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
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I’ll keep this short and sweet. Do you love fantasy reads? Then pick up this beauty. You won’t regret it. I couldn’t stop reading this, and I finished it in a matter of days.
Wowettey wow wow. This gorgeous masterpiece of a book is a definite must read for fans of amazing fantasy. I applaud Stephanie Garber for making such a beautiful book! I bought all three books for myself to enjoy, and I gotta say, from the minute i read the first page, I was hooked. So, yes!!!! Read this book!
This book is keep getting hyped up so I had to pick it up and see it for myself. The atmosphere of the book was as other people had said and I enjoyed the aspect of it. I did not really care about the romance in the book but I went along with it and enjoy it as I read on. The plot was okay to me but towards the end and THAT ENDING, I need to know what happens next. Although many things happened in this book, I feel that it is a build up for the next book and I AM READY FOR IT!!!!!!! 3 stars!!!!!!
A Carnaval Ride into the twisted mind of a devious and crafty mind. You don’t know who to trust…maybe not even at the end.
It is one of the best books that I have ever read
Perfect for fans of The Night Circus with colorful descriptions and a lively setting. The story stands on its own pretty well so you don’t have to commit to the rest of the series if you don’t want to, which I always appreciate. I gave it 4 stars because towards the end there were some twists I really enjoyed but others fell a bit flat for my tastes. Overall it’s a strong start to a series!
Caraval has been on my reading list for what has felt like forever, and now I have read it I honestly don’t know why. This book was incredible, and the best book I have read in a long time.
The book is about two sisters, Scarlett and Donatella. Growing up they were told stories about the great Legend and Caraval, a world where everyone enjoys adventure and aims to win a prize. The world is pure magic, an artistic performance that attracts the daring and provides a mixed game of reality and fantasy. For years the sisters have longed to meet the great Legend, so when Scarlett writes a letter as an adult to say that she wishes to meet him before her arranged marriage, she does not expect a special invitation and tickets for her and her sister to attend Caraval.
But all is not what it seems in a game that is played at night, and when Donatella disappears, Scarlett finds that she has a lot to play for. With a sailor by her side, and a set amount of days to play, will Scarlett beat the game?
This book was incredibly written with so many twists and turns I almost got whiplash, but each and every one was unexpected, and had me utterly captivated. I have not read a book that had me so engrossed and kept me guessing to the very last moment. I could not recommend this book enough.
It is the perfect read for all fantasy lovers, it is a highly imaginative world that I can’t wait to learn more of. The romance is heartwarming, the drama is on point and i know that I will be struggling to find a book on this scale for a long time. Amazing!
Not really what I had hoped it to be. About 100 pages too long and didn’t hold my interest to want to read the other books in the series.
This book was about as colorful a book as I have ever read. It was magical. It was like someone put Night Circus and Hunger Games together! I can see that this will influence many a costume event. The male characters reminded me of Japanese anime characters – all lovely to look at and slightly evil. I enjoyed the book so much that I bought the rest of the series immediately and am upset that I am now down with them.
I have been hearing and reading about this book for a while now. As usual, I was leery to jump right into a story I felt was getting a lot of hype since I tend to be disappointed if book doesn’t live up to its hype. Then, time just got away from me and I kept telling myself I’d read it later. I finally picked it as my book club pick so I’d have no excuse to put off reading this book that I kept hearing is wonderful and magical.
It’s quite unfortunate that I didn’t fall in love with this story the way it seems most other people have. Often, when reading YA that’s just not speaking to me, I wonder if I’m missing something because of my age. Some unnamed thing that somehow disappears after a certain age??? I know, that sound ridiculous. But I also don’t want to judge any book too harshly when I’m just not the target audience. I’m not saying I didn’t like this book…it just didn’t sweep me away as it seems to have done with other readers. I went back to read some of the glowing reviews to make sure I wasn’t mistaken, and I wasn’t. Many adults over the age of 30, even 40 and 50, enjoyed this story immensely. So, I feel confident it wasn’t an age thing, just something that didn’t click with me.
Let me go back and tell you some of the things I really enjoyed about this story. I liked the main character, Scarlett, for the most part. Especially once she started standing up for herself a bit more. And I really thought the character of Julian was a lot of fun. Sometimes I was suspicious of him, sometimes he made me swoon, and sometimes I would get extremely angry with him and his secrets. In my mind, that’s a wonderful character. He truly kept me engaged in this book when I wasn’t entirely on board with the rest of the story. The premise of this story had so much potential and leaves the door open to many other stories that can be told. That was another thing I liked about this book.
Here is something I don’t think I’ve EVER said about a book. In fact, I’m sure there aren’t many avid readers who have…I think I would enjoy this story more as a movie than I did as a book. There are a lot of descriptions and colors, but no real world building the way I want in a story. If a movie was done right, it would be a masterpiece to look at. After a while, I hate to admit that I got sick of the color descriptions. In fact, it almost seemed there were more in the last half of the story than the first half. I didn’t need all that prose anymore and, quite frankly, it distracted me from the story. Other than one particular part, Scarlett and her colors were not necessary to move the story forward.
One of the things I struggled with was my dislike of Scarlett’s sister, Tella. It was hard for me to be on board with Scarlett’s struggle when I felt she was giving too much of herself to someone who didn’t appreciate her half as much as she should. I don’t do spoilers, but let’s just say things would have ended very differently if I had been Scarlett. At some point, Tella made a choice and thought she could manipulate her narrative as well as her sister’s without talking to Scarlett first. No matter the love Scarlett felt for Tella (or maybe because of that love), I would have made a different choice at the end if I were her. Because of the magic and subterfuge, as far as Scarlett knew there were some people making firm choices and others getting hurt just for trying to be good to her. Okay, enough before I give anything away.
Here’s the thing, there are 3 books in this series. If you would have asked me when I was halfway through this book if I’d read the others my answer would have been a firm no. Yet, somehow the author pulled me back into the story for the last 25% or so. I was finally engaging with the story and the felt more of a connection to the characters. Now, I’m not so sure what I’ll do. I’m curious, if nothing else. Also, that last bit of the book notched my rating up a good half to whole star.
All in all, I’m quite a bit disappointed to say that this book I was looking forward to for so long was just “meh” for me.
https://allingoodtimeblog.wordpress.com/2020/02/04/caraval-book-club/
I can see why others might get hooked but i forced myself to finish. I thought caraval (the event in the book) was boring, the characters unlikeable and the plot plodding.
I picked this book up at a book store thinking it looked interesting. Little did I know that this novel would become one of my favorite reads of all time. With its unforgettable characters and twisting story line, the entire Caraval series is a must-read.
I personally love this book, the way everything thing is described brings it to a whole new level. Everything is detailed very specifically and makes you feel as if you’ve just entered the world of Caraval by reading a single paragraph, the characters are well thought out and make the story a whole. Caraval is a lovely book and I would recommend it to anyone!
CARAVAL, by Stephanie Garber, is not my usual type of read…. However, I decided to join in on a group read of this one, and ended up pleasantly surprised at how much I did enjoy it. Compared to novels I normally read, this was a “light” book, yet still filled with mystery, and thriller elements that kept the anticipation moving along.
“Whatever you’ve heard about Caraval, it doesn’t compare to the reality . . . It’s the closest you’ll find to magic in this world . . . ”
We have our close sisters, Scarlett and Tella Dragon, who are abused by their dominating father. A “magical” once a year event–the Caraval–is something the girls have grown up hearing about from their grandmother. For Scarlett–the elder sister–it is a chance to see something other than the island she is forbidden to leave. For Tella, it is the first stop to freedom from their tyrant of a father.
“. . . Dreams that come true can be beautiful, but they can also turn into nightmares when people won’t wake up.”
Was it perfect?
No. Scarlett drove me crazy at times with how ingrained she was with following her father’s orders, even though she was supposed to be the strong one here. She was often mentally contradicting herself, and yet, this is what helped showcase her growth emotionally. Of her younger sister, Tella, we don’t learn much until the ending, so I get the feeling this volume was Scarlett’s story–her adventure of a lifetime.
“No one is truly honest . . . Even if we don’t lie to others, we often lie to ourselves . . . ”
The majority of the story really held my attention, trying to define what was real and what wasn’t. The world Garber created was both beautiful and confusing–purposely so. I felt the pacing was great up until the very end. That was where things became a little “rushed” for me, and the explanations weren’t really given to any of the pertinent questions. Still, as book one in a trilogy, I’m guessing this was done for the purpose of continuing the story in the next book.
Recommended.
I have heard so much about this story all over the internet, and I was excited to listen to it. Unfortunately, I didn’t connect as well as I’d hoped. It had some cool twists, and I thought the characters were pretty cool, but I guess I was expecting something darker and less romance driven. I enjoyed the interview with the author at the end of the book very much. Her story sounds a lot like many author’s dream… I would definitely recommend this book or audiobook, though. Just because it didn’t meet my expectations didn’t mean it wasn’t well-written and fun. I obviously misinformed myself on the plot and genre based off the cover and buzz. (I listened to this title on Audible)
You fall into the world that is Caraval and not know what is going to happen next!
Strange at first, but by the last chapters I had to keep reading. I will definitely read the next two books in the series.
OMG this serious is amazing. I couldn’t put it down and read all three in one weekend. <3 Legend forever <3
Such a fun story that reminded me so much of one of my favorite books, The Night Circus. Beautiful writing as well!
I loved this book from the moment I saw the cover and heard the first sentence I was hooked. Intriguing and super imaginative. The story leads you like Alice in wonderland and spins you around. Like a rollercoaster that you wish will last forever!