response – until now. Scarlet is due to be married in just a few days but can she resist the Caraval Master’s long-awaited invitation to his infamous game?
I have to admit that at first, I wasn’t sold on this book. It was a really interesting story but I didn’t see what made it better than a lot of other very popular young adult novels out there right now. Then, Scarlett, Tella and Julian arrived at Caraval and the story really kicked off.
Caraval is a five-day performance in which the audience participates. It’s only a game – or so the players are told. However, it becomes quite increasingly obvious as time passes by that there’s something else at work at Caraval.
Things are not at all as they seem but we aren’t really given any clues as to what is really driving the plot and this yearly performance. I felt like I was in the dark for a long time but it kept me on my toes and I raced through this book.
There’s so much mystery in this story and I truly had no clue what plot twists were coming my way. There’s a hint of magic, dark magic more specifically, underlying everything here and I loved that as time went on the story became more and more black.
There were some passages where I was rather disturbed or, at least, very shocked by what was happening and the performance certainly isn’t designed to be a happy and enjoyable experience for the players.
As for the characters, sisters Scarlett and Donatella couldn’t be any more different in personality, but they are both fiercely loyal to each other. Or at least they were before the game began. Scarlett is the “sensible” older sister and Donatella is the rebellious younger sister.
Scarlett grew on me quite a lot as the story went on and she realised that the world had so much more to offer her. Her eyes are re-opened and she sees that she doesn’t need to settle for the marriage her father has arranged.
She’s definitely not the feistiest female protagonist out there but the Scarlett we meet at the beginning of this book is very different from the Scarlett who’s been playing Caraval for five days. Her character develops quite a lot and I think she’ll only become even stronger in the next book.
My favourite character was Julian because he is the most mysterious character. He tells you not to trust him and yet lots of things he does make you want to and you’re never quite sure what his motivations are.
At the end of Caraval, Julian’s story is revealed and that is probably the most exciting plot twist there is. He’s certainly not a character you should ignore and he is integral to the plot’s developments.
Predictably there’s an element of romance in this story but nothing much comes of it until the latter half of the book. It doesn’t add a huge amount to main plot for the most part but it was a nice little side story. This storyline does become wrapped up in the numerous plot twists at the end so I have high hopes that this’ll become more exciting and significant in the subsequent books.
All in all, Caraval is a fantastic debut novel from Stephanie Garber and it blew me away. It has elements of magic, mystery and adventure, which will have you turning those pages like crazy! This is a little different from a lot of the other young adult stuff out there right now so I’d highly recommend it if you’re looking for a fast-paced tale that will take you and your emotions on a roller-coaster ride.
This YA book probably has to be ranked within my top 20 favorite fantasy books. It’s active and very addictive, drawing amazing scenes and characters. The twists and turns, action, and romance couldn’t have been better. I’m not a huge fan of the circus-y themes normally, but this book is SO GOOD. I definitely recommend “Caraval.” Personally, I would’ve liked to have seen a little more love between characters, but other than that, this book is absolutely amazing and a must read if your into YA fantasy! Stephanie Garber is an amazing author and “Caraval” is beautifully written. 5 stars all the way!
I really liked this book up until the ending. The ending left me unsatisfied and as if the whole plot wasn’t needed if the characters had simply made a simpler decision.
My best friend personally gave me her copy of this book because she loved it so much. I was SOOO excited to read it, and it felt so special that this was her book that she lended to me.
This ended with: “Bestie, don’t be mad at me. Bestie, don’t be mad at me…” (tiktok sound)
I think genuinely loathed this book. I tried so hard to think of good things to say—because nobody likes someone ripping a new one on a book they genuinely enjoyed—and I couldn’t think of anything.
I think books are made up of three aspects:
1) world building
2) characters
3) writing style
(And I think most people would agree with this, right?)
All three of these things in this novel were terrible misses.
1) world building
What world? BAHAHAHA no seriously what world? There is none. There is only this Caraval where NOTHING is explained or fleshed out. The author slaps a “it’s magic, don’t ask questions” sticker on EVERYTHING. There are stories where magic systems are so thoroughly fleshed out I believe in the magic. And then there are stories like this. The author tries to be ~enigmatic~ but she really just comes off as lazy. Like I genuinely want to ask her when she was writing this, did she have any idea of how this magic system worked? And if she did, why not take a couple of sentences to cleverly explain it to us? And if she didn’t, why not take this book through a few more rounds of editing?
2) characters
GAHHHHH now these were awful. Not the worst of the three (wait till I get to writing style), but still pretty fucking awful. I don’t want to waste my breath on characters that the author spent none of her time or energy fleshing out, so let me summarize:
Scarlett – absolutely no personality. Julian falls in love with her and she literally has done or said nothing. Completely, embarrassingly, painfully gullible. She was warned twice that nothing is real, everything is an illusion, people are not as they seem, and this woman believe everything, abso-fucking-lutely everything and everyone. She runs head first into dangerous situations because she truly believe what these people are saying to her.
Also, let me rip my hair out at the scene where she meets a fortune teller. This is how it goes:
Fortune teller (Nigel): you have only 2 questions
Scarlett: (supposedly obsessed with finding her sister when all the readers know she’s literally just there for Julian because on multiple occasions she chooses him over her) does he like me?
Nigel: yes
Scarlett: omg, for real? *insert a bunch of heart emojis*
Nigel: yes
Scarlett: okay so my second question is
Nigel: you already asked two questions
Scarlett: OMG NO that didn’t count!! You owe me!! This isn’t fair!!!
If that doesn’t illustrate just how much of a whiney dumbass she is, I don’t know what will.
Next, Julian, who is an absolutely terrible liar. Who is basic and also personalityless. Who’s “plot twist” I saw coming from a mile away.
And then, Tella. Did you guys know she loves danger? Well the author doesn’t let you forget it. She mentions it every damn chapter. Every. Single. One.
Which ushers to number 3
3) writing style
Now, a lot of my favorite reviewers (and some of the most liked reviews of this book) highlight some of the worst of the metaphors that make absolutely no fucking sense, but the ones where I truly felt like I lost my mind:
Periwinkle curiosity.
He tasted like midnight.
It smelled like the middle of the night.
Sharp like sparks turning into stars.
I audibly gagged so many times. So. Many. Times.
That final I’m intrigued, I need to know more
The caraval world is amazing, fantastic, full of magic and secrets. It’s impossible not want to know more and more and more.
The characters are very interesting and different from one another. Scarlett is the one who believes in everyone and sees the best of people. Donatella looks like a train wreck, without destination, but she’s much more. Julian looks like the kind person you can’t trust and is always hiding something. Governor Dagma is the worst person ever. The performers can be useful, but only if you know how to listen to them, really listen.
And Legend is the most mysterious one. Not much people seen him or know who he is, although I’m pretty sure he’s already appeared in the game.
I can’t wait to see the rest of this amazing world and finally realizing who Legend really is.
I think I found a new favorite author! Caraval was filled with so many twists, turns, and secrets, and I had absolutely no idea what was real and what was not. As soon as I came up with a new theory, it was dashed when the author revealed a new secret along the way.
The characters were superb, the plot was unique and exciting, and as a reader, I was immersed in the adventure as if I was actually living in the book rather than flipping page after page.
If you are looking for a little bit of magic and mystery, Caraval is the perfect book for you. I’m looking forward to reading the next two in the series!
This book surprised me in every way. It was such a great read and I am definitely reading the sequel! Legendary
Loved this book so much and the originality of it! Perfect world building, romance, and dialogue!
I really wanted to like this book but I couldn’t get into it no matter what.
The pace of the book was good it’s a very slow burn romance and the writing is pretty good. But the characters not so much.
There’s absolutely zero background for the male lead. other than I don’t get along with my family we know next to nothing about him. He’s got no personality, doesn’t talk. I couldn’t connect cause there was nothing to connect to.
The MC is super annoying she’s a chatterbox of randomness and passes a good chunk of the book practically begging for sex from a man she’s never slept with in the first place.
If you are looking for something to rock your socks out of your feet I wouldn’t recommend this book, but if what you are looking for is an easy quick read you might like it.
I have had Caraval on my TBR for a really long time, but I finally got around to reading it. It’s too bad I waited so long. I love books about siblings (obviously, since I write that a lot!) This also had magic, adventure, and some fun twists and turns. If you’ve been bumping it back for a while like I did, go ahead and bump it to the front. 😛
This is such a great story. I love Scarlett, Tella, Julian and Legend. I love Legend the best. It is so great going to the Isla De Los Suenos which means Island of Dreams in Spanish. The whole concept of the island and the concept of Caraval is amazing. This story has great world building too.
What a mind twisting emotional game. I loved it. I loved all the twists and mystery and the horror. I was just so hooked. I loved the ending and I can’t wait to read the next book
I decided to listen to the audiobook of this one and I was very pleased. It’s an easy to follow read with a lot of excitement to keep you engaged. It’ll keep you wondering is it truly just a game they’re playing or are these things really happening.
For me, this series was like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory X The Hunger Games! I loved the unique style of the book and the story had me staying up much later at night than I would have liked.
This book, this SERIES is what I love about reading. Finding an escape from your world into another, more fantastic one. Garber’s writing is brilliant, her storytelling unmatched. I highly recommend this series.
I loved the sense of awe and wonder I felt while reading this book, it was unique and so much fun read!