Caraval

“Every person has the power to change their fate if they are brave enough to fight for what they desire more than anything.”

This is a pretty controversial rating... But hear me out.

Caraval took me so long to get through and it put me in a reading slump. It's not that the book is boring because it really isn't. I just found that the book was focusing more on imagery than on the actual plot.

Don't get me wrong, the writing is beautiful and immersive, but I don't care that the tent was a beautiful shade of velvety jade with heart-shaped gems hanging from sparkly ribbons and when you walked inside the shade of jade transformed into a dazzling color of magenta and the air smelled of roses and tulips and the chandelier was so shiny that it was almost blinding but the magic of Caraval made it so no one can be blinded by the intense sparkle of the potions sitting on the victorian brown table on the far right corner of the tent that was sitting behind a curtain made from every flower petal on the island...

And that was in every single chapter. I started reading Legendary about two months ago and I am only halfway through. I genuinely don't know why.

Because the books are entertaining and there's something new in every chapter but I just. can't. get. through. it.

And these books are so easy to read with reasonably lengthed chapters so I seriously don't know why Caraval took me so long to read.

Maybe I'm the problem.

Enough of the cons...

As stated before, I was thoroughly entertained. There were a lot of plot twists (maybe too many), a lot of stuff happening on the pages. Towards the end of the book, I didn't stop reading. I was fully immersed in the story and found myself gasping plenty of times.

But...

The characters are... not my favorite. I think Julian is the only likable one because both Scarlett and Tella are annoying.

Omg I said enough of the cons so MOVE ON NATALIE...

Yes, the writing is beautiful. I think Stephanie does an amazing job at creating the magical feel of the book and allowing readers to fully imagine what's going on around them.

The romance was okay, I was liking it. Mostly because Julian is so charming.

Short review but I do recommend this book. The plot is wonderful and the writing is beautiful.

Smooches to anyone reading this <33