Lynnie
young adult, fantasy
Once every year, Caraval takes place on a secluded, magical island by invitation only. To participate in Caraval is to be involved in an interactive game/theater experience where the winner's prize is a wish.
There were things I really enjoyed about this book & things that I found absolutely maddening.
Caraval is book that lives or dies on its ability to sell you on the convenient notion that everything is a lie, unless it isn't, then it's real. I'm not even kidding, that's what they say over & over & over again in this book. Well... okay, so the narrator is unreliable. Did whatever happened really happen or didn't it? The truth however is that it's pretty darn easy to figure out what's real & what's not because everything you want to be untrue, largely is and the things you wish were real usually are. Not always, but as a general rule. How convenient!
There is also the matter of wading through the most flowery purple prose to perhaps ever grace the page of a book. Literally purple- feelings have colors, people and emotions have scents & they are all described in such detail (often repeated) that I found myself regularly skimming through the flowers to find the action.
That said, the idea & Stephanie Garber's story itself are both interesting. When things are happening in the book, other than fretting, worrying, & endless descriptions, I genuinely wanted to know what was going to happen. There are also several characters that I really liked. I judge a book series based on whether or not I plan to read the sequel & I am definitely curious enough to continue this series when the next book is released.
This was a solid three stars; not fabulous, not horrible, but an enjoyable distraction from a rainy weekend.
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