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A review by poegostick
Caraval by Stephanie Garber
2.0
2.5 Stars
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I want to say, after reading a slew of self-published books that had awful examples of grammar, part of the reason I was so drawn into this book was because it felt good to just read something that knew how to use the present perfect tense correctly.
That aside, I loved and hated this book. It sucked me in from the start, but towards the second half it felt like the author became bored with their own story. As if they were excited about the premise but then had the whole, "Damn...I really have to write this," moment.
I'm not a big fan of overly complicated world building. However, the longer we stayed in this world the more I began to wonder what in the heck the rules really were. Things just sort of...happened..unexplained and there was no rhyme or reason.
Scarlet was a very useless character, who for most of the book, allowed things just to happen to her. As bland as she was, I don't think the events of the story could have happened if someone like Tella were the main character seeing as Scar's dumb choices propel the plot in most cases. Although it annoyed many people, I really liked how she sensed emotions in color and I wish it had been expanded on as magic instead of just flowery writing.
The flowery writing also got in the way of the action. This book is a huge example of what telling, not showing, does to a book. Big plot twists were written in such a passive tone that I didn't even realize they had happened. The reveal of her family's secret was done so non-nonchalantly that I didn't think it was real at first. I was told how everyone felt because of the colors, instead of using character actions and speech to convey those emotions.
The big thing that knocked stars off for me was the romance, however. It seemed just...the wrong time to be kissing boys and worrying about marriage. The connection between Scarlett and Julian felt like it was there only because this is a YA and we needed some romance line.
Yet, beyond all this, I find myself invested for some reason. Enough so that I bought the sequels.
I have a lot of mixed feelings about this book. I want to say, after reading a slew of self-published books that had awful examples of grammar, part of the reason I was so drawn into this book was because it felt good to just read something that knew how to use the present perfect tense correctly.
That aside, I loved and hated this book. It sucked me in from the start, but towards the second half it felt like the author became bored with their own story. As if they were excited about the premise but then had the whole, "Damn...I really have to write this," moment.
I'm not a big fan of overly complicated world building. However, the longer we stayed in this world the more I began to wonder what in the heck the rules really were. Things just sort of...happened..unexplained and there was no rhyme or reason.
Scarlet was a very useless character, who for most of the book, allowed things just to happen to her. As bland as she was, I don't think the events of the story could have happened if someone like Tella were the main character seeing as Scar's dumb choices propel the plot in most cases. Although it annoyed many people, I really liked how she sensed emotions in color and I wish it had been expanded on as magic instead of just flowery writing.
The flowery writing also got in the way of the action. This book is a huge example of what telling, not showing, does to a book. Big plot twists were written in such a passive tone that I didn't even realize they had happened. The reveal of her family's secret was done so non-nonchalantly that I didn't think it was real at first. I was told how everyone felt because of the colors, instead of using character actions and speech to convey those emotions.
The big thing that knocked stars off for me was the romance, however. It seemed just...the wrong time to be kissing boys and worrying about marriage. The connection between Scarlett and Julian felt like it was there only because this is a YA and we needed some romance line.
Yet, beyond all this, I find myself invested for some reason. Enough so that I bought the sequels.