Caraval (Caraval, #1) by Stephanie Garber

Narrated by Rebecca Soler

Synopsis (via Goodreads): 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.

Welcome, welcome to Caraval…beware of getting swept too far away. 

“She imagined loving him would feel like falling in love with darkness, frightening and consuming yet utterly beautiful when the stars came out.”

Okay, so I feel like this needs to be addressed: Why didn't anyone bathe?? Hear me out... Scarlett and Julian are staying in a really nice place with a fancy bed, roaring fireplace, and all that jazz. However, it never mentions them brushing their teeth, showering, or even changing clothes. I understand Scarlett's dress transformed into whatever she needed it to be (or was based on her mood... it was unclear), but that also means she never took it off.

I know bathroom breaks aren't always discussed in books, but sometimes characters need to be concerned with hygiene. They were caught in the rain more than once, traversed underground tunnels, and fell into the ocean. Were they magically cleaned? Did their clothes rub them down while they slept so they woke up refreshed? *highlight to view spoiler» They were both dead for 24 hours and neither of them were worried about corpse-breath or smelling like decay.

Next on the list: everything had a color or a smell. Why was Scarlett able to see colors and smells around certain objects, places and people? It never made sense to me, and it wasn't explained. She smelled anise and rotting plums around her father, but then something else would have a hue of periwinkle blue. She does mention being the only one that can do that, or only being able to see them in relation to herself, but nothing about what it actually means. If you know why this happened, please let me know! Maybe I missed something?

There were also a lot of similarities between this book and Marissa Meyer's The Lunar Chronicles and Heartless. 

1. Rebecca Soler is the narrator (love her!)
2. Caraval has a Scarlett and The Lunar Chronicles has a Scarlet
3. There is an Iko (unsure about the spelling since they were both audiobooks) in The Lunar Chronicles and Caraval 
4. Caraval and Heartless each contain a gentlemen with a black heart tattooed on their person
5. There is a haberdashery in both Caraval and Heartless

Those are just a few of the major things that stood out, and I believe there were others I had written down. I seriously doubt the similarities were intentional, but they popped out at me since Cinder and Scarlet were two of my recent reads. Heartless is just unforgettable. ♥

I know this book had a lot of hype surrounding it, but I ended up feeling underwhelmed. The characters were unlikable (especially Scarlett), and they made bad decision after bad decision. It was an endless loop of, "Why the flark would you do that??" 

The mystery surrounding Caraval is what saved it for me. I was actually incredibly invested in the game they were playing, so I wanted to see if my assumptions were correct. I never expected the various twists and turns that fill the pages of this book, and I enjoyed how nothing was what it appeared to be. 

In the end, this wasn't a good fit for me. I didn't like the characters (con), the setting was terrifically trippy (pro), but the overall story was missing the magic that makes me want to never stop reading. I do plan on reading Legendary, because I believe it's from her sister's perspective, and the world was interesting.