Legendary Review

    Even after all she accomplished in the last Caraval, Tella is not completely free. In exchange for his help, Tella promised a mysterious stranger the impossible: Caraval Master Legend's real name. Unfortunately, the only way for her to get this information is to not only participate in Caraval again, but win. This becomes more complicated when she gets swept up in an ill-fated love story, the path of an heir with a nasty history, secrets, and the past. If Tella fails to figure out the name, she will lose everything and possibly die in the process. If she succeeds, this game will be the last, and Legend will be destroyed forever.

    Keep in mind that everyone has their own opinion. This review is only my opinion, and you may have your own, different one. I would take into consideration what I say, but do not make a decision about the book solely based off of this review. Let's begin:

    Initially, I was a bit thrown off by the point of view changing from Scarlett's to Donatella's. I was a little worried because I liked Tella well enough, but I was not sure I loved her enough to read a book in her perspective. She definitely has her flaws, and this book exposed more of them, but so does everyone else. In fact, I ended up liking her point of view partly because she is so confident in herself and accepting of those flaws. After I adjusted to the switch, I did not mind it at all (although I did sometimes want to get into Scarlett's head again so some things were explained on her part).

    Another thing that came with this switch was the exploration of characters from book one that readers did not get to know very well. For example, Dante. This book definitely explored him a lot more, and I really enjoyed that aspect. He is a very complex character, and his relationship with Tella is so fascinating. Additionally, the Fates are SO cool. Their whole history and all of the powers they have add another intriguing thing about the book. My favorite new character, though, is Jacks. I know, that is probably basic, but it's true. Jacks is almost even more fascinating than Dante. Similar to Dante, he is extremely complex and very hard to predict. This adds a great surprise aspect to the book.

    The plot of this book was phenomenal. The first book got me very interested in the history behind Caraval, Legend, and the way everything works in general. Due to this, I absolutely loved how rich this novel was in all of those things.  I felt like I got a much better understanding of the world, which only increased my desire to keep reading. There were a ton of plot twists and reveals that were done just as well as in the first novel, also. I thoroughly appreciated the creativity and thought process that must have gone into creating this complicated of a story. 

    The magic, of course, was fun as I sort of touched on when I mentioned the Fates. My favorite part though had to be Legend's manipulation of the stars. I am not sure why, I just find that really awesome. I felt like, in some ways, the magic was a bit different from the first novel. In the first book, the actual magic of Caraval was more present. This was not quite as prominent this time, but it was more than made up for by the introductions of the Fates' powers and the further exploration of Legend's powers themselves.

    The cover, inside, and map of this novel are all beautiful. I can never help myself from commenting on stuff like this because they really do pull you in more than they probably should. Not to mention, I love the meaning of the cover. It is both pretty and symbolic, something I always appreciate.

    The only thing I wished was slightly different was Scarlett and Julian getting sidelined. I understand why this happened, so I will not complain much or take any stars away for it. I just love those two characters and want to get more of them, so it was a tad disappointing that this did not happen.

    Overall, I would say all of the positive reviews on this novel are 100% accurate. I loved it and would highly recommend giving it a chance. It is absolutely fascinating and magical. I give Stephanie Garber props for her creativity with the story and world and look forward to starting Finale.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Author: Stephanie Garber

Publisher: Flatiron Books

# of Pages: 471 (443 if you do not count all of the extra stuff at the end)

Genre: YA, Fantasy, Romance

Series: Caraval Series (book 2)