Remember, it’s only a game…
Scarlett Dragna has never left the tiny island where she and her 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 faraway, 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 the show. 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. Nevertheless she becomes enmeshed in a game of love, heartbreak, and magic. And whether Caraval is real or not, Scarlett must find Tella before the five nights of the game are over or a dangerous domino effect of consequences will be set off, and her beloved sister will disappear forever.
The first book I read following my self-imposed book exile (I was simply too busy to read during the mania of essays and assigned readings. Fourth year is like a void), I've heard mixed things about Caraval, but mostly good things, but also some negative things (most memorably a gripe from Samantha/Thoughts on Tomes). Bearing all this in mind, I went in with an open mind and got a mixed bag, with some great things, and some not so great things.
Caraval is excellent at setting up the world. I loved reading about the various parts of the performances and various things that happen in this world. I think it's a very unique world and it has a lot of potential to be this dark, two-faced performance, where you don't know if the people there can be trusted or not. The world-building for this book was on point and it was perhaps the best part about Caraval for me. I think the plot was set up very well and there were many unique concepts and good attempts at world-building as well, but it was bogged down by other factors of the novel.
The writing style is kind of all over the place. It's attempting to be very metaphorical and personification-al, but is presented as being purple prose, with MANY nonsensical, forced metaphors. Without giving anything away, Scarlett uses colour a lot to describe feelings and emotions, but it doesn't go anywhere. How cool would it be if she were magic and being able to see emotion as colour was her own unique skill? Sam at Thoughts on Tomes describes it in her own gripe video for this book but it's something that I noticed as well. I understand what is being attempted here, it's trying to be lyrical, but it comes off 99% of the time as being purple prose.
The characters frustrated me as well. The characters and the readers are told time and again that all the events are a game and nothing is to be trusted ... yet most everything is taken at face value and is taken to be gospel truth. The characters are one-dimensional and contrived, very undefined and generic. Scarlett and Tella are supposed to have this strong sisterly bond ... where was it? The villain was mostly forgettable, again with no defining character traits. There was so much naivety and lack of critical thinking from the main characters, which was disappointing. There was very little substance in favour of an overabundance of tropes and cliches for all of the characters.
Caraval was kind of a mess in my opinion. While it had some redeeming factors in the plot and the world-building, it was bogged down by the writing style and purple prose which did not add an iota of relevance to the story. Additionally, the characters were super-frustrating as well, which detracted from the great plot and world building. I so desperately wanted to and tried to enjoy this book, but it just didn't do it for me. The good thing about Caraval is that while it is frustrating, it is a quick read. I think it only took me a day or so to finish it. I'm going to give Caraval 2/5 - the plot setup and worldbuilding were good, but nothing else quite worked for me.
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