circus

Review of Legendary by Stephanie Garber

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Synopsis:
Donatella and Scarlett Dragna escaped their cruel father and made it out of Caraval alive, but the games aren’t over yet. What Scarlett doesn’t know is that, in order to gain their freedom, Tella made a deal with a mysterious stranger and now it’s time to pay.

Except what Tella owes is something that no one has ever been able to deliver: the true name of Caraval Master Legend. Tella’s only chance at uncovering Legend’s true identity is to enter the dangerous game of Caraval once more, and win. But what will she have to sacrifice to do that?

Review:
Holy. Hell. This book took me for a spin I wasn’t expecting. I hadn’t quite liked Tella in Caraval, and that didn’t change for quite a while during this book, but I did enjoy seeing her learn that you cannot always be rash and sometimes you have to temper your ideas. There were plenty of different plots going on, and while some twists and turns I discovered along the way, despite finishing this last night I couldn’t stop thinking about what some of the reveals in this novel meant in regards to what happened in Caraval with Scarlett. The game was so different, yet so clearly slanted and pointed. I cannot help but wonder if all Caraval is about allowing ONE PERSON something in particular, having everyone else along for the ride, or if these two particular games are special. I love the idea that while both Scarlett and Tella are willing to take the world on their shoulders and try to carry all the burden that they learn that it’s okay to rely on others and accept help. A lot of this novel is descriptions of clothing and balls, and while that doesn’t bother me, it may not be to everyone’s taste.

This book left me with far more questions and burning desires than book 1, and I cannot wait to continue on with the Finale to perhaps get a picture of what the end goal is for our dear Legend, and what type of future our two Dragna girls have.

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯

Review of Caraval by Stephanie Garber

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Synopsis:
Welcome, welcome to CARAVAL, Stephanie Garber’s enchanting, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling fantasy debut about two sisters swept up in a mysterious competition filled with magic, heartbreak, and danger

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 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 attend. 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 whether Caraval is real or not, she must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over, and her sister disappears forever.

Review:
“Every person gets one impossible wish, if the person wants something more than anything, and they can find a bit of magic to help them along.” -Caraval

This book takes you on a fabulous journey and from the beginning you’re completely enthralled. This is a book you’ll both not be able to put down and cannot wait to finish but never want to have end. A gothic romance with magic that truly pulls you in, that I would definitely recommend for any fans of The Night Circus. The characterization, depth, and reasoning for how characters are and behave how they do is very well done. A world in which you never know what to expect or what is real, there were a few twists that were eluded to and expected that I quite enjoyed. Overall it was a stunning mystery from beginning to end and I absolutely adored every moment of it, even the terrifying/horrifying parts.

I thought that the anaologies and descriptions/imagery did a great job of pulling you into the world, but there was a huge undercurrent of trying to pull someone from a bad situation and remind them how to live again. There is a lot of time where Scarlett is left having to remember not to act in a certain learned behaviours because of the life she grew up in, and that she cannot always be meek and live in fear. Scarlett is also allowed to dream again, and remember/experience the magic she always wanted and dreamt of when she was younger.

It’s intriguing the way in which Tella is involved in the Caraval, which leaves the question of are all the games rigged? What’s also interesting is that Donatella is shortened to Tella and not Dona, though I definitely think it suits the character. We are never quite sure just how much Tella is acting and how much she truly is the wild sister, which I presume we will learn more of in book 2.

I frantically bought the next two books before I finished this one, and look forward to continuing in this world once they’re delivered. This had actually been on my to read list for a while and I’d picked up a paper copy while at a Barnes and Noble buy two get one sale- I definitely recommend this in paper as you’re going to want to be able to loan it out! There are so many tropes in this book, a few of which being sisterly love, older sibling parentification, enemies to lovers, magic/mystery. I highly recommend this book series to people who love magic, relatable heroines, circuses, and always straddling the line between what is and isn’t, what’s good and evil.

Star rating: ✯✯✯✯✯



Review of Girl in the Shadows by Gwenda Bond

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Girl in the Shadows

Cirque American
By C. J. Archer

Star Rating: 
Genre: YA Fantasy
Number of Pages: 380

Synopsis: (From Amazon)
Eighteen-year-old Moira Mitchell grew up in the shadows of Vegas’s stage lights while her father’s career as a magician soared. More than anything, Moira wants to be a magician too, but her father is dead set against her pursuing magic.

When an invitation to join the Cirque American mistakenly falls into Moira’s possession, she takes action. Instead of giving the highly coveted invitation to its intended recipient, Raleigh, her father’s handsome and worldly former apprentice, Moira takes off to join the Cirque. If she can perform alongside its world-famous acts, she knows she’ll be able to convince her dad that magic is her future.

But when Moira arrives, things take on an intensity she can’t control as her stage magic suddenly feels like…real magic. To further distract her, Raleigh shows up none too pleased at Moira’s presence, all while the Cirque’s cocky and intriguing knife thrower, Dez, seems to have it out for her. As tensions mount and Moira’s abilities come into question, she must decide what’s real and what’s an illusion. If she doesn’t sort it out in time, she may forever remain a girl in the shadows.

Review:
I was really excited when I found this book, since I had quite liked Girl on a Wire. While I didn’t hate this book, it wasn’t as amazing as the first in the series. Moira is a likeable protagonist and seems to have a solid plan in place to secure her future in the magic business. While Raleigh appears totally capable and ready to look out for her, given that she doesn’t try to take over his stage, she seems far too easily smitten with Dez.

Dez is too undeveloped, and it’s hard to like him or his connection with Moira, even when you realize just how much is on the line. I found this book a little too two dimensional and the females were too powerless. For the type of energy supposedly there, much of the book seems to be a damsel in distress story, which is the opposite of what the first book in the series was.

Nonetheless, I would read another book if it came out, and do like this author.

Author Biography: (From Amazon)
Gwenda Bond writes YA and children’s fiction. Her novels include the Lois Lane series (Fallout, Double Down), which bring the iconic comic book character front and center in her own YA novels, and the Cirque American series (Girl on a Wire, Girl Over Paris, Girl in the Shadows), about daredevil heroines who discover magic and mystery lurking under the big top. She and her husband author Christopher Rowe will launch a middle grade series, the Supernormal Sleuthing Service, in 2017, and Lois Lane: Triple Threat will be released.

Her nonfiction writing has appeared in Publishers Weekly, Locus Magazine, the Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. She has an MFA in writing from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in a hundred-year-old house in Lexington, Kentucky, with her husband and their unruly pets. There are rumors she escaped from a screwball comedy, and she might have a journalism degree because of her childhood love of Lois Lane. She writes a weekly letter you can sign up for at http://www.tinyletter.com/gwenda. Visit her online at http://www.gwendabond.com or @gwenda on Twitter.